xref: /freebsd/crypto/heimdal/lib/wind/rfc4518.txt (revision 193d9e768ba63fcfb187cfd17f461f7d41345048)
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7Network Working Group                                        K. Zeilenga
8Request for Comments: 4518                           OpenLDAP Foundation
9Category: Standards Track                                      June 2006
10
11
12             Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP):
13                  Internationalized String Preparation
14
15Status of This Memo
16
17   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
18   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
19   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
20   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
21   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
22
23Copyright Notice
24
25   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
26
27Abstract
28
29   The previous Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) technical
30   specifications did not precisely define how character string matching
31   is to be performed.  This led to a number of usability and
32   interoperability problems.  This document defines string preparation
33   algorithms for character-based matching rules defined for use in
34   LDAP.
35
361.  Introduction
37
381.1.  Background
39
40   A Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) [RFC4510] matching
41   rule [RFC4517] defines an algorithm for determining whether a
42   presented value matches an attribute value in accordance with the
43   criteria defined for the rule.  The proposition may be evaluated to
44   True, False, or Undefined.
45
46      True      - the attribute contains a matching value,
47
48      False     - the attribute contains no matching value,
49
50      Undefined - it cannot be determined whether the attribute contains
51                  a matching value.
52
53
54
55
56
57
58Zeilenga                    Standards Track                     [Page 1]
59
60RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
61
62
63   For instance, the caseIgnoreMatch matching rule may be used to
64   compare whether the commonName attribute contains a particular value
65   without regard for case and insignificant spaces.
66
671.2.  X.500 String Matching Rules
68
69   "X.520: Selected attribute types" [X.520] provides (among other
70   things) value syntaxes and matching rules for comparing values
71   commonly used in the directory [X.500].  These specifications are
72   inadequate for strings composed of Unicode [Unicode] characters.
73
74   The caseIgnoreMatch matching rule [X.520], for example, is simply
75   defined as being a case-insensitive comparison where insignificant
76   spaces are ignored.  For printableString, there is only one space
77   character and case mapping is bijective, hence this definition is
78   sufficient.  However, for Unicode string types such as
79   universalString, this is not sufficient.  For example, a case-
80   insensitive matching implementation that folded lowercase characters
81   to uppercase would yield different results than an implementation
82   that used uppercase to lowercase folding.  Or one implementation may
83   view space as referring to only SPACE (U+0020), a second
84   implementation may view any character with the space separator (Zs)
85   property as a space, and another implementation may view any
86   character with the whitespace (WS) category as a space.
87
88   The lack of precise specification for character string matching has
89   led to significant interoperability problems.  When used in
90   certificate chain validation, security vulnerabilities can arise.  To
91   address these problems, this document defines precise algorithms for
92   preparing character strings for matching.
93
941.3.  Relationship to "stringprep"
95
96   The character string preparation algorithms described in this
97   document are based upon the "stringprep" approach [RFC3454].  In
98   "stringprep", presented and stored values are first prepared for
99   comparison so that a character-by-character comparison yields the
100   "correct" result.
101
102   The approach used here is a refinement of the "stringprep" [RFC3454]
103   approach.  Each algorithm involves two additional preparation steps.
104
105   a) Prior to applying the Unicode string preparation steps outlined in
106      "stringprep", the string is transcoded to Unicode.
107
108   b) After applying the Unicode string preparation steps outlined in
109      "stringprep", the string is modified to appropriately handle
110      characters insignificant to the matching rule.
111
112
113
114Zeilenga                    Standards Track                     [Page 2]
115
116RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
117
118
119   Hence, preparation of character strings for X.500 [X.500] matching
120   [X.501] involves the following steps:
121
122      1) Transcode
123      2) Map
124      3) Normalize
125      4) Prohibit
126      5) Check Bidi (Bidirectional)
127      6) Insignificant Character Handling
128
129   These steps are described in Section 2.
130
131   It is noted that while various tables of Unicode characters included
132   or referenced by this specification are derived from Unicode
133   [Unicode] data, these tables are to be considered definitive for the
134   purpose of implementing this specification.
135
1361.4.  Relationship to the LDAP Technical Specification
137
138   This document is an integral part of the LDAP technical specification
139   [RFC4510], which obsoletes the previously defined LDAP technical
140   specification [RFC3377] in its entirety.
141
142   This document details new LDAP internationalized character string
143   preparation algorithms used by [RFC4517] and possible other technical
144   specifications defining LDAP syntaxes and/or matching rules.
145
1461.5.  Relationship to X.500
147
148   LDAP is defined [RFC4510] in X.500 terms as an X.500 access
149   mechanism.  As such, there is a strong desire for alignment between
150   LDAP and X.500 syntax and semantics.  The character string
151   preparation algorithms described in this document are based upon
152   "Internationalized String Matching Rules for X.500" [XMATCH] proposal
153   to ITU/ISO Joint Study Group 2.
154
1551.6.  Conventions and Terms
156
157   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
158   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
159   document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119].
160
161   Character names in this document use the notation for code points and
162   names from the Unicode Standard [Unicode].  For example, the letter
163   "a" may be represented as either <U+0061> or <LATIN SMALL LETTER A>.
164   In the lists of mappings and the prohibited characters, the "U+" is
165
166
167
168
169
170Zeilenga                    Standards Track                     [Page 3]
171
172RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
173
174
175   left off to make the lists easier to read.  The comments for
176   character ranges are shown in square brackets (such as "[CONTROL
177   CHARACTERS]") and do not come from the standard.
178
179   Note: a glossary of terms used in Unicode can be found in [Glossary].
180   Information on the Unicode character encoding model can be found in
181   [CharModel].
182
183   The term "combining mark", as used in this specification, refers to
184   any Unicode [Unicode] code point that has a mark property (Mn, Mc,
185   Me).  Appendix A provides a definitive list of combining marks.
186
1872.  String Preparation
188
189   The following six-step process SHALL be applied to each presented and
190   attribute value in preparation for character string matching rule
191   evaluation.
192
193      1) Transcode
194      2) Map
195      3) Normalize
196      4) Prohibit
197      5) Check bidi
198      6) Insignificant Character Handling
199
200   Failure in any step causes the assertion to evaluate to Undefined.
201
202   The character repertoire of this process is Unicode 3.2 [Unicode].
203
204   Note that this six-step process specification is intended to describe
205   expected matching behavior.  Implementations are free to use
206   alternative processes so long as the matching rule evaluation
207   behavior provided is consistent with the behavior described by this
208   specification.
209
2102.1.  Transcode
211
212   Each non-Unicode string value is transcoded to Unicode.
213
214   PrintableString [X.680] values are transcoded directly to Unicode.
215
216   UniversalString, UTF8String, and bmpString [X.680] values need not be
217   transcoded as they are Unicode-based strings (in the case of
218   bmpString, a subset of Unicode).
219
220   TeletexString [X.680] values are transcoded to Unicode.  As there is
221   no standard for mapping TeletexString values to Unicode, the mapping
222   is left a local matter.
223
224
225
226Zeilenga                    Standards Track                     [Page 4]
227
228RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
229
230
231   For these and other reasons, use of TeletexString is NOT RECOMMENDED.
232
233   The output is the transcoded string.
234
2352.2.  Map
236
237   SOFT HYPHEN (U+00AD) and MONGOLIAN TODO SOFT HYPHEN (U+1806) code
238   points are mapped to nothing.  COMBINING GRAPHEME JOINER (U+034F) and
239   VARIATION SELECTORs (U+180B-180D, FF00-FE0F) code points are also
240   mapped to nothing.  The OBJECT REPLACEMENT CHARACTER (U+FFFC) is
241   mapped to nothing.
242
243   CHARACTER TABULATION (U+0009), LINE FEED (LF) (U+000A), LINE
244   TABULATION (U+000B), FORM FEED (FF) (U+000C), CARRIAGE RETURN (CR)
245   (U+000D), and NEXT LINE (NEL) (U+0085) are mapped to SPACE (U+0020).
246
247   All other control code (e.g., Cc) points or code points with a
248   control function (e.g., Cf) are mapped to nothing.  The following is
249   a complete list of these code points: U+0000-0008, 000E-001F, 007F-
250   0084, 0086-009F, 06DD, 070F, 180E, 200C-200F, 202A-202E, 2060-2063,
251   206A-206F, FEFF, FFF9-FFFB, 1D173-1D17A, E0001, E0020-E007F.
252
253   ZERO WIDTH SPACE (U+200B) is mapped to nothing.  All other code
254   points with Separator (space, line, or paragraph) property (e.g., Zs,
255   Zl, or Zp) are mapped to SPACE (U+0020).  The following is a complete
256   list of these code points: U+0020, 00A0, 1680, 2000-200A, 2028-2029,
257   202F, 205F, 3000.
258
259   For case ignore, numeric, and stored prefix string matching rules,
260   characters are case folded per B.2 of [RFC3454].
261
262   The output is the mapped string.
263
2642.3.  Normalize
265
266   The input string is to be normalized to Unicode Form KC
267   (compatibility composed) as described in [UAX15].  The output is the
268   normalized string.
269
2702.4.  Prohibit
271
272   All Unassigned code points are prohibited.  Unassigned code points
273   are listed in Table A.1 of [RFC3454].
274
275   Characters that, per Section 5.8 of [RFC3454], change display
276   properties or are deprecated are prohibited.  These characters are
277   listed in Table C.8 of [RFC3454].
278
279
280
281
282Zeilenga                    Standards Track                     [Page 5]
283
284RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
285
286
287   Private Use code points are prohibited.  These characters are listed
288   in Table C.3 of [RFC3454].
289
290   All non-character code points are prohibited.  These code points are
291   listed in Table C.4 of [RFC3454].
292
293   Surrogate codes are prohibited.  These characters are listed in Table
294   C.5 of [RFC3454].
295
296   The REPLACEMENT CHARACTER (U+FFFD) code point is prohibited.
297
298   The step fails if the input string contains any prohibited code
299   point.  Otherwise, the output is the input string.
300
3012.5.  Check bidi
302
303   Bidirectional characters are ignored.
304
3052.6.  Insignificant Character Handling
306
307   In this step, the string is modified to ensure proper handling of
308   characters insignificant to the matching rule.  This modification
309   differs from matching rule to matching rule.
310
311   Section 2.6.1 applies to case ignore and exact string matching.
312   Section 2.6.2 applies to numericString matching.
313   Section 2.6.3 applies to telephoneNumber matching.
314
3152.6.1.  Insignificant Space Handling
316
317   For the purposes of this section, a space is defined to be the SPACE
318   (U+0020) code point followed by no combining marks.
319
320       NOTE - The previous steps ensure that the string cannot contain
321              any code points in the separator class, other than SPACE
322              (U+0020).
323
324   For input strings that are attribute values or non-substring
325   assertion values:  If the input string contains no non-space
326   character, then the output is exactly two SPACEs.  Otherwise (the
327   input string contains at least one non-space character), the string
328   is modified such that the string starts with exactly one space
329   character, ends with exactly one SPACE character, and any inner
330   (non-empty) sequence of space characters is replaced with exactly two
331   SPACE characters.  For instance, the input strings
332   "foo<SPACE>bar<SPACE><SPACE>", result in the output
333   "<SPACE>foo<SPACE><SPACE>bar<SPACE>".
334
335
336
337
338Zeilenga                    Standards Track                     [Page 6]
339
340RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
341
342
343   For input strings that are substring assertion values: If the string
344   being prepared contains no non-space characters, then the output
345   string is exactly one SPACE.  Otherwise, the following steps are
346   taken:
347
348   -  If the input string is an initial substring, it is modified to
349      start with exactly one SPACE character;
350
351   -  If the input string is an initial or an any substring that ends in
352      one or more space characters, it is modified to end with exactly
353      one SPACE character;
354
355   -  If the input string is an any or a final substring that starts in
356      one or more space characters, it is modified to start with exactly
357      one SPACE character; and
358
359   -  If the input string is a final substring, it is modified to end
360      with exactly one SPACE character.
361
362   For instance, for the input string "foo<SPACE>bar<SPACE><SPACE>" as
363   an initial substring, the output would be
364   "<SPACE>foo<SPACE><SPACE>bar<SPACE>".  As an any or final substring,
365   the same input would result in "foo<SPACE>bar<SPACE>".
366
367   Appendix B discusses the rationale for the behavior.
368
3692.6.2.  numericString Insignificant Character Handling
370
371   For the purposes of this section, a space is defined to be the SPACE
372   (U+0020) code point followed by no combining marks.
373
374   All spaces are regarded as insignificant and are to be removed.
375
376   For example, removal of spaces from the Form KC string:
377       "<SPACE><SPACE>123<SPACE><SPACE>456<SPACE><SPACE>"
378   would result in the output string:
379       "123456"
380   and the Form KC string:
381       "<SPACE><SPACE><SPACE>"
382   would result in the output string:
383       "" (an empty string).
384
3852.6.3.  telephoneNumber Insignificant Character Handling
386
387   For the purposes of this section, a hyphen is defined to be a
388   HYPHEN-MINUS (U+002D), ARMENIAN HYPHEN (U+058A), HYPHEN (U+2010),
389   NON-BREAKING HYPHEN (U+2011), MINUS SIGN (U+2212), SMALL HYPHEN-MINUS
390   (U+FE63), or FULLWIDTH HYPHEN-MINUS (U+FF0D) code point followed by
391
392
393
394Zeilenga                    Standards Track                     [Page 7]
395
396RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
397
398
399   no combining marks and a space is defined to be the SPACE (U+0020)
400   code point followed by no combining marks.
401
402   All hyphens and spaces are considered insignificant and are to be
403   removed.
404
405   For example, removal of hyphens and spaces from the Form KC string:
406       "<SPACE><HYPHEN>123<SPACE><SPACE>456<SPACE><HYPHEN>"
407   would result in the output string:
408       "123456"
409   and the Form KC string:
410       "<HYPHEN><HYPHEN><HYPHEN>"
411   would result in the (empty) output string:
412       "".
413
4143.  Security Considerations
415
416   "Preparation of Internationalized Strings ("stringprep")" [RFC3454]
417   security considerations generally apply to the algorithms described
418   here.
419
4204.  Acknowledgements
421
422   The approach used in this document is based upon design principles
423   and algorithms described in "Preparation of Internationalized Strings
424   ('stringprep')" [RFC3454] by Paul Hoffman and Marc Blanchet.  Some
425   additional guidance was drawn from Unicode Technical Standards,
426   Technical Reports, and Notes.
427
428   This document is a product of the IETF LDAP Revision (LDAPBIS)
429   Working Group.
430
4315.  References
432
4335.1.  Normative References
434
435   [RFC2119]     Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
436                 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
437
438   [RFC3454]     Hoffman, P. and M. Blanchet, "Preparation of
439                 Internationalized Strings ("stringprep")", RFC 3454,
440                 December 2002.
441
442   [RFC4510]     Zeilenga, K., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
443                 (LDAP): Technical Specification Road Map", RFC 4510,
444                 June 2006.
445
446
447
448
449
450Zeilenga                    Standards Track                     [Page 8]
451
452RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
453
454
455   [RFC4517]     Legg, S., Ed., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
456                 (LDAP): Syntaxes and Matching Rules", RFC 4517, June
457                 2006.
458
459   [Unicode]     The Unicode Consortium, "The Unicode Standard, Version
460                 3.2.0" is defined by "The Unicode Standard, Version
461                 3.0" (Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley, 2000.  ISBN 0-201-
462                 61633-5), as amended by the "Unicode Standard Annex
463                 #27: Unicode 3.1"
464                 (http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr27/) and by the
465                 "Unicode Standard Annex #28: Unicode 3.2"
466                 (http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr28/).
467
468   [UAX15]       Davis, M. and M. Duerst, "Unicode Standard Annex #15:
469                 Unicode Normalization Forms, Version 3.2.0".
470                 <http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr15/tr15-
471                 22.html>, March 2002.
472
473   [X.680]       International Telecommunication Union -
474                 Telecommunication Standardization Sector, "Abstract
475                 Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) - Specification of Basic
476                 Notation", X.680(2002) (also ISO/IEC 8824-1:2002).
477
4785.2.  Informative References
479
480   [X.500]       International Telecommunication Union -
481                 Telecommunication Standardization Sector, "The
482                 Directory -- Overview of concepts, models and
483                 services," X.500(1993) (also ISO/IEC 9594-1:1994).
484
485   [X.501]       International Telecommunication Union -
486                 Telecommunication Standardization Sector, "The
487                 Directory -- Models," X.501(1993) (also ISO/IEC 9594-
488                 2:1994).
489
490   [X.520]       International Telecommunication Union -
491                 Telecommunication Standardization Sector, "The
492                 Directory: Selected Attribute Types", X.520(1993) (also
493                 ISO/IEC 9594-6:1994).
494
495   [Glossary]    The Unicode Consortium, "Unicode Glossary",
496                 <http://www.unicode.org/glossary/>.
497
498   [CharModel]   Whistler, K. and M. Davis, "Unicode Technical Report
499                 #17, Character Encoding Model", UTR17,
500                 <http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr17/>, August
501                 2000.
502
503
504
505
506Zeilenga                    Standards Track                     [Page 9]
507
508RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
509
510
511   [RFC3377]     Hodges, J. and R. Morgan, "Lightweight Directory Access
512                 Protocol (v3): Technical Specification", RFC 3377,
513                 September 2002.
514
515   [RFC4515]     Smith, M., Ed. and T. Howes, "Lightweight Directory
516                 Access Protocol (LDAP): String Representation of Search
517                 Filters", RFC 4515, June 2006.
518
519   [XMATCH]      Zeilenga, K., "Internationalized String Matching Rules
520                 for X.500", Work in Progress.
521
522
523
524
525
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527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
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539
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560
561
562Zeilenga                    Standards Track                    [Page 10]
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564RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
565
566
567Appendix A.  Combining Marks
568
569   This appendix is normative.
570
571   This table was derived from Unicode [Unicode] data files; it lists
572   all code points with the Mn, Mc, or Me properties.  This table is to
573   be considered definitive for the purposes of implementation of this
574   specification.
575
576         0300-034F 0360-036F 0483-0486 0488-0489 0591-05A1
577         05A3-05B9 05BB-05BC 05BF 05C1-05C2 05C4 064B-0655 0670
578         06D6-06DC 06DE-06E4 06E7-06E8 06EA-06ED 0711 0730-074A
579         07A6-07B0 0901-0903 093C 093E-094F 0951-0954 0962-0963
580         0981-0983 09BC 09BE-09C4 09C7-09C8 09CB-09CD 09D7
581         09E2-09E3 0A02 0A3C 0A3E-0A42 0A47-0A48 0A4B-0A4D
582         0A70-0A71 0A81-0A83 0ABC 0ABE-0AC5 0AC7-0AC9 0ACB-0ACD
583         0B01-0B03 0B3C 0B3E-0B43 0B47-0B48 0B4B-0B4D 0B56-0B57
584         0B82 0BBE-0BC2 0BC6-0BC8 0BCA-0BCD 0BD7 0C01-0C03
585         0C3E-0C44 0C46-0C48 0C4A-0C4D 0C55-0C56 0C82-0C83
586         0CBE-0CC4 0CC6-0CC8 0CCA-0CCD 0CD5-0CD6 0D02-0D03
587         0D3E-0D43 0D46-0D48 0D4A-0D4D 0D57 0D82-0D83 0DCA
588         0DCF-0DD4 0DD6 0DD8-0DDF 0DF2-0DF3 0E31 0E34-0E3A
589         0E47-0E4E 0EB1 0EB4-0EB9 0EBB-0EBC 0EC8-0ECD 0F18-0F19
590         0F35 0F37 0F39 0F3E-0F3F 0F71-0F84 0F86-0F87 0F90-0F97
591         0F99-0FBC 0FC6 102C-1032 1036-1039 1056-1059 1712-1714
592         1732-1734 1752-1753 1772-1773 17B4-17D3 180B-180D 18A9
593         20D0-20EA 302A-302F 3099-309A FB1E FE00-FE0F FE20-FE23
594         1D165-1D169 1D16D-1D172 1D17B-1D182 1D185-1D18B
595         1D1AA-1D1AD
596
597Appendix B.  Substrings Matching
598
599   This appendix is non-normative.
600
601   In the absence of substrings matching, the insignificant space
602   handling for case ignore/exact matching could be simplified.
603   Specifically, the handling could be to require that all sequences of
604   one or more spaces be replaced with one space and, if the string
605   contains non-space characters, removal of all leading spaces and
606   trailing spaces.
607
608   In the presence of substrings matching, this simplified space
609   handling would lead to unexpected and undesirable matching behavior.
610   For instance:
611
612   1) (CN=foo\20*\20bar) would match the CN value "foobar";
613
614
615
616
617
618Zeilenga                    Standards Track                    [Page 11]
619
620RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
621
622
623   2) (CN=*\20foobar\20*) would match "foobar", but
624      (CN=*\20*foobar*\20*) would not.
625
626   Note to readers not familiar with LDAP substrings matching: the LDAP
627   filter [RFC4515] assertion (CN=A*B*C) says to "match any value (of
628   the attribute CN) that begins with A, contains B after A, ends with C
629   where C is also after B."
630
631   The first case illustrates that this simplified space handling would
632   cause leading and trailing spaces in substrings of the string to be
633   regarded as insignificant.  However, only leading and trailing (as
634   well as multiple consecutive spaces) of the string (as a whole) are
635   insignificant.
636
637   The second case illustrates that this simplified space handling would
638   cause sub-partitioning failures.  That is, if a prepared any
639   substring matches a partition of the attribute value, then an
640   assertion constructed by subdividing that substring into multiple
641   substrings should also match.
642
643   In designing an appropriate approach for space handling for
644   substrings matching, one must study key aspects of X.500 case
645   exact/ignore matching.  X.520 [X.520] says:
646
647      The [substrings] rule returns TRUE if there is a partitioning of
648      the attribute value (into portions) such that:
649
650         -  the specified substrings (initial, any, final) match
651            different portions of the value in the order of the strings
652            sequence;
653
654         -  initial, if present, matches the first portion of the value;
655
656         -  final, if present, matches the last portion of the value;
657
658         -  any, if present, matches some arbitrary portion of the
659            value.
660
661   That is, the substrings assertion (CN=foo\20*\20bar) matches the
662   attribute value "foo<SPACE><SPACE>bar" as the value can be
663   partitioned into the portions "foo<SPACE>" and "<SPACE>bar" meeting
664   the above requirements.
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674Zeilenga                    Standards Track                    [Page 12]
675
676RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
677
678
679   X.520 also says:
680
681      [T]he following spaces are regarded as not significant:
682
683         -  leading spaces (i.e., those preceding the first character
684            that is not a space);
685
686         -  trailing spaces (i.e., those following the last character
687            that is not a space);
688
689         -  multiple consecutive spaces (these are taken as equivalent
690            to a single space character).
691
692   This statement applies to the assertion values and attribute values
693   as whole strings, and not individually to substrings of an assertion
694   value.  In particular, the statements should be taken to mean that if
695   an assertion value and attribute value match without any
696   consideration to insignificant characters, then that assertion value
697   should also match any attribute value that differs only by inclusion
698   nor removal of insignificant characters.
699
700   Hence the assertion (CN=foo\20*\20bar) matches
701   "foo<SPACE><SPACE><SPACE>bar" and "foo<SPACE>bar" as these values
702   only differ from "foo<SPACE><SPACE>bar" by the inclusion or removal
703   of insignificant spaces.
704
705   Astute readers of this text will also note that there are special
706   cases where the specified space handling does not ignore spaces that
707   could be considered insignificant.  For instance, the assertion
708   (CN=\20*\20*\20) does not match "<SPACE><SPACE><SPACE>"
709   (insignificant spaces present in value) or " " (insignificant spaces
710   not present in value).  However, as these cases have no practical
711   application that cannot be met by simple assertions, e.g., (cn=\20),
712   and this minor anomaly can only be fully addressed by a preparation
713   algorithm to be used in conjunction with character-by-character
714   partitioning and matching, the anomaly is considered acceptable.
715
716Author's Address
717
718   Kurt D. Zeilenga
719   OpenLDAP Foundation
720
721   EMail: Kurt@OpenLDAP.org
722
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732RFC 4518       LDAP: Internationalized String Preparation      June 2006
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734
735Full Copyright Statement
736
737   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
738
739   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
740   contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
741   retain all their rights.
742
743   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
744   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
745   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
746   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
747   INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
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749   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
750
751Intellectual Property
752
753   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
754   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
755   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
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761
762   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
763   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
764   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
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766   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
767   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.
768
769   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
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772   this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at
773   ietf-ipr@ietf.org.
774
775Acknowledgement
776
777   Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
778   Administrative Support Activity (IASA).
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