diff -Naur e-smith-ldap-5.2.0-old/root/var/service/ldap/run e-smith-ldap-5.2.0/root/var/service/ldap/run
--- e-smith-ldap-5.2.0-old/root/var/service/ldap/run	2010-02-09 13:26:52.000000000 +0100
+++ e-smith-ldap-5.2.0/root/var/service/ldap/run	2010-02-09 13:33:57.000000000 +0100
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@
 
 /sbin/e-smith/expand-template /var/lib/ldap/DB_CONFIG
 
+# If the ldif dump is empty it's sme8beta: init ldap
+[ -s "$ldif" ] || rm -f /var/lib/ldap/id2entry.bdb
+
 # Prime directory if required
 if [ \! -f /var/lib/ldap/id2entry.bdb ]
 then