RE: Using ClearCase for FM version control

[Mike Tatro <tatro@xxxxxxx>]

Deborah-

Excellent points. I'd like to build on a few of them.

I've personally used ClearCase and Perforce. IMHO, Perforce is MUCH better.

My current "deal with the source control devil" is this:

 We don't control my source files, we control my *deliverables*

This is huge. Ideally, I check-in a "docs.tar" file (containing PDF versions
of the manuals, READMEs, online HTML files, etc.) once per release.
Realistically, I end up doing this a few times for each release.

The developers are happy because they can look into the tar file and find
the pieces they need for their builds. The deliverables are vaulted and
backed up. 

I work with local files. However, at least daily I fire off a DOS batch file
that copies any of my source files that have changed over to our RAID5
fileserver. So my source is backed up. Periodically, I also zip up an entire
release's worth of source files and put those on the central fileserver as
well (I'm anal about protecting data).

Anyway, it's working great. I even use a batch file to create the "docs.tar"
file. I can create a new one in less than 5 minutes.

'Hope this helps.

Warmest Regards,
Michael L. Tatro
Documentation Manager/Webmaster
VSI, an Esker company (www.vsi.com)
Voice: (949) 462-2247
  Fax: (949) 462-3347
Email: tatro@vsi.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Deborah Snavely [mailto:dsnavely@aurigin.com]
> Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2000 11:30 AM
> To: 'framers@omsys.com'
> Subject: Using ClearCase for FM version control
> 
> 
> We use ClearCase for version control. It's not my idea of a 
> great thing, in
> fact it's a pain in the patootie.  DISCLAIMER: I can see that 
> many of these
> issues might apply equally to ANY source control software.
> 
> Gotchas:
> FrameMaker lock files!  Don't try to work on a server with 
> ClearCase files.
> If you EVER accidentally add a lock file (*.lck) to source 
> control, you'll
> have to go to a buildmaster or whoever to delete it. You 
> cannot. And you
> won't be able (of course) to work on the Frame file until you 
> deal with the
> lock file. The usual workaround is to delete the lock file on 
> the server
> (after, for example, a network outage that disrupted a Frame 
> work session). 
> 
> Similar effect for auto-backup files. (I've turned off 
> auto-backup, and
> turned on autosave.)  This one's not as big a gotcha, but it 
> means that you
> either must check out all the backup files as well as the 
> files in a book
> before starting to work on a book if your files are on a server.
> 
> Related aggro with Frame's use of multiple files at all; 
> ClearCase doesn't
> understand about generating books, and if you haven't checked 
> out all the
> files in a book, you could find yourself road-blocked in the 
> middle of a
> session and maybe even lose some work (or have to save temp 
> copies elsewhere
> while you check out all the necessary files). 
> 
> Our Docs workaround for all of this is to work on LOCAL copies of
> everything. We then regularly (after a batch of work on it, 
> or weekly, or as
> needed) check out the suite of Frame files for the project, 
> copy over the
> local files into ClearCase, and check 'em in. This still 
> leaves one local
> copies to go on working.
> 
> It's all very unlike what I believe to be the point of source 
> control...but
> that's life. 
> 
> Also, we have found the process of checking in and checking 
> out files to be
> SLOW....something that really makes the gang-checkin/checkout 
> process a task
> to be dreaded. (And one reason among many why I try to 
> minimize the number
> of files I'm checking out/in! the ClearCase overhead is per file.)
> 
> I've recently learned (thanks to Ananda) that part of the 
> slowness problem
> is a \Docs VOB (a term I still don't grok after a year) with 
> thousands more
> "elements" in it than Rational recommends (I tried to get a 
> number using
> Windows Find *.* on that VOB and maxed the search limit, so 
> it's more than
> 10,000). We have a planned "solution" (make the buildmaster 
> create a new
> Docs VOB for each release in hopes of getting our numbers 
> south of 5,000
> elements per VOB) but implementation must wait on his 
> sabbatical because the
> temporary build-bod ain't up to that task and there's a 
> releas pending.
> (When isn't there?)
> 
> Oh, one other point. I'm not stupid, I don't think...and I 
> couldn't make
> head nor tails of the ClearCase tutorial. Tried and tried and 
> tried, and
> always quit after 4 or 5 screens. Sigh. My boss introduced 
> the pragmatic
> "here's how we work it" and since then I've quit trying to 
> get my brain
> around it. Rational...it ain't, unless maybe they train 
> better than they
> write tutorials.  
> 
> Feel free to ask questions. 
> 
> Deborah Snavely, Document Architect, Aurigin Systems, Inc.
> dsnavely@aurigin.com     (408) 517-7414

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