ClearCase Plugin

Integrates Hudson with ClearCase.
With this plugin you can base ClearCase and UCM ClearCase. The plugin uses the cleartool executable to work with a Clear case server which requires that the cleartool command is installed on master and all slaves. The SCM also supports polling so it can start a build if any changes in the repository. 

 It is important to note that with the Base ClearCase option, it tries to first make a view and recreate the view for each build.  If this is not desired, manually create the view in the job's "workspace" directory manually and make sure you have the "cleartool update" option (shown below) checked.  You can then copy and paste the view's config spec. into hudson (also shown below).

Usage

1. Main configuration
   1. Set up the cleartool executable in the Hudson configuration. To verify that the executable can be used by Hudson press the "Check cleartool version"

1. Per job configuration
   1. Select Base Clear Case
      1. Set the name of the view that will be used by Clear case. The view name has to be unique on the computer.
      2. Set the configspec that should be used
      3. Check the "Use update" if you want a quicker build.
         "Use update" will not remove and create the view for every build but it has a side effect that build artifacts in the view can be left between builds.
      4. Enter the branch for the branch.
         The name of the branch is needed to get the correct change log for the view path.
         
         
          
         
   2. Select UCM Clear Case
      1. Set the name of the view that will be used by Clear case. The view name has to be unique on the computer.
      2. Set the stream that should be used
      3. Set the load rules that should be used in the stream.

This plugin is not feature complete, but it is being used in a live environment. If you have any clear case experience please join us in developing this plugin.

Frequently asked questions

Is the view name available in the build scripts?

Yes, the view name can be accessed through the environment variable CLEARCASE_VIEWNAME, which contains the name of the view. The environment variable CLEARCASE_VIEWPATH contains the absolute path to the view folder.

Can the view name be updated with the name of the job.

Yes, from version 0.6 it is possible to add ${USER_NAME} and ${JOB_NAME} in a view name which are replaced with the name of the user and job.

Error when creating view (storage directory must be in UNC style)

Jamie Burrell solved it by doing the following at the command line of the machine on which Hudson runs. Note that the view name need not be the one you are using for Hudson. It needn't ever be used. I also had trouble using localhost, and needed to use my machine name.:

cleartool mkstgloc -view mystgloc \\<host>\<shared folder>\<view name>.vws

The above solution did work but it sets the view storage location globally for everyone in the same region. A better solution may be:
(under the "Advanced" button in the "Additional mkview arguments" field):

-vws \\<host>\<shared folder>\<view name>.vws

Error when retrieving history (Error: Not an object in a vob: "vobs")

On Linux and Solaris there are sometimes problems retrieving the ClearCase history using lshistory. In the Advanced section in the configuration it is possible to specify one or several paths in the VOB path(s) field that will be used when retrieving the history. If the config spec contains "vobs/gtx2" then the VOB path(s) field should be set to gtx2. (Mail thread, issue #1053)

Todo list

• Add feature that verifies that the view name is unique.
• Add documentation on how to install a build trigger on a Clear case server
• UCM: Add ability to perform difference report between any two builds using baseline

Roadmap

Next major release in developmment

• Tentatively, version 1.0
• Major refactoring of plugin to support current Hudson extension style.
• Features, etc will be described in greater detail once core maintainers have finished hashing them out. =)
• Tentative: Planning to move UCM Make Baseline functionality out of main ClearCase plugin and into new "ClearCase Tag" plugin, along with new label functionality.
• Tentative: Requiring "load rules" to be specified (separately from config spec) for base ClearCase, and all dynamic views. This is to be used for lbtype creation and, eventually, support for lshistory -all.

Changelog

Version 0.9

• Bug fix/behavior change: Change to config spec (for base ClearCase jobs) or load rules (for UCM ClearCase jobs) when "Use Update" is selected will no longer lead to view removal and recreation. Instead, config spec of existing view will be changed. (issue #3672)
• Bug fix: View is properly deleted when job is deleted, workspace is deleted by automatic workspace cleanup, workspace is wiped out manually with "Wipe Out Workspace", or job is renamed, if "Remove view on rename" is selected. Also, "Remove view on rename" setting now sticks properly. (issue #2209, issue #3095, issue #3508)
• Bug fix: Handling of line endings improved in general - modified splits, comparisons, etc to properly handle both Windows and Unix line endings. (issue #3694)
• Behavior change: When using existing dynamic views, the ClearCase plugin will now report to the Hudson project that the "module root" is /view/view_name (or m:\view_name, or whatever is specified as the view drive), allowing for the M2 project type and the like to run from within the dynamic view.

Version 0.8.4

• Bug fix: properly ignoring empty-string excluded regions now (issue #3622)
• Added LICENSE.txt to src/main/resources, which will now be bundled in the hpi.

Version 0.8.3

• Bug fixes: issue #3263, issue #3359, issue #3545, issue #3556
• MIT license header added to all source files

Version 0.8.2

• New feature: support for excludedRegions, patterns in filenames/paths to be ignored when polling for changes.
• New feature: support $CLEARCASE_VIEWNAME and other environment variables in mkview optional parameters (issue #2994)
• New feature: option to remove view when job name is changed (issue #3095)
• Bug fix: fixed lshistory timing issues when master and slave are in different timezones (issue #2493)
• Bug fix: extra newline characters in lshistory removed (issue #2801)
• Bug fix: loading remove/create UCM snapshot view fixed (issue #2846)
• Bug fix: no longer attempts to remove non-existent view when update only is not selected for UCM (issue #2902)
• Bug fix: better multiplatform support (issue #2939)
• Bug fix: better handling of multiple VOBs with UCM (issue #3097)
• Bug fix: UCM update-only snapshot views no longer always removed/recreated (issue #3184)
• Bug fix: support UCM dynamic view baseline creation (issue #3186)
• Bug fix: issue with createdBaselines variable in UcmMakeBaseline (issue #3304)
• Bug fix: if excludedRegions were not given, all changes were rejected - fixed (issue #3325)

Version 0.8.1

• Macros supported in 'additional arguments for mkview' (issue #2490) 
• Support for 'forced' re-creation of view (issue #2737)
• Dynamic UCM support (issue #1970)
• Node name is now resolved when using slaves (issue #2606)
• Environment variables resolved for mkview (issue #2470)
• Composite baseline support (issue #2518, issue #2426)
• Other bug fixes (issue #2740)

Version 0.7.1

• Added Tagging support for UCM clearcase (Baselines) (issue #1649)
• Removing jobs will now remove view from Clearcase server (issue #1050)
• Check that config rules contains load (issue #1062)
• All views can be listed from the configuration page (issue #1067)

Version 0.6

• Added activity based UCM changelog.
• Added option to not trigger build on downstream branch destroys (issue #1470, discussion)
• Fixed problem with too many open files (issue #1921)
• Fixed problem with Priocess leaked file descriptors (issue #1946)
• The view-extended pathname is removed from file paths in dynamic view events (issue #1885)
• The view name can now contain properties which are replaced before usage. ${USER_NAME} and ${JOB_NAME} (issue #1715)
• Implemented SCM methods getModuleRoot() so the SCM can work better with builders. (issue #1848)

Version 0.5.2

• UCM Load rules begining with double "\" or "/" no longer throws an exception when retrieving the history (issue #1706)
• UCM Load rules no longer loses single "\" (issue #1707)

Version 0.5.1

• Replaced setview call with startview when checking out dynamic views.(issue #1631)

Version 0.5

• Initial support for ClearCase UCM. It can now use UCM streams and apply load rules to them. The plugin has now two SCM configuration points, Base ClearCase and UCM ClearCase. (issue #1580)
• Changeset items are now listed in XML API (issue #1325)
• File element changes with version 0 is now also ignored on linux/solaris (issue #1465)
• Added CLEARCASE_VIEWPATH environment variable that contains the absolute path to the ClearCase view (issue #1480)
• Changeset items are now marked with an icon depicting if the item was added, removed or checked in. (issue #1068)
• Fixed so "setview" will be called on all dynamic views in every build (issue #1484)

Version 0.4

• Added option to set additional arguments when creating the snapshot view using 'mkview'.
• Fixed problem with merged entries so the oldest date/time is used for the merged entry.
• Sorts the list so the latest entry is placed at top.

Version 0.3.3

• Time window for merging commits can now grow to include all entries in one commit. (issue #1079)
• Rephrased all "Clear case" to "ClearCase" and "clear tool" to "cleartool"

Version 0.3.2

• Fixed issue with '^M' characters in the config spec when running on unix/linux.
• Improved help section about view root (thanks to Jason Messmer)
• Better error handling when the cleartool command is not set (issue #1086)

Version 0.3.1

• Fixed a problem when the SCM object was serialized and not created through the constructor.

Version 0.3

• Added option to use multiple branches when polling for changes (issue #1028).
• Added functionality that checks if the config spec needs to be updated (both dynamic and snapshot) (issue #1027).
• Added support of using existing dynamic views. The plugin will not create dynamic views.
• Added option to use multiple VOB paths when polling for changes (issue #1053)
• Added feature that merges change log entries that have the same user, comment and time (issue #924)
• Fixed so the plugin will not start a "cleartool update" after the view has been updated with the "cleartool setcs" command.
• Fixed a poll changes bug when the plugin is used by a maven job (issue #1029).
• Fixed so plugin works with JDK1.5 (issue #1053)
• Fixed a bug that occurred when the user removed the view, then the poll changes would throw an exception. (issue #923).

Version 0.2.1

• Fixed a unicode problem with the change log xml file

Version 0.2

• Reworked the plugin so it will use a config spec to retrieve files from the Clear case repository. The files are retrieved into the workspace as other SCMs.
• Fixed so the annotation plugins works as they should
• Added the environment variable CLEARCASE_VIEWNAME that contains the view name
• Rewrote the history parsing to fix a NPE.
• Added option to see the cleartool version and verify that Hudson can use it

Version 0.1

• First version