I'm trying to recursively delete some versions/files from a specific branch.
find delivers the right files. Now it would be up to rmver to remove the version but this gives me an error. I'm struggling with the syntax.
cleartool> find Component\Test -element "brtype(P_Testing_device)" -exec "rmver -f \"%CLEARCASE_PN%##\main\G_Testing_device\P_Testing_device\LATEST\""
cleartool: Error: Extra arguments: "%CLEARCASE_PN%##\main\G_Testing_device\P_Testing_device\LATEST\"
What's wrong with that?
How would you recursively delete versions from a Branch?
First don't if you can avoid it. rmver, as I explain in "How do I undo a checkin in ClearCase remote client", is very dangerous.
If you have hyperlinks attached to the versions you are removing (definitively from ClearCase), like merge links (deliver or rebase links of your are using UCM), you risk ending up with many "dangling hyperlinks", which is not good.
Second, I would try first:
find Component\Test -element "brtype(P_Testing_device)" -exec 'rmver -f "%CLEARCASE_PN%##\main\G_Testing_device\P_Testing_device\LATEST"'
To rule yout any issue with weak vs. strong quoting (as in "CLEARCASE_XPN not parsed as variable in clearcase command")
If that doesn't work, I would recommend finding all the right versions and putting them into a file, then piping the content of that file to a cleartool rmver.
A much safer route is to cleartool lock -obs the branch, making it non-modifiable and invisible for the future version trees.
Related
Background
I have a directory element in clearcase that has a version tree as shown below:
VIEW_NAME --> Version 0 --> Version 1
I am trying to remove Version 1 of the directory so that the version tree looks like this:
VIEW_NAME --> Version 0
Problem
I have tried to use rmver to accomplish what I want. However, I am not allowed to invoke rmelem at all, which rmver uses as part of the command. I know this because I have faced the following error:
ERROR: User myusername cannot use rmelem. Use rmname instead.
cleartool: Warning: Trigger "TRG_NO_RMELEM" has refused to let rmver proceed
cleartool: Error: Unable to remove versions of ".".
Attempted Solution
I have ran a search through the man pages of rmver and rmbranch for a possible option to use a rmname version of either command, however there is nothing in either man page. This lack of an rmname like functionality in either command has lead me to ask the question:
Question
Is there a version of the rmver command that uses rmname as part of its core execution instead of rmelem?
No: rmver would never use rmname.
As mentioned here
Removing an element name from its parent directory (cleartool rmname) does not affect the element itself, but two other types of a removal operation do irrevocably affect an element. Be very conservative when performing these operations (rmver, rmelem)
Since:
rmver deletes both the version object in the VOB database along with associated metadata and the corresponding data container in a source storage pool.
There is always a rmelem involved (not for the version itself) but other metadata elements associated to the version that need to be removed.
If you really needs to remove that version, you might consider disabling temporarily the trigger, following "How to disable a trigger in a VOB or determine if an existing trigger is already disabled".
Something like:
cleartool lock -obsolete trtype:<trigger type name>
I try to add a file in a branch to source control by doing this:
ct mkelem -ci -nc
and I get this error:
File already exists in "other_branch" branch.
Resolution: Since this file already exisit in ClearCase you will have to, selectively, merge this file from other_branch branch to your current branch/view.
Well, other_branch is completely obsolete and I would like to use the current branch file im trying to merge 100% as is. Is there a way to communicate this to clearcase on the commandline? Like ct mkelem -force (or -replaceAnyOtherFileWithThisName) -ci -nc?
There is not many solutions, beside removing completely that element (which can be dangerous in general, except in your case, this is about an obsolete branch).
cleartool rmelem
But a "safer" route would be to try an merge that obsolete branch, ignoring all changes except the addition of that file.
That way, you don't have to 'mkelem' the same file again, you can reuse the one existing (and changing its content completely).
I want to check out a directory , let's say /vobs/myvob/src/ to add a new file in this directory. But by mistake rather than checked out /vobs/myvob/src I checked out /vobs/myvob/scr/ and even worse checked in it. Then directory scr has a new version : scr#mybranch/1 (let's say I'm working on branch mybranch)
After realized that I've made a mistake, I remove the newly created version by:
ct rmver scr#myranch/1
then use ct ls parent_dir_of_scr to do the double check and I found although scr#mybranch/1 disappeared, scr#mybranch/0 is still there .
Not 100% sure but I'm afraid I should not try to remove that version in the same way , cus it might let clearcase remove a version in main as well.
So my question is how should I do a totally "clean up" in this situation .
Need your help . thanks in advance .
First, as mentioned in How do I roll back a file checked in to Clearcase?, the one command to never ever do is rmver.
Even if in your case it could be appropriate, this is simply too dangerous, for it removes the version and all its associated metadata (hyperlinks, labels and so on).
Then, you mention:
rather than checked out /vobs/myvob/src I checked out /vobs/myvob/scr/...
... well /vobs/myvob/src is quite similar to /vobs/myvob/src here. I do not see any differences between the "two" directories.
If you want to add a file to a directory through the CLI cleartool, you will need to:
checkout /vobs/myvob/src (parent directory)
mkelem the file to add
checkin the parent directory
Finally, the "version 0" you see is only a "declarative" version to act as a starting point for branches.
That is why the other answers suggest you to rmbranch (remove the branch) for that element. It only serves the purpose of cleaning the lsvtree (version tree).
"cleartool rmbranch -force $element"
as mentioned in the ten best scripts.
Even if you remove version 1 of a file on your branch, your branch will remain (with version 0). If you really want to do a clean-up you can remove the branch (ct rmbranch your_branch) for the file -- it won't remove the version from mainline.
If you want to completely remove a version of an object (file or directory) from Clearcase control, I suggest you to use the following command:
cleartool rmver –xbranch –xlabel –xattr –xhlink test.txt##\main\3
Command options are described on this snip2code post.
Could anyone explain what is a Evil Twin and Subtractive merge in Clearcase?
Evil Twin
An Evil Twin is an element that you have removed (using rmname) and want to re-add, but it's 'evil twin' exists in previous versions of the directory.
You have to remember that each element had a unique ID, so you are attempting to add an element with the same name - but with a different UID. This is not allowed.
The best way to deal with an Evil Twin is to relink the newest version you can find of the existing element to the new version of the directory. You can then make a new version of the element and replace the data within it.
Subtractive Merge
A subtractive merge is the opposite of a selective merge.
A selective merge (the default, bog standard merge) adds the changes from another element version into your checked-out version.
A subtractive merge attempts to remove the changes made in a different version from the version you have checked out - because it's a bad version, you've made mistakes in it etc.
IBM has a nice article on substractive merge.
A subtractive merge can be performed to exclude or bypass bad versions on a branch without actually removing the bad versions.
Cleartool merge using the -delete option will allow a user to merge from the last known good version to a new version on the same branch which excludes the work done in the versions identified as bad versions.
This merge must be performed from the command line, it does not create a merge arrow, the arrow can be created manually.
This will work for file as well as directory
But you need to realize that merge is about a file or a directory, not about a directory "and everything in it".
To merge recursively, take a look at findmerge.
You can want to merge only directories (since they are always merged first, to determine the actual list of files to merge!), as in this IBM article
% cleartool setview major_vu% cleartool findmerge /vobs/vob1 /vobs/libvob2 –type d \
–fversion /main/LATEST –merge
you may also do the merge from the LATEST version of a branch or from a tag:
findmerge . –fversion /main/rel2_bugfix/LATEST –print
findmerge . –ftag rel2_bugfix_view –whynot –print
Note: the -print is always a good idea before replacing it by '-merge -gmerge', in order to get a preview of what will be merged. But if directories are involved, it will only print that 'directory X' needs to be merged, not the exact list of files.
For evil twins, check out the IBM article. Case sensitive issues can be a real pain to deal with and create some evil twins without you realizing it...
I have a file in my Clearcase repository. I checked it out and modified it, and then checked it back in.
I haven't done anything like make a baseline, or rebase, or deliver in my stream/view.
I regret having made the changes to this file--I should have undone the checkout, in retrospect.
How do I roll back the modifications? (Or undo, or revert, or whatever the correct nomenclature is.)
What is described by skwllsp can be be done in a dynamic view through the use of extended pathnames
cd m:/myDynamicView/MyVob/path/to/file
cleartool lsvtree myFile
cleartool checkout -c "cancel co" myFile
copy myFile##/main/xx myFile
cleartool checkin -nc myFile
with xx being the version number you want to restore.
But should you have made multiple checkins, including some you want to cancel, ClearCase allows you to cancel part of the previous checkins through Subtractive Merge
See IBM "to remove contributions of some versions" (and merge man page)
You can remove all changes from a range of versions at once. For example, the following command removes revisions to versions 14 through 16 on the main branch:
On the UNIX system or Linux:
cleartool merge -graphical -to opt.c -delete -version /main/14 /main/16
On the Windows system:
cleartool merge -graphical -to opt.c -delete -version \main\14 \main\16
You can also remove the changes from one version at a time. For example, the following commands remove only the changes in version 14 from the version of opt.c checked out the current view:
On the UNIX system or Linux:
cleartool merge -graphical -to opt.c -delete -version /main/14
On Windows systems:
cleartool merge -graphical -to opt.c -delete -version \main\14
Alternatively, in any of the examples above, you can leave out the -version argument if you use the version extended path for the contributor-version-selector.
Finally, the one thing to not do is a rmver.
This command destroys information irretrievably and this is rarely a good thing.
Clearcase can do much better than just making a new version where you undo the change!
Open the version history on your file, find the version you mistakenly checked in, and destroy it (select version to destroy and find the appropriate command under the Versions menu).
This is what rmver does too, if you want to use the command line.
As VonC said your this destroys your mistake irretrievably. I'm not seeing a downside to that.
Open version history for this file, then open in your editor a proper version of the file from the version tree, check out file once more, replace its with content of the previous correct version and check in. Don't forget to compare the previous version and the last version.
cleartool unco #filename should do the job for you.
But if the version in the main branch/ branch from where your branch is created, goes forward with versions, when you undo your checkout, the new version is acquired instead of the version from which you branched.