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Background

My company has been moving toward ClearCase for its source control solution and, to that end, I have been learning to use said tool in my daily development activities. Recently, my company-issued laptop gave up the ghost and was replaced. Unfortunately, I didn't have any say in what was copied over to the new device and the install tech ignored my ClearCase view storage directories.

Question

Is it possible to recover these views from the server, given that they were all dynamic views? I am fairly certain that this is not possible for a snapshot view, since the files are stored locally on the machine that tanked, but I have my fingers crossed for a dynamic view. For reference, the long output for a few of the views is below (some information redacted):

C:\Users\<my_id>>ct lsview -long *<my_id>*
Tag: <my_id>_Shared_FSA_Prod_Dyn
  Global path: \\<old_device_id>\Clearcase_Storage\<my_id>_Shared_FSA_Prod_Dyn.vws
  Server host: <old_device_id>
  Region: SCE
  Active: NO
  View tag uuid:edb85a16.7a564dfd.ac26.9e:d0:2f:3a:62:fe
View on host: <old_device_id>
View server access path: C:\Clearcase_Storage\<my_id>_Shared_FSA_Prod_Dyn.vws
View uuid: edb85a16.7a564dfd.ac26.9e:d0:2f:3a:62:fe
View attributes: ucmview
View owner: SCE\<my_id>

Tag: <my_id>_FSA_Prod_Int_Dyn
  Global path: \\<old_device_id>\Clearcase_Storage\<my_id>_FSA_Prod_Int_Dyn.vws
  Server host: <old_device_id>
  Region: SCE
  Active: NO
  View tag uuid:4536b95b.ee9d45c2.9289.19:3c:64:5b:ae:95
View on host: <old_device_id>
View server access path: C:\Clearcase_Storage\<my_id>_FSA_Prod_Int_Dyn.vws
View uuid: 4536b95b.ee9d45c2.9289.19:3c:64:5b:ae:95
View attributes: ucmview
View owner: SCE\<my_id>

My ultimate goal is to remap the existing views. If that is not possible, removal of the old views (to be recreated on my current Device) is the next option. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

References

Reuse a ClearCase view

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MysteryMoose
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  • The reference you mention is for snapshot view only. Dynamic views are managed by a separate filesystem (MVFS: Multi-Version Filesystem), and you wouldn't be able to restore any file at their root directory. – VonC Sep 06 '12 at 21:08

1 Answers1

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If the view storage associated with the dynamic view is still there and accessible, then yes, you can simply restart your dynamic view.

But if the view storage has been erased, then you cannot restore the dynamic view or recover any of the checked out or private files in it; they were all stored in said storage view.

The next step is to remove that view (unregister and rmtag), before re-creating that view with the same name.
See "How to delete clearcase views created by other users?" for a concrete example of cleartool unregister and cleartool rmtag.

Note that the mapping part is independant of your issue: all dynamic views are started on M:\ drive (for Windows), and are mapped on any free drive letter, with a simple subst windows command:
See for instance "ClearCase, Mapping specific folders into Drives, using dynamic views".

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  • I see, thanks again. So, even though the view is dynamic, the actual file storage is done locally? And, if that is the case, when are the changed artifacts actually pushed to the CC server? I am fairly certain I had checked in my work, however I do not see any of the changed files when I remap the development stream. Also, starting the view fails, which confirms that I am probably SOL on that regard. – MysteryMoose Sep 06 '12 at 21:08
  • @phobos51594 The file storage is done within the view storage of the dynamic view. Ideally, that view storage is accessed through a share to an *external* drive, but in your case, your view storage might have been on your old computer id (ie: erased): data are pushed back on the server on the checkin step. – VonC Sep 06 '12 at 21:10
  • One more question: I began removing the old views. The rmtag operation completed successfully, however I received an error while trying to unregister the VWS file system. CC tells me that it cannot find the file in question (as right it should!). That being said, doesn't this create a chicken-and-egg problem where I need the dead device to be running to remove artifacts of said device dying? Or is simply removing the tag enough since the backing store for that view is kaput? – MysteryMoose Sep 06 '12 at 21:21
  • @phobos51594 the `unregister` part is not about "removing a file", it is about removing the uuid associated with the view. You shouldn't have any issue, providing you did note that uuid (with a `lsview -l`) before doing the `rmtag`. – VonC Sep 06 '12 at 21:23
  • Von: that worked perfectly, thanks. For any others who see this question: use VonC's link about deleting views for other users. The unregister will fail if you use the path to the VWS as other websites might suggest. Use the uuid. Really. – MysteryMoose Sep 06 '12 at 21:30