18.2 Setting Up a Shared View

Views can be shared by multiple users. For example, a project may designate a shared view in which all of its software components are built in preparation for a release. The entire application may be built each night in such a view.

An ideal location for a shared view is a dedicated host that is configured similarly to a client workstation. If no dedicated host is available, distribute shared views around the network on the least-used (or most richly configured) client workstations. Avoid placing too many views on any single machine; avoid placing shared views on VOB hosts unless you do so for the specific purpose of supporting non-ClearCase access.

Here is a simple procedure for setting up a shared view:

1. Determine who will use the view. In particular, determine whether all of the view's prospective users belong to the same group.

2. (If necessary) Change your group. If all of the view's prospective users belong to the same group, make sure that you are logged on as a member of that group. Make sure that you have all necessary groups in your group list. Use the UNIX id command, or on Windows, ccase-home-dir\etc\utils\creds, to verify group membership.

3. On UNIX, set your umask appropriately. A UNIX view's accessibility is determined by the umask(1) of its creator. If the view's users are all members of the same group, temporarily set your umask to allow writing by group members:

umask 2

Otherwise, you must set your umask to allow any user write access:

umask 0

4. Choose a location for view storage directory. Use the discussion in View Storage Requirements to decide where to locate the view storage directory. If a server storage location for views has been created in your registry region, it will be used as the default location for view storage

5. Choose a view-tag. Choose a name that indicates the nature of the work to be performed in the view. For example, you may select integ_r1.3 as the tag for a view to be used to produce release 1.3 of your application.

6. Create the view storage directory. Use the View Creation Wizard, or run the mkview command:

cleartool mkview -tag integ_r1.3 /net/ccsvr05/viewstore/integr13.vws
Created view.
Host-local path: ccsvr05:/viewstore/integr13.vws
Global path: /net/ccsvr05/viewstore/integr13.vws
It has the following rights:
User : vobadm : rwx
Group: dvt : rwx
Other: : r-x

(See View's Private Storage Area for a command that creates a view with a remote private storage area.)

7. If you used mkview, verify your work. Examine the mkview command's output to verify that the access permissions are in accordance with your decisions in Step #1-Step #3. In addition, examine the host-local path and global path. You may need to make adjustments similar to those discussed in Ensuring Global Access to the VOB-Special Cases for UNIX.