I found "Suspend Change-set" in RTC to be very useful, and since we're working with ClearCase as well (dozens of users) I'm wondering if that feature is also available in ClearCase as well.
If not - could it be generated by script/trigger/hook ?
We use UCM, and I'd like to explain my question:
if I have to deliver and I want to skip delivering one activity, I can decide not to deliver it (if no dependencies...) , so my question is regarding working on my current stream: Is that possible to "suspend" an activity from my current stream ?
Thanks in advance
Simply put, not easily.
RTC is basically ClearCase rewritten from scratch, and the "suspend" mode (also called stashed or shelve) takes advantage of the notion of applying a changeset (to any state of a repository)
The UCM changeset are a list of versions of files. Each version is tied to its predecessor, and you cannot easily remove it (unless you do some negative or subtractive merges), and then re-apply them later.
That being said, Reuven just contacted me this morning, because he had files in checked out in a snapshot view on a Stream which he wants to rebase (similar issue to your deliver problem).
A possible way to do that is to create another view (dynamic one), which you can use for your rebase, and then go back to your snapshot view and update it: it will detect the updated config spec (following the rebase) and will not erase any of your currently checked out files.
On the checkin, those files will be merged with the updated version.
Related
I am encountering a problem with Clearcase. I do apologise in advance if I am unclear, or redundant since I am quite new to this VCS, coming from a Git background mainly, I might not know how to search correctly regarding my problems.
We have a new version (non-relevant to CC, business-wise) of the application every few months, and we create a new VOB and stream for each version each time. We have a generic stream in which we deliver the last baselines from a finished version, add a new baseline, then export the contents of the generic stream to a new VOB and Stream.
My problem is, being hasty I actually delivered into the the generic stream, not the last baseline, but a previous one. And on top of that, I added a brand new baseline to the generic stream.
I need to be able to deliver into my generic stream, the very last baseline from our previous business version of the application.
(I am mostly manipulating Clearcase project explorer, since I don't really know the cleartool command. I tried to use a few CLI solutions but could not manage to do so, but might be linked to how our Clearcase server is)
In order to do that, I tried to :
Delete the delivery activity. But there is an error when I try to do that : "Error : Cannot remove an activity with versions in its changeset". I tried to bypass this, helping myself with google, but could not manage to do so. I am afraid this is normal Clearcase behaviour, and cannot pursue this way.
Redeliver our last business version correctly, but it did not work because of my newly hastily created baseline in the generic stream.
I would take up on any clue, indication lead, since I cannot manage to find how to correctly advance upon this matter.
Thank you in advance.
It is simpler to:
deliver to the generic stream the right content (on top of the wrong one) and set a new baseline
rename the previous baseline into a "DO-NOT-USE" name
cleartool lock -obsolete the baseline, to make it invisible (rather than trying to delete it)
That way, you can resume your successive delivers/imports of each release, and forget about the wrong one.
If the baseline you created in that stream is the most recent baseline, and has not yet been used by another stream (either pulled in a rebase or delivered to another stream), you should be able to just remove it.
In any event, since your plan is to move forward by delivering a more recent baseline created in the same parent stream to this "generic" stream, you can just deliver the right baseline to this stream, make a new baseline, and optionally lock the previous baseline.
A couple of UCM gotchas you may want to be aware of:
If you deliver a baseline to another stream, the source baseline is permanently irremovable.
ALL deliver operations deliver baselines. If you don't create a baseline, the deliver operation creates a "deliverbl" baseline to deliver.
Removing streams is either non-trivial or impossible.
Removing projects where development work has been done is usually impossible.
For future reference, to remove an activity that is NOT in a baseline:
Describe the activity on the command line to get the list of versions. You may want to redirect the output into a file so you can copy and paste the version info into the next step more easily. To describe the activity, you need to use "cleartool describe activity:{id}#{project VOB tag}"
Remove all the versions in the change set using "cleartool rmver -xhlink {version ID}"
Remove the activity. Since the delivery is apparently completed, the activity should not be set.
Is there a ClearCase equivalent to hg shelve (or git stash for those of the other persuasion)? The closest I can think of is doing uncheckouts and saving keep files, but that means I'd have to hunt down the keep files afterwards, re-checkout the files and merge. I realize that ClearCase and Mercurial/Git have different philosophies behind them, but I'd be interested if there is any work in making ClearCase more "usable".
I listed a few for other version control tools, but none for ClearCase.
I explained, for ClearCase UCM, that a shelve command isn't easy to implement.
Instead of just saving the .keep files, you could save patches (unix diff between a .keep and its original version), since a patch can be re-applied later.
The other approach is to modify the config spec (easier when in a non-UCM view) in order to checking the currently modified versions in a new branch (see this config spec)
You can then decide to merge that branch later.
The philosophy is quite different.
In Clearcase, if you need to work on another branch/release, you usually have to use another Clearcase view. If you have Clearcase/UCM, it is even more true as you would use another view attached to another UCM stream. You would not be able to use the same view, whereas in Git, you would be able to stick to the same clone and perform a git stash, git checkout in order to start working on another release.
Now let's assume you need to work on another feature, for the same release. Under Clearcase/UCM, you would be able to create a new activity (cleartool mkact) and work on this new activity, using the same view. All the changes made will then be associated with this new activity. You will also be able to switch back to the previous activity using the command cleartool setact. The tricky part is if you need to deliver the activities separately. This will not necessarily possible as you might need to deliver both at the same time depending on the content of the changeset. This doc about determining dependent UCM activities is quite useful. If you need to move some changeset between activities, you can use the command cleartool chactivity with -fcset and -tcset options.
As a summary, with Clearcase UCM, if it is for different release, switch views and streams. If it is for the same release, play around with the UCM activities, knowing that it is less flexible than git stash.
We use ClearCase as control version system.
In our system sometimes we make releases without some developers commits because of time limit.
For example I made some changes in six classes but another user did changes in all or some of them also. And I have to commit code without his changes. So I scan my files with previous versions so that I can revert his changes. But it's a slow and boring process.
Is there another way to do that? Maybe an extension or a script?
The only way to automate that process is through:
subtractive merge or negative merge (as described in this IBM article):
cleartool merge -to filename -delete -ver \main\branch\version_number
cset.pl, which can take all the checkins of an UCM activity and cancel them.
See "Clearcase: how to rollback all changes on specific branch?".
But this is for UCM (which might not be your case)
In both cases, the idea is to create a new version which cancels the version of your other developer.
I'm looking at a scenario where I have an offline clear case view and I modify files in this view clearing the read-only attribute (hijacking) on the files I modify then several days later I take the view online and need to get my offline changes into the stream.
What I would do is check out the hijacked files and check them back in (merging when necessary).
Is it always safe to work this way?
Is it possible that while adding my changes I would accidentally overwrite other people's changes done while I was working offline?
Any recommendations on how to use ClearCase offline?
Thanks!
(I'm asking because a college says that this offline way of working can lead to overwriting other's changes, specifically in cases when one updates ones view after working offline for a while before converting the hijacked files into checkouts. He says it won't event propose to do a merge in some cases, just completely overwrite the contents of the element being converted with the contents of the hijacked file)
No you won't override anything while working offline.
ClearCase has a reconcliation mechanism for a snapshot view, which, when you get back online, will allow you to:
search for all hijacked files
checkout those files
then checkin them, which is when ClearCase will prompt you for a merge, if any new version has been done on that file during your time offline.
That merge will be a three-way merge with:
root version: the version before any modification by you or other
source version: the matest checkin version (done while you were offline)
destination version: your current file
What about setuping a private branch, working on it, hijacking there files and then merging your private branch on the main branch?
How Can I Revert to Earlier baseline? We have a UCM parallel development(multi-stream) project. Each developer have a snapshot view on Project's Integration stream.
Developers want to see earlier version of the application in their snapshot views so They can debug early version of application to find bugs.
When I want to change an existing snapshot views's foundition baselines, clearcase does not allow me. So How Can I do this?
Since you employ the term Baseline, I will assume you are using UCM.
On a stream, you can not revert backward a baseline.
One possibility is to make a parallel stream, with the desired baseline as foundation: this is the quickest way.
After changes on this new stream, you can make a new rebase to change the foundation baseline, but only if that new rebase is using a more recent baseline from the parent stream (not an older baseline)
For your specific need, I would recommand a non-UCM snapshot view with a simple rule
element * thePreviousBaseline
In order for the developer to have:
his/her current UCM view for development (always set on the LATEST of a branch associated to a stream)
a second snasphot view set to whatever baseline he/she needs.
That second snapshot view is completely not-related to the UCM project and takes advantage of the "full" nature of the baseline (do check that your baseline has been put as "full", not "incremental". If it is "incremental", simply change its type and upgrade it to full)
So, beside your current snapshot UCM view, you can create anywhere you want a non-snasphot view:
cleartool mkview -snap -tag mylogin_myComponentname_csl_snap -vws myPathToViewStorage myPathToRootView
cd myPathToRootView
cleartool edcs
[add the selection rule: element * myOlderBaseline]
[add the load rule at the end: 'load /myVob_Including_MyComponent]
[save, type 'yes']
That is fine for consultation/execution, but if you need to patch (that i is to write, check out and in some files), then I would recommend one UCM stream per baseline to be patched.
That way, the stream clearly represents the patch effort for a given baseline. There should not be too many of them, unless you put into production a new version of your application every five minutes... which is not advisable ;)
So to summarize:
the non-UCM snapshot view is unique and serve for a quick consultation/debug of one older baseline at a time.
for patches (source modification), you create a parallel stream properly named, with the correct foundation baseline, and then a UCM view on it. You can not only debug but also fix some bugs in an activity, the deliver that activity to the main Int stream if that bug need to be retro-fitted on an higher stream.
(note: all bugs do not always need to be delivered: they can be obsolete when compared with the current state of the development)
The way I have solved this problem is by making another Stream, a child Stream of the Integration Stream. The easiest way to create this Stream is to open ClearCase Project Explorer (not Rational ClearCase Explorer) and navigate to the Project and then the Stream in question. Right click on the Integration Stream and select "Create Child Stream..."
Click "Advanced Options" and select a baseline for each component. Do this by selecting the component and then selecting "Change..." and selecting the specific baseline you want to see. You probably want to select "Prompt me to create a View for this Stream." Select "OK".
Any developer can do this. You don't need to be a VOB owner or Project or Stream owner.
Well, it depends. Actually, the answer lies in setting up your config spec to point to the proper files. Your config spec tells your view which versions of elements to look at. But how you do write it depends on your project's approach to baselines. Did you apply a label to mark that baseline? If so, and if you only want to read and not checkout anything new, your config spec can be as simple as
element * <LABELNAME>
If you didn't use labels, you can also set up your config spec to show you files based on dates. It gets more complicated the more rules you need to add to constrain your element choices. If you have more specifics, I can try to elaborate on what rules you might need. Otherwise, I would read the manuals that come with ClearCase. If you view the Extended Help from ClearCase Explorer, and then do "Viewing Rational ClearCase Manuals On-Line" it should give you some links to the Command References. This is where I go whenever I need to modify my config spec in some new way.
Also, note that we only use dynamic views, so I don't know if snapshot views work differently.