Chapter 1 Overview of Platform-Specific Considerations

Rational ClearCase Version 2002.05.00 and Rational ClearCase LT Version 2002.05.00 (referred to collectively as ClearCase in this document) support the major platforms used for software development. By platform, we mean a specific operating system running on a specific hardware architecture. ClearCase supports the major Windows platforms on the Intel architecture. In addition, it supports multiple UNIX platforms. For details on the platforms supported, see the Release Notes for ClearCase.

Most ClearCase functionality is the same on all supported platforms, but it is impossible to make all versions identical because ClearCase is tightly integrated with the underlying operating system. So ClearCase varies somewhat according to the type of computer you are running it on. These variations fall under a number of different, though overlapping, categories:

• Windows/UNIX Differences

• MVFS Support

• ClearCase Client/Server Functionality

• Other Differences

This online document has three goals:

• To discuss at a high level the major areas of platform differentiation.

• To describe in some detail important differences in functionality by platform.

• To reference other areas of the ClearCase documentation set for more details. (Note that each product has its own Installation Guide, Release Notes, and Administrator's Guide.)