Question & Answer
Question
What are those temporary dot files in my IBM® Rational® ClearCase® view and what should be done with them?
Answer
During certain operations ClearCase creates temporary files with particular name extensions.
The following is a list of the most common temporary files you may see in your view from time to time.
Note: All of these files are view-private files.
| .mkelem | Files being added to source control from the GUI will use this extension during an "Add to Source Control" operation.
If you see this file in your view during the mkelem process, that is OK. If you still see the file after the mkelem operation is complete, that is not ok. You will likely need to rename the file (remove the .mkelem extension) and add it to source control again. This can be seen when your antivirus software is scanning the mvfs. Refer to technote 1149511 Support Policy for Anti-Virus and ClearCase for further information. When using the ClearCase Cadence Integration, if you attempt to use the gdmci -initial command to add a large file to source control and do not have the correct permissions to add to source control .mkelem files may occur. The workaround is to rename the file (removing the .mkelem extension) and obtain the correct permissions for your environment through your administrator. |
| .checkin | These are files you may see either in the middle of a checkin process or they may have been left over after cleartool checkin -from in older ClearCase versions (2002.05.00 and prior). |
| .contrib | These files contain the saved contents of a merge operation. The .contrib files are generally used to compare the file's previous contents with its new after-merge version. They can be safely removed from your view.
See technote 1322745 for information About removing .contrib files that were mistakenly added to source control. |
| .keep | Optional files created which saves a copy of the version prior to uncheckout. They can be safely removed from your view. |
| .loading | These files represent the transition of elements being loaded into a snapshot view. If you see these files in your view, it is recommended that you remove them and update the view again to obtain any versions that were not properly loaded. |
| .merge | These files are created in the process of a merge and are used to resolve merge conflicts. They can be safely removed from your view. |
| .unloaded | Files with this extension contain a list of the files removed from a snapshot view. They can be safely removed from your view. |
| .hijacked .checkedout | If you hijacked a version that is not the latest version in the VOB, a subsequent checkout operation prompts you to merge the hijacked file with the newer version in the VOB (see Hijacked version may not be the latest version). This results in the renaming of the hijacked file to <filename>.hijacked The checkout is then made from the newer version in the VOB and the version data is copied to <filename>.checkedout. Both the .hijacked and .checkedout files are used as input to the merge and the results are subsequently saved in <filename> |
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Modified date:
16 June 2018
UID
swg21255163