Breaking the build for a couple days

Question

I recently sent an email to my colleagues explaining that I need to make some changes in our shared ClearCase view which will mean that our project will be in a non-compilable state for a day or two.

One guy is complaining about this. What can I do to prevent his complaining?

Answer 1

The ClearCase way to handle this kind of situation (which can happen when doing a long and complicated merge for instance) is:

• first put a label to identify the situation before any changes
• start the modifications

• if the process takes too long and the other users are affected (either because their dynamic views reflect * immediately* the new versions, or because they need to update their snapshot view, or because you are using the same view, which is possible with dynamic view), then:

  • at least stop sharing the same view, and create your own: if this is a snapshot view, you can use the same config spec. Don't checkin until it compiles again
  • ideally, create it with your own branch, starting from the label: that way you can make intermediate checkins, and then merge it back at the end.

A config spec for using your own branch, starting from the label you would have put before making any dangerous changes would look like:

    element * .../MyBranch LATEST
    element * MY_LABEL -mkbranch myBranch
    element /main/LATEST