# Re: Net::LDAP 0.0.1

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-net-ldap-0-0-1/59368>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [May 3, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-net-ldap-0-0-1/59368 "2006-05-03T18:58:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rooster)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-net-ldap-0-0-1/59368/1 "2006-05-03T18:58:55Z")

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Greetings,

What is the difference between this LDAP package and the one currently  
maintained by Ian  
Macdonald:

[http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/ruby-ldap/](http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/ruby-ldap/)

More specifically, is there an obvious reason to use your ldap package  
as opposed to the already  
existing one?

Thanks,  
Steven

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rooster)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-net-ldap-0-0-1/59368/2 "2006-05-03T18:58:57Z")

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This package is a pure Ruby implementation, with no dependencies on  
native  
code libraries, which can sometimes be problematic. Additionally, an  
attempt  
was made to simplify the programming interface and make it more  
Ruby-esque.  
Third, this library exposes classes for the LDAP wire protocol as well  
as  
BER and LDIF handling that can be used independently, such as for an  
LDAP  
server implementation. Finally, we expect this library to be actively  
maintained for the foreseeable future.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rooster](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/rooster)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-net-ldap-0-0-1/59368/3 "2006-05-03T18:58:57Z")

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On 5/1/06, Steven A Hansen [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Greetings,
> 
> What is the difference between this LDAP package and the one currently maintained by Ian  
> Macdonald:
> 
> [http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/ruby-ldap/](http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/ruby-ldap/)
> 
> More specifically, is there an obvious reason to use your ldap package as opposed to the already  
> existing one?

The existing one is a C extension, and up until very recently did not  
build cleanly on Windows.  
This one is pure Ruby, and doesn’t require OpenLDAP, Microsoft  
Platform SDK, etc.  
Also, this one seems to have much better documentation. Good luck  
figuring out what the differences between the various search() methods  
are in the C-based libraries.