4.5 Replicating a VOB Between UNIX and Windows

This section describes issues involved in setting up UNIX and Windows replicas at different sites. If you plan to use MultiSite at a single location for interoperability between UNIX and Windows, see Chapter 12, Using MultiSite for Interoperability.

If your sites do not have an IP connection, you must use electronic mail, CD-ROMs, tapes, or diskettes to transfer packets. You may have to solve compatibility problems if you choose to use tapes or diskettes. With electronic mail, you can use compatible encoding and compression methods. However, differences between UNIX and Windows VOBs are handled automatically during packet import.

The most important problems you must prevent are file names that differ only in how they are capitalized, and differences in use of line terminators. If case-sensitive file names are used at one replica and case-insensitive file names are used at another replica, errors can occur during synchronization. Differences in use of line terminators between UNIX and Windows editors cause unexpected behavior during file comparisons and merges. Even if the contents of the files are identical, different line terminators indicate differences in the files and require a merge.

The Administrator's Guide for Rational ClearCase describes these problems and their solutions in detail. Be sure to read it before setting up UNIX and Windows replicas.