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New features and other changes in Rational ClearCase version 9.0.0.x

Question & Answer


Question

What are the new features and other changes in ClearCase?

Answer

Descriptions of the changes are organized by version-specific tabs.

V9.0

ClearTeam Explorer (CTE) enhancements

Browsing views

It is easier to browse dynamic views in CTE:

  • "My views" shows your started dynamic views.
  • "Other dynamic views" shows the started dynamic views of other users.

Invoking CTE operations from the command line

By default, cleartool commands that support the -graphical option invoke the native-client GUIs. When you set the environment variable CCASE_USE_GUI to cte (case-insensitive), the following commands invoke the equivalent operations in CTE:

  • deliver
  • findmerge
  • lshistory
  • lsvtree
  • rebase
  • update

Note that when CCASE_USE_GUI is set, options for these commands other than -graphical are not supported.

Smart card authentication

CTE users of web views can use smart cards to authenticate their identities to CCRC WAN Servers. In this release, only CTE on Windows clients communicating with Unix and Linux CCRC WAN Servers is supported. Support was validated using United States Department of Defense Common Access Cards (CAC). To configure CCRC WAN Server for smart-card log-in, refer to instructions in technote http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21978911 .

Cadence Virtuoso integration enhancements

Renaming elements

In previous releases, the Cadence rename operation copied the element version to a new name and uncataloged (rmname'd) the original version. Thus, the element's history was not preserved. In this release, the rename operation works as it does in ClearCase, preserving the element's history. (If the rename operation fails, the renamed object is saved as a view-private object.)

Platform support

The Cadence integration has been validated with version IC 617 and is now supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 on X86.

Other enhancements

Support for large configuration records

The size of the build configuration record file can now exceed 4GB to support extremely large product builds.

New view database schema

The 9.0 release introduces a new view database schema. Newly created views, or views automatically converted to use the new format after an upgrade, will not be able to be hosted on earlier ClearCase releases.

Windows VOB server machine scalability

On Windows, the Lock Manager file descriptor limit has been increased from 1024 to 2048. This change enables Windows VOB server machines to host more VOBs.

Performance improvements on Unix and Linux platforms

Commands that access all VOBs that are mounted at the VOB mount point execute substantially faster in this release than they did in previous releases. However, additional VOB host memory may be needed to accommodate the code changes. For more information, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21977039 .

Security topics

Configuring SSL certificates

For instructions on configuring SSL certificates, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21976656 . This tech note includes a troubleshooting guide for various configurations of clients, servers, and certificates.

New on developerWorks: "Deploying secure software configuration management"

This article describes all ClearCase security features concisely, explaining how they can be deployed on various network topologies to satisfy different security requirements. Read it here: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/rational-deploy-secure-software-configuration-management-trs/index.html .

Determining a Windows user's home directory

To determine a user's home directory, ClearCase on Windows now uses an operating system API that is different from that used in older releases. This API returns the user's profile folder (CSIDL_PROFILE). However, if the call fails, the value of the HOME or HOMEDRIVE/HOMEPATH environment variable is used instead, as in older releases.

Feature level 9

This release introduces feature level 9, which affects only ClearCase MultiSite operations. (For a list of all feature levels and the behaviors that they enable, refer to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21119269 .)

Assignment of explicit mastership to branches

A branch created in a VOB replica is assigned explicit mastership when all of the following conditions are satisfied:

  • The replica feature level is 9.
  • Request for mastership (RFM) is enabled.
  • The branch type of which the branch is an instance is mastered at the local replica.

Under these conditions, the new branch is assigned explicit mastership when it is created by either of the two mkbranch operations: cleartool mkbranch or cleartool checkout in a view where a config spec rule includes a -mkbranch clause.

The change in branch mastership assignments described above changes the behavior of multitool reqmaster and multitool chmaster:

  • If the new branch has a checkout or is locked, the transfer of mastership (via reqmaster or chmaster) of the branch type is no longer blocked.
  • If the transfer of mastership of the branch instances is blocked, but all instances are explicitly mastered, then the transfer (via either command) of the branch type is no longer blocked.

To revert to the behavior in older releases, use chmaster -default and specify a branch instance or branch type (if the latter, all instances of the type are included).

New oplog entry

A new oplog entry ensures nondivergent replication of "sideways" rebase operations.

Changes to automatic views

For information about changes to automatic views in this release, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21699087 .

Changes in support

  • This release supports Java 7 on Solaris and Java 8 on all other supported platforms.
  • For information on discontinued platform support and deprecated components in this release, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21974374 .
  • For information about the recent change in the support policy for network attached storage devices, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21971394 .
  • CentOS continues to be supported under Limited Vendor Support (refer to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21642397 ). However, CentOS has been removed from ClearingHouse.
  • The ClearCase UCM integration with locally installed ClearQuest (informally known as SQUID) is no longer supported. Accordingly, the -url option for the crmregister add and replace commands is no longer optional.

Changes to commands

Changes to commands are described above in the context of the features with which they are associated

V9.0.0.1

ClearTeam Explorer (CTE) enhancements

Checking out and merging arbitrary versions using the version tree

In this release, you can check out any version of an element from its version tree. (In older releases, the only candidate for a checkout operation was the version selected by your view.) Similarly, you can select any version in the tree as the merge-to version.

Send-to menu item (Windows only)

When you right-click a version that is displayed in the version tree, the history browser, or the change set viewer, the context menu includes a "Send to" menu item that you can use to send a copy of the version to an email recipient, create a shortcut on your desktop, and so on.

Support for deliver -graphical and rebase -graphical

By default, the deliver -graphical command invokes the native-client GUIs. When you set the environment variable CCASE_USE_GUI to cte (case-insensitive), this command displays the equivalent CTE operation. Similarly, rebase -graphical invokes the CTE operation when the EV is set. All options for these commands are supported in this context except -query and -qall.

Cadence Virtuoso integration enhancements

Locking label types

The integration supports locking a label type, which prevents instances of the type from being moved.

Opening cellviews in read-only or edit modes

The Hierarchy Manager and Work Area Manager (WAM) support opening a cellview in either read-only or edit modes. Right-click on the cellview and select "Open read-only..." or "Open for edit...".

Filtering label types

You can filter label types to include only the types that you want to see. Type the filter text in in the "Label Filter" text box, then click "Fetch labels." You can also set the environment variable CCASE_LABEL_FILTER to a filter value, which causes the "Label filter" box to be populated with that value.

Improvements to rename operation

The rename operation supports synchronous requests for mastership (SRFM) and polling for checkout and checkin of nonmastered parents in replicated VOBs. A library rename updates references automatically (previously, references had to be updated manually). Note that you cannot rename an object if the cell view is open in an editor.

Listing hierarchy elements managed by ClearCase

The option "Show Items With DM System CCASE" enables you to filter out cell views in a design hierarchy whose design manager is not ClearCase.

Platform support

This release introduces support the following platforms:

  • Solaris 11 Update 3
  • AIX 7.2 SP 2, 7.1 TL4
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Update 8
  • WebSphere Application Server / IBM HTTP Server 8.5.5.9, 8.5.5.8, 8.0.0.12
  • Ubuntu 16.04 (32- and 64-bit)
  • Microsoft Office 2016

Oracle Linux Red Hat Compatible Kernel 6.7 and 7.x are supported under the support policy described in tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21642397 .

Updating the SSL keystore

Following installation of this release, home-directory/.keystore_clearcase files must be deleted and recreated on machines that run

  • The ClearCase Remote Client (this client encompasses the CCRC GUI and CLI (rcleartool) interfaces).
  • The Change Management Application Program Interface (CM API)

This task is unnecessary for the Change Management Integration (CMI) and the Base ClearCase / ClearQuest V2 integration, regardless of whether the remote client (CCRC) or the local client (CCLC) is running.

Registering a trust manager callback for the Change Management (CM) API

Due to internal changes in this release, there is a new requirement for CM API code to register a trust manager callback, regardless of whether SSL is in use or not. For instructions, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21983611 .

Changes to commands and APIs

  • The rcleartool command facility now supports the lsvtree command.
  • The default output of the clearmake command has been changed to include time values. For details about this change, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21981996.
  • The CM API CcFile.doCcCheckout method provides a new flag, VIEW_SELECTED_VERSION, which supports checkouts of non-latest element versions.

Status of automatic views

For release-specific information about automatic views, including instructions on installing server components, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21699087 .

Status of the feature level

The ClearCase feature level is unchanged in this release. For information on feature levels and ClearCase releases, refer to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21119269 .

V9.0.0.2

Changes to commands and APIs

  • The rcleartool command facility now supports the move subcommand.
  • The rcleartool command facility now supports the lsbl subcommand.

Status of automatic views

For release-specific information about automatic views, including instructions on installing server components, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21699087 .

Status of the feature level

The ClearCase feature level is unchanged in this release. For information on feature levels and ClearCase releases, refer to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21119269 .

V9.0.0.3

  • Changes to commands and APIs

The rcleartool command facility now supports the lsproject subcommand.

  • Cadence Integration

Supports Cadence new cell view "Maestro".

  • Platform support

This release introduces support for the following platforms:

- SLES 12 SP2 x86 and L390

- RHEL 7.3 (X86, PPC, S390)

Status of automatic views

For release-specific information about automatic views, including instructions on installing server components, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21699087 .

Status of the feature level

The ClearCase feature level is unchanged in this release. For information on feature levels and ClearCase releases, refer to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21119269 .

V9.0.0.4

  • Changes to commands and APIs

The rcleartool command facility now supports the lstype subcommand.

The rcleartool command facility now supports the mkattype subcommand.

  • Supported configurations

ClearCase can recognize more than 16 groups per user account for certain operating system configurations. For information on Configuring ClearCase to recognize more than 16 groups for a Linux/UNIX user account, refer to the tech note Server-side group substitution: Configuring ClearCase to recognize more than 16 groups for a Linux/UNIX user account.

  • Cadence Virtuoso Integration

Using "Label Info" dialog, designers can query the labels applied on each version of the cellview.

Checkout of cell views is now atomic in nature.

Designers can remove a label from designs using 'Remove Label'.

SKILL based Graphical APIs to help designers perform design management operations namely Checkin, Checkout, Cancel Checkout, Delete and Label.

  • Platform support

This release introduces support for the following platforms:

- AIX 7.2 TL1

- Window Server 2016 (basic support)

- WAS/IHS 8.0.0.13

- WAS/IHS 8.5.5.11

Status of automatic views

For release-specific information about automatic views, including instructions on installing server components, refer to tech note http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21699087 .

Status of the feature level

The ClearCase feature level is unchanged in this release. For information on feature levels and ClearCase releases, refer to http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21119269 .

V9.0.0.5

Security

The JRE delivered with this release has new trusted public certificate authorities in the trust store. If you have customized your trust stores in previous releases, take the new trust stores from this release and reintegrate in your local changes. For information about upgrading to a new release when configuring SSL certificates, see the "Upgrading to a new release" section in technote http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21976656 .

Depending on your operating system, these are the updated trust store file paths. You can compare the updated templates to your versions in the corresponding pathnames without the .template suffix.

  • UNIX: /var/adm/rational/clearcase/config/cacert.pem.template
  • Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\RationalSDLC\ClearCase\config\ccrc\ccrc_ucmcq_key.*.template

ClearTeam Explorer (CTE) enhancements

With UCM you can now refresh the activity list on a stream during any common dialog box operations (for example, Check Out, Check In, Add to Source Control, Rename, Move, and so on). If any activity is added or deleted after a common dialog box is opened, in the drop-down list for the Select Activity section, select <Refresh…> to refresh the activity list.

Cadence Virtuoso integration enhancements

  • Apply and Remove Label operations have been consolidated into a single Label dialog box. You can either choose to apply or remove labels from the selected items. In addition, you can filter cellviews and select from a choice of label options such as locking and unlocking a label type. Both apply and remove operations now present a consolidated label report as well.
  • Fetching the label types now lists them in a sorted order in the Label dialog box.
  • The ClearCase Work Area Manager (WAM) now shows the attached labels on design elements in a newly introduced Label column. Also for the selected element, labels, if any, are listed in the Label list box on the Work Area Manager window.
  • For ClearCase Delete, in addition to the originally selected elements, you can now add more elements such as other libraries, cells, and cellviews; and then all the selected elements can be deleted at the same time.
  • Use the ClearCase Config Spec Editor to set your configuration specification for your workspace. This editor lets designers configure their workspace in terms of libraries, cells, cellviews, and design hierarchies based on provided version selectors.

New platform support

  • WebSphere Application Server / IBM HTTP Server 8.5.5.12
  • Ubuntu 16.04.2 4.8-HWE on the following platforms:
    • Linux 32-bit (linux_x86) and 64-bit (linux_x86_64)

Microsoft Visual Studio support

This release introduces support for Visual Studio 2017 and discontinues support for Visual Studio 2012.

Supported configurations

If your registry server host is a multi-processor/multi-core machine, you can now optionally configure the ClearCase registry server to utilize multiple threads that will provide additional registry server throughput. For instructions on how to enable and configure this feature, see technote http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22004423 .

Changes to commands and APIs

  • The CM API CcFile interface has a new doCcCheckin method. This new method adds to the existing checkin functionality with support for the new KEEP and REMOVE flags, as well as the FROM_FILE property that allows for checkin from an alternate source. This new functionality is only supported for dynamic and snapshot views.
  • The CM API CcVersion interface has a new doIsAncestorOf method, which checks the ancestor relationship between two versions.
  • In the rcleartool command facility, the merge subcommand now supports the -insert and -delete arguments.
  • The clearmake command now provides insight into where its elapsed time is consumed if invoked with the -d argument. This is particularly helpful for parallel distributed builds, where the time spent waiting for build hosts, or for more parallelism (audited build executor processes or abes), is presented.
  • To improve performance, in the cleartool command facility, for the lsview subcommand with the -prop argument, modifications have made to reduce the time spent waiting for responses from off-line view hosts.

Status of the feature level

The ClearCase feature level is unchanged in this release. For information on feature levels and ClearCase releases, refer to technote http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21119269 .

Changes to automatic views

For information about changes to automatic views in this release, refer to technote http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21699087 .

V9.0.0.6

Cadence Virtuoso integration enhancements

  • Branching support in the ClearCase Configuration Editor
  • Performance enhancements:
    • Property sheet in cell view editors
    • Apply and remove label operations
    • Label reporting
  • ClearCase Work Area Manager (WAM) enhancements:
    • Ability to filter WAM items based on labels
    • Automatic refresh of the WAM table and item details pane after labeling and design management (DM) operations

New platform support

  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 service pack 3 on x86-64 and S/390
  • Windows 10 Fall Creators Update on x86-64

Changes to commands and APIs

  • The CM API CcDirectory interface has two new methods: doCreateHardLink and doCreateSymlink. These new methods allow callers to create VOB hard links and VOB symbolic links. This new functionality is supported in all four view types.
  • The rcleartool command now supports the ln subcommand. This is supported for both web and automatic views.

Status of the feature level

The ClearCase feature level is unchanged in this release. For information on feature levels and ClearCase releases, refer to technote http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21119269 .

Changes to automatic views

For information about changes to automatic views in this release, refer to technote http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21699087 .

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Document Information

Modified date:
11 February 2019

UID

swg21972269