cleartool

ClearCase and ClearCase LT user-level commands (command-line interface)

APPLICABILITY

SYNOPSIS

• Single-command mode:

cleartool subcommand [ options/args ]

• Interactive mode:

cleartool [ -e ] [ -status ]

cleartool> subcommand [ options/args ]
.
.
.

cleartool> quit

• Display version information for ClearCase or ClearCase LT, the kernel, and cleartool:

cleartool -ver·sion

• Display version information for ClearCase or ClearCase LT, the kernel, cleartool, and the UNIX libraries or ClearCase or ClearCase LT Windows DLLs that cleartool uses:

cleartool -VerAll

DESCRIPTION

cleartool is the primary command-line interface to ClearCase and ClearCase LT version-control and configuration management software. It has a rich set of subcommands that create, modify, and manage the information in VOBs and views.

cleartool SUBCOMMANDS

Each cleartool subcommand is described in its own reference page, but not all subcommands are available in ClearCase LT. See individual reference pages to determine which commands are available in ClearCase LT.

GETTING HELP

cleartool provides several online help facilities for its subcommands:

• Syntax summary - To display a syntax summary for an individual subcommand, use the help subcommand or the -help option:

cleartool help	(syntax of all subcommands)
cleartool help mklabel	(syntax of one subcommand)
cleartool mklabel -help	(syntax of one subcommand)

• Reference pages - cleartool has its own interface to the UNIX man(1) command and Windows Help Viewer. Enter cleartool man command-name to display the reference page for a command.

Reference pages are also accessible from the Windows help system's main contents. On UNIX systems, type hyperhelp main.hlp to view the main contents.

See the man and hyperhelp reference pages for more information.

USAGE OVERVIEW

You can use cleartool in either single-command mode or interactive mode. A single cleartool command can be invoked from a UNIX shell or the Windows command interpreter using this syntax:

cleartool subcommand [ options-and-args ]

If you want to enter a series of subcommands, enter the cleartool command with no arguments. This places you at the interactive mode prompt:

cleartool>

You can then issue any number of subcommands (simply called "commands" from now on), ending with quit to return to the shell or command interpreter. You can continue cleartool commands onto additional lines as follows:

• On UNIX systems, use the backslash (\)

• On Windows systems, use the caret (^)

Interactive Mode Options

These options apply to interactive mode:

• -e causes cleartool to exit upon encountering an error.

• -status returns the status (0 or 1) of each cleartool subcommand executed.

Command Options

Command options may appear in any order, but all options must precede any nonoption arguments (typically, names of files, versions, branches, and so on). If an option is followed by an additional argument, such as -branch /main/bugfix, there must be white space between the option string and the argument. If the argument itself includes space characters, it must be enclosed in quotes.

If a non-option argument begins with a hyphen (-) character, you may need to precede it with a double-hyphen argument, to prevent it from being interpreted as an option:

cleartool rmtype -lbtype -- -temporary_label-

Command Abbreviations and Aliases

Many subcommand names and option words can be abbreviated. A subcommand's syntax summary indicates all valid abbreviations. For example:

-pre·decessor

This means that you can abbreviate the option to the minimal -pre, or to any intermediate spelling: -pred, -prede, and so on.

For option words, the minimal abbreviation is always three characters or fewer.

A few cleartool commands have a built-in command alias. For example, checkin's alias is ci; checkout's alias is co. These commands are equivalent:

cleartool checkin test.c

cleartool ci test.c

ARGUMENTS IN cleartool COMMANDS

Arguments in cleartool commands specify objects-either file-system objects (which may or may not be in a VOB) or non-file-system VOB objects. File-system objects are elements, versions, VOB symbolic links, derived objects, view-private directories, and view-private files. File-system objects also include files, UNIX symbolic links, and directories that have been loaded into a snapshot view. Examples of arguments that specify file-system objects:

cleartool ls .
cleartool mkelem new_doc
cleartool checkin -nc ..\src\main.h

Non-file-system VOB objects include types (attribute, branch, element, hyperlink, label, replica, trigger), pools, hyperlinks, replicas, and VOBs. Examples of arguments that specify non-file-system VOB objects:

cleartool lock brtype:v2_release
cleartool describe vob:/vobs/smg_tmp
cleartool mkhltype tested_by

The sections File-System Objects and Non-File-System VOB Objects give more details about specifying objects.

NOTE: If a nonoption argument begins with a hyphen (-), you may need to precede it with a double-hyphen argument to prevent it from being interpreted as an option.

Use of Slashes and Backslashes on Windows Systems

Slashes (/) and backslashes (\) can be used interchangeably in pathnames in cleartool commands. For example, the following command is legal on a Windows host:

z:\myvob> cleartool ls /srcvob/util.c

File-System Objects

To specify a file-system object as an argument, you can use either a full or relative pathname. In many cases, you can also use these variants: a view-extended pathname (full or relative) or a version-extended pathname (full or relative).

On UNIX systems, a full pathname begins with a slash; for example:

On Windows systems, a full pathname begins with an optional drive letter and a backslash; for example:

NOTE: In general, you perform ClearCase and ClearCase LT on Windows operations in a view context, on a drive assigned with the Windows net use command or by clicking Tools`Map Network Drive in Windows Explorer. It is rare to work directly on M:, the default dynamic-views drive. However, it is common to use view-extended pathnames that include the M:\view-tag prefix.

On UNIX systems, a relative pathname does not begin with a slash or an implied slash (for example, ~user). For example:

On Windows systems, a relative pathname does not begin with a backslash. For example:

NOTE: On Windows systems, pathnames relative to another drive (for example, c:\lib\util.o when c:\ is not the current drive) are not supported.

For both full and relative pathnames:

• The standard operating system pathname of an element implicitly references the version selected by the current view.

• A view-extended pathname references the version of the element selected by the specified view.

• A version-extended pathname directly references a particular version in an element's version tree.

For more information, see the version_selector and pathnames_ccase reference pages.

NOTE: On Windows systems, although the ClearCase MVFS uses case-insensitive lookup by default, cleartool itself is case-sensitive.

Non-File-System VOB Objects

In cleartool commands, you specify non-file-system VOB objects (VOBs, types, pools, hyperlinks, and replicas) with object selectors.

Object selectors identify non-file-system VOB objects with a single string:

[prefix:]name[@vob-selector]

where

prefix

Identifies the kind of object. The prefix is optional if the context of the command implies the kind of object. For example,

cleartool mkbrtype brtype:v3_bugfix

is equivalent to

cleartool mkbrtype v3_bugfix

If a context does not imply any particular kind of object, cleartool assumes that a name argument with no prefix is a pathname. For example, the command cleartool describe ddft describes a filesystem object named ddft but cleartool describe pool:ddft describes the ddft pool.

If the name of a file-system object looks like a prefix:name argument, you must use the -pname option to identify it. (In the mkhlink command, the options -fpname and -tpname serve the same function.) For example, to describe a file named lbtype:L, enter this command:

cleartool describe -pname lbtype:L

name

The name of the object. See the section Object Names for the rules about composing names.

vob-selector

VOB specifier. The default is the current working directory, unless the reference page specifies otherwise. Specify vob-selector in the form [vob:]pname-in-vob (for some commands, the vob: prefix is required; this is noted in the reference page)

pname-in-vob

Pathname of the VOB-tag (whether or not the VOB is mounted) or of any file-system object within the VOB (if the VOB is mounted)

Object Names

In object-creation commands, you must compose the object name according to these rules:

• It must contain only letters, digits, and the special characters underscore (_), period (.), and hyphen (-). A hyphen cannot be used as the first character of a name.

• It must not be a valid integer or real number. (Be careful with names that begin with "0x", "0X", or "0", the standard prefixes for hexadecimal and octal integers.)

• It must not be one of the special names " . ", " .. ", or " ... ".

Windows imposes a limit of 260 characters on object names. Consult your operating system documentation for more information about the maximum length of object names, keeping in mind that in a multiplatform environment, object names must conform to the rules of the most restrictive platform.

PROCESSING OF VOB SYMBOLIC LINKS

In general, cleartool commands do not traverse VOB symbolic links; rather, they operate on the link objects themselves. For example:

• You cannot check out a VOB symbolic link, even if it points to an element.

• A describe command lists information on a VOB symbolic link object, not on the object to which it points.

• A mklabel -recurse command walks the entire subtree of a directory element, but it does not traverse any VOB symbolic links it encounters.

UNIX COMMAND-LINE PROCESSING

In single-command mode, the cleartool command you enter is first processed by the UNIX shell. The shell expands file-name patterns and environment variables, and it interprets quotes and other special characters. cleartool processes the resulting argument list directly, without any further interpretation.

In interactive mode, cleartool itself interprets the command line similarly, but not identically, to the UNIX shells:

In interactive mode, cleartool does not expand environment variables and does not perform command substitution.

WINDOWS COMMAND-LINE PROCESSING

Single-Command Mode

In single-command mode, the cleartool command you enter is processed first by the Windows command interpreter and C run-time library, then by cleartool:

1. The standard command interpreter, cmd.exe, expands environment variables, but does no special processing for file-name patterns, quotes, or other special characters (including the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) characters, which are expanded by individual commands).

2. The C run-time library does interpret quotes, stripping each pair and passing its contents through to cleartool as a single argument. (To pass a quote character through to cleartool, escape it with the backslash (\).)

3. cleartool processes the resulting argument list directly, without any further interpretation.

Some third-party shells perform additional command-line processing before passing the argument list through to cleartool. All descriptions and examples of cleartool command usage assume the standard cmd.exe interpreter.

Interactive Mode

In interactive mode, cleartool itself interprets the command line; it recognizes various special characters and constructs:

In interactive mode, cleartool does not expand environment variables.

OBJECT LOCKING

ClearCase and ClearCase LT provide temporary access control through explicit locking of individual objects with the lock command. When an object is locked, it cannot be modified by anyone (except those explicitly excluded from the lock).

cleartool command descriptions list the locks that can prevent a command from being executed, even if you have the necessary permissions. For example, the chtype command lists three locks that would prevent you from changing an element type:

VOB, element type, pool (non-directory elements only)

This means that chtype would fail if the VOB containing the element were locked, if the element's type were locked (such as the text_file type), or if the storage pool containing the (nondirectory) element were locked.

EXIT STATUS

If you exit cleartool by entering a quit command in interactive mode, the exit status is 0. The exit status from single-command mode depends on whether the command succeeded (zero exit status) or generated an error message (nonzero exit status).

Note that for the diff command, success means finding no differences.

UNIX FILES

SEE ALSO

comments, fmt_ccase, pathnames_ccase, permissions, profile_ccase, version_selector, wildcards_ccase, Administrator's Guide