The links created with the ln command (VOB symbolic links or VOB hard links) are cataloged in directory versions, in the same way as elements. By default, a link can be created in a directory only if that directory is checked out. A VOB link becomes visible to those using other views only after you have checked in the directory in which you created the link. (ln appends an appropriate default checkin comment to the directory version.)
In a snapshot view, this command executes the update command for elements affected by the link operation.
A VOB symbolic link (created when you use the –slink option) is a separate, unversioned object. It contains a character string, the link text, in the form of a pathname. You can attach attributes and hyperlinks—but not version labels—to a VOB symbolic link.
You cannot check out a VOB symbolic link. To revise a VOB symbolic link, check out its directory, remove the link with rmname, create a new link, and check in the directory. (Note that if you use the –nco option, the checkout and checkin steps are not required.)
We recommend that you use relative VOB symbolic links instead of absolute VOB symbolic links. Absolute VOB symbolic links require you to use absolute pathnames from the VOB tag level; if the VOB mount point should change, the link becomes invalid.
VOB symbolic links that point to files outside the ClearCase MVFS are not supported by the Windows operating system. Although the ln command creates the link, the link does not appear in a standard directory listing; it is displayed only by the cleartool ls command. (This is true for all symbolic links that do not point to a valid MVFS pathname.)
We recommend that you use relative VOB symbolic links instead of absolute VOB symbolic links. Absolute VOB symbolic links require you to use absolute pathnames from the view tag level and are therefore valid only in the view in which they were created.
Note: Although an absolute VOB symbolic link that includes the view tag at the beginning works when you are in the view, an absolute VOB symbolic link pointing to a pathname that begins with a VOB tag (for example, cleartool ln \my_vob\file my_link) does not work.
A VOB hard link (created if you omit the –slink option) is an additional name for an existing element. We recommend that you use VOB symbolic links instead of VOB hard links whenever possible.
In UNIX, you cannot make a VOB hard link to a derived object, but you can make additional UNIX system hard links (created with ln(1)) to a derived object. The links are visible in your view, but are not part of the VOB. For more information, see Building Software.
When you check out a VOB hard link (that is, check out the element it names), all the other names for the element are listed by (cleartool) ls as checkedout but removed and do not appear in Windows Explorer. The element is checked out, but there are no view-private files having the other names. The command lscheckout –all lists the checked-out element only once.
After you check in the element or cancel the checkout (using uncheckout), the other names for the element are listed by (cleartool) ls as disputed checkout, checkedout but removed and do not appear in Windows Explorer. To update the state of the other names, use the setcs –current command.
The merge and findmerge commands can merge both file elements and directory elements. Merging versions of a directory element can involve creating a VOB hard link to a directory or removing a VOB hard link from a directory:
ClearCase and ClearCase LT allow creation of hard links to directories only in this directory-merge context: the two links (both named testing in the example above) must occur in versions of the same directory element (/src in the example above).
No special identity is required if you checked out the directory. To use the –nco option, you must have one of the following identities:
Note: This form of the command is intended for the creation of VOB hard links. If you use this form to create VOB symbolic links, make sure the links do not point to themselves. For example, the following command creates circular links:
cleartool ln –s file.txt dir1
Link created: "dir1/file.txt".
cd dir1
ls –l
lrwxrwxrwx 1 smg user 8 May 12 13:36 file.txt -> file.txt
The following command creates symbolic links that are not circular:
The UNIX examples in this section are written for use in csh. If you use another shell, you may need to use different quoting and escaping conventions.
The Windows examples that include wildcards or quoting are written for use in cleartool interactive mode. If you use cleartool single-command mode, you may need to change the wildcards and quoting to make your command interpreter process the command appropriately.
In cleartool single-command mode, cmd-context represents the UNIX shell or Windows command interpreter prompt, followed by the cleartool command. In cleartool interactive mode, cmd-context represents the interactive cleartool prompt.
Note: In the UNIX examples that follow, arguments and output that show multicomponent VOB tags are not applicable to ClearCase LT, which recognizes only single-component VOB tags. In this manual, a multicomponent VOB tag is by convention a two-component VOB tag of the form /vobs/vob-tag-leaf—for example, /vobs/src. A single-component VOB tag consists of a leaf only—for example, /src. In all other respects, the examples are valid for ClearCase LT.
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