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what is object id in clearcase

I have a very basic question in clearcase.

does every version of an file have same OID? As far as I know each version is an object and each object will have a different OID. I even checked with cleartool dump and each version has different OID.

Solution

  • More precisely, as explained in "How to find oid and uuid of an element in IBM Rational ClearCase"

    Every single object in a ClearCase VOB is referenced by its oid ("object ID").
    The oid is unique inside the VOB.
    This does not apply only to file, but to all objects in the VOB.

    • Element
    • Version
    • Metadata

    ClearCase uses the oid internally. The oid is invisible for common user's operation. However, in some error messages, you see a reference to an oid.

    To find the oid from an object, you use :

    cleartool dump <object>

    To find the object from an oid, you use :

    cleartool dump oid:<object>

    For theses commands to work, you need to be in a view and in the corresponding VOB. This is necessary in order to generate the path/file name.

    <object> can be anything defined as an object for ClearCase. Like for instance:

    • element <file>@@
    • version <file> or <file>@@\main\......
    • type lbtype:<name>
    • VOB or replica object vob:<vobtag>

    You can also run "cleartool describe -long oid:<oid>" on the oid while set in a view to the root of the VOB to which the element resides, and the output will return an element name.
    See "Identifying elements by the source container path"