ws_helper

Server process connecting an Attache workspace to a ClearCase view

APPLICABILITY

SYNOPSIS

Invoked on the helper host by the albd_server as a result of the mkws or setws commands

DESCRIPTION

The workspace helper program is the process managing the connection between the Attache workspace and ClearCase views and VOBs. There is a one-to-one mapping between Attache workspace users and workspace helper processes. Executing a mkws or setws command starts ws_helper on the helper host, which remains active until you exit the workspace. The -shost option of the mkws command specifies the host on which ws_helper runs. By default this is the view host, if the view can be found in the ClearCase registry.

ws_helper provides the following basic services:

• ClearCase command execution

• File transfer between the workspace and the view

• Wildcard lookup

• Other file-system support

ws_helper is invoked by the albd_server and inherits its environment. Then ws_helper assumes the identity of the user whose identity you provide; however, it does not acquire the user's environment automatically.

On UNIX hosts, ws_helper sets its umask to zero, adds the directory ccase-home-dir/bin to the PATH environment variable, and sets the HOME, LOGNAME, USER, and SHELL environment variables after a user has been successfully authorized. On Windows NT hosts, ws_helper adds the directory ccase-home-dir\bin to the PATH environment variable, and sets the HOME environment variable (if the user's domain account specifies a home directory and the HOME environment variable is not already set as a system variable).

CONFIGURING THE HELPER ENVIRONMENT

You can create a program or script in the bin subdirectory of ccase-home-dir on the helper host to set up and configure the environment in which the Attache helper is invoked. On a UNIX host, the program or script must be named ws_startup; on a Windows NT host, the program or script must be named ws_startup.ext, where ext is bat, com, exe, or any other extension that cmd.exe recognizes to be executable. This program or script can be used to perform security checks, config spec validation, or to set the environment variables needed by any program ws_startup invokes.

NOTE: If ws_startup is a UNIX script, it must be executable for all Attache users, and the first line must be: #! shell, where shell is the path name to the appropriate shell, for example, /bin/csh.

ws_startup can also make use of the environment variables set before it is run, namely:

• ATTACHE_USER, the authorized user's user name

• ATTACHE_VIEW_TAG, the view tag (or workspace name) to which the helper has been set

• ATTACHE_ENV_PN, the name of the temporary file in which a user's environment variables can be set

To set user-specific environment variables, for example, those needed to run triggers, you must have a properly configured file on the helper host:

• If there is a predefined set of environment variables, you can create a file named .attache.env in the user's home directory.

On Windows NT, the helper determines where the user's home directory is by going to the domain controller, which validates the logon and checks the user's profile for a directory path under "Home Directory". For the helper to get to the user's home directory, the directory must be a UNC path because the user's home directory is not necessarily local to the helper host.

• If the information is dynamic, you can have ws_startup create the temporary file whose name can be read from ATTACHE_ENV_PN, and write the environment variables to it.

The workspace helper program attempts to read environment settings first from the file named in ATTACHE_ENV_PN and, only if that file does not exist, from .attache.env.

Entries in the file must appear one per line. For each environment variable ENV_NAME you want to set to the value val, add an entry of the form ENV_NAME=val. For each environment variable you want to unset, add an entry of the form ENV_NAME=.

For UNIX helper hosts, you can also control the umask of the helper process by adding an entry of the form umask=val, where val must be expressed in C integer constant format. That is, val can be a decimal number beginning with the integers 1-9, an octal number beginning with zero, or a hexadecimal number beginning with 0x or 0X (a zero followed by an "x" ). Instead of setting an environment variable, the helper sets its own umask to val. On Windows NT helpers, this entry type is ignored.

RESTRICTIONS

Certain identities are required to use the ws_helper program on Windows NT:

• The identity under which the albd_server (Atria Location Broker) runs must have local Administrator privileges. This is necessary so that the helper program can create services with the Service Control Manager.

• Any authorization identity given to Attache by a client must have "logon as a service" privileges on the helper host.

See the Installation and Release Notes for details.

ERROR LOG

The ws_helper sends warning and error messages to the event log on Windows NT hosts, or to /var/adm/atria/log/ws_helper_log on UNIX hosts.

SEE ALSO

attache, mkws, setws, Administrator's Guide