According to the man
page, the default behavior of ldapmodify
is actually not to use a file but rather to take its information from stdin
-- i.e. from someone typing it in. By using -f
on the command line you're actually circumventing that normal behavior. Try doing:
ldapmodify -h hostName -p 10389 -D "uid=admin,ou=system" -w ***** -a
and then paste or type in the information. (You may have to type CtrlD when you're done typing in the information in order to tell ldapmodify
that you're done.)