Importing ClearCase history from base ClearCase

Use the ClearCase® Importer to import Rational® ClearCase version history from a base ClearCase stream to Rational Team Concert™ source control. Once imported, you can modify the files in Rational Team Concert source control, but you cannot export any changes to ClearCase.

Before you begin

Before you can import ClearCase data with version history, you must configure a synchronization host, then create and add a synchronization process account. You must also prepare the ClearCase data by applying label types and attribute types.

About this task

Once you have completed or verified all of the prerequisite requirements, complete the following tasks to import files and folders with history from base ClearCase.

Importing a base ClearCase stream

Create a synchronization stream for importing base ClearCase history by completing the following steps.

Procedure

  1. Click File > Import.
  2. In the Import window, expand Jazz Source Control, select ClearCase Stream or Branch, and click Next.
  3. In the ClearCase Stream Information page, select Import with history from ClearCase. Because the ClearCase Importer does not export changes in Rational Team Concert source control to ClearCase, branch information is not used, so the branch type field is disabled. Click OK to close the Import with History information window.
  4. Specify a configuration for the Rational ClearCase dynamic view that the wizard creates to support the import process:
    1. To configure the view from a label type, select Import from an existing Base ClearCase branch.
    2. Enter the selector for an existing label type in the form label-type-name@VOB-tag. This label type is the backstop label type which is used to create the synchronized stream. The backstop label type must have the lowest attribute value associated with it. For details see Preparing Rational ClearCase data.
    The wizard validates the syntax (but not the existence) of the label type, then enables the Next button.
  5. Click Next.
  6. In the ClearCase Storage Information page, specify the network path to a directory where the wizard can create view storage for a Rational ClearCase dynamic view to enable importing from Rational ClearCase to Jazz™. The Importer seeds this entry with a network path consisting of the local host name and the string \VIEWSTORAGE. If this directory exists on the local host and is a valid location for view storage (it must be shared on Windows® or exported on the UNIX® system or Linux®), you can use it. Otherwise, specify the network path to another local or remote directory where the view storage can be created. The wizard creates a dynamic view with storage in this directory and a distinctive view tag (the prefix DO_NOT_USE and a UUID suffix). This view should be considered off limits by Rational ClearCase users.

    If applicable, check Enter additional option set information for creating ClearCase views and enter the appropriate values for Host, Host Path, and Global Path: the hostname, host-local path, and global storage path, respectively, of the ClearCase server storage location.

  7. Click Next. The wizard validates the view storage path and, if provided, the global storage path.
  8. On the Select Project or Team Area page, expand the repository entry and select the project or team area to which you added the synchronization process account (see Adding the synchronization process account to your team area). If there are no entries under the repository, verify that you are connected to the project area, then try again. Click Next.
  9. The Jazz Source Control Information page displays the name of a merge workspace that the wizard will create. You can choose another name if you want. If the repository contains a workspace with the name you chose, the wizard extends it with a string that makes it unique. (A merge workspace is a repository workspace where you resolve conflicts that occur when a file or folder has been modified in parallel in Rational ClearCase and Rational Team Concert source control).
  10. A default Synchronization user ID is displayed in this field. (The default ID is ccsync.) If you are using a synchronization user ID other than the default, replace the ID with the correct value. Enter the password for the Synchronization user ID. For more information, see Creating a synchronization process account.
  11. Type the path name where the ClearCase Connector is installed on this host in the Connector install location field, or click Browse to browse for it. The ClearCase Connector is typically installed in the Rational Team Concert installation directory.
  12. Select Start a Jazz Synchronization Engine process after the wizard finishes, and select Start the Select Files wizard after this wizard finishes.
  13. Click Finish. The ClearCase Importer creates a synchronized stream in Rational Team Concert, starts the synchronization engine process in the background, then opens the Select Files wizard.

Importing files and folders with history

About this task

In the Select Files wizard, select ClearCase files and folders as synchronized roots, and specify the attribute type that is attached to the label types you want to import.

Procedure

  1. On the Select Files To Import page, complete one of the following actions to select files and folder in a base ClearCase component whose version history you want to import.
    Note: If a file or folder does not have the label type that you entered for the dynamic view configuration specification, it cannot be selected for import.
    Restriction: Only select folders or files whose versions have label types with all attribute values that you are going to import.As each successive label type with attached attribute value is imported, any synchronized roots that are not visible with that label type and value are removed. Once a folder is removed as a synchronized root, no further version information is imported for that folder, even if it exists with subsequent label types.

    For example, if a folder has one version with the label type and an associated attribute value with an integer of 3 and another version with that label type and attribute value with an integer of 5, but no version with an integer of 4, then that folder is removed from the synchronized roots list during the import of all label types with an attribute integer of 4. The folder is not added back to the list during the import of all label types with attribute integer of 5.

    • To show the list of files and folders that are currently being imported, select Show currently imported objects in the table.
    • To select files and folders by browsing mounted VOBs, click Browse to display a list of VOBs mounted by the synchronization host. (To speed up browsing, unmount any VOBs that you do not intend to access.) If no VOBs are visible in the window, verify that the VOBs from which you want to import are mounted on the synchronization host. When you have finished selecting files and folders, click OK to close the browser and display the selected paths in the list of Files and folders to import.
    • To select files and folders manually, enter a path name that is visible in the Rational ClearCase stream you specified and then click Add. The path name must be relative to the view root. All path names that you specify for import must begin with a VOB tag (without any leading / or \ characters) and include the full path from the VOB root to the project root folder. For example:

      sources\eclipse_projects\my_project

      selects a folder named my_project that is stored in the eclipse_projects folder of the VOB whose VOB tag is \sources.
  2. Enter the attribute type that is attached to the label type that you specified on the ClearCase Stream Information page. This attribute type must be applied to the label types before the ClearCase Importer can import any version history. (See details above, in Before you begin.) Enter the attribute type in the form <attribute-type-name>@<VOB-selector>. For example, com.ibm.rational.basecc.importer@\basevob. The Importer imports versions with label types that have the specified attribute type attached. Versions that have the label types without the attached attribute type are ignored.
  3. Click Finish to close the Select Files wizard and begin importing the specified ClearCase files and folder with version history. Depending on the size of the VOB, number of label types that have the attached attribute type, and the amount of historical data tagged by these label types, the import could take from a few minutes to hours or days.

Results

After the initial import, you can import subsequent version history for the selected files and folders by running a synchronization on the synchronized stream. If you select additional files and/or folders as synchronized roots after the initial import, they are not imported with history starting from the backstop label type. They are imported only with history from label types with associated attribute type values that are subsequent to the last import.
Tip: To import additional files and folders with the same history (starting from the same backstop label type) as the originally imported files and folders, create a new synchronized stream, selecting a synchronized root that contains all of the files and folders that you want to import with that history.

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