ldapadd: invalid format (line 16) entry: ""

February 27th at 12:00am

While setting up a new OpenLDAP server (v2.4.40) I encountered an error message while running ldapadd to configure my base directory tree:

[rtrz@tehbox config_n_stuff]# ldapadd -x -W -D "cn=Manager,dc=domain,dc=tld" -f /var/prototypes/ldap_config/dit.domain.tld.ldif
Enter LDAP Password:
adding new entry "dc=domain,dc=tld"

ldapadd: invalid format (line 16) entry: ""

The solution to the problem was to remove the tab from line 16 of my ldif file. Apparently OpenLDAP does not like whitespace on blank or empty lines. Go figure.