In order to have an effective build environment we must check-in all the resources needed to build the project from scratch; this includes support libraries and support applications. For example one of my projects arrives as an installable deliverable, but in order to create it we need a Java compiler, Java source, property files, NSIS (A scriptable win32 installer/uninstaller system by Nullsoft), Doxygen (documentation generator), JUnit (unit tester) and a whole host of support libraries. So in order to truly build the project from scratch all these products need to be saved. Clearcase, while being an excellent source controller, leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to importing a directory structure into its control. So lets pretend that we have just finished off our testing and it’s check-in time. For the sake of space I’ll only show you how to check in one of the set of support applications, in this case JUnit. Our support software is located at: Z:\java\libs\junit\latest I would like to import it into: Z:\java\libs\junit\junit-4.7 and then create a clearcase symbolic link called latest to point to junit-4.7. This is a really handy way of testing new libraries without changing lots of aspects of your environment.

1. Firstly find out what the name of the view is that you are going to import into. In my case “t2_6_14″.
2. Open a command shell as the VOB owner using the command:

   runas /user:research\ccadmin cmd

3. You are now logged in as the VOB owner so your Z: drive (with the shell) is gone. You only have the K: drive which is used by the views directly.
4. In the location where you want to do the import, create a folder with the same name as the folder you are importing e.g.

   mkdir k:\t2_6_14\java\libs\junit\junit-4.7

5. Run the import command with full paths:

   clearfsimport -recurse k:\t2_6_14\java\libs\junit\latest\* K:\t2_6_14\Quentin\ManagerLibs\junit\junit-4.7

6. Hopefully, it should start chugging away.
7. When it has finished delete the latest folder.
8. Oddly the directory you created will be renamed to “junit-4.7.keep” and a new folder will be created by clearcase called “junit-4.7″, and this will contain the imported files. It is now safe to delete the unchecked-in “junit-4.7.keep”
9. As a final touch we will create our symbolic link to join “junit-4.7″ to “latest".
10. Checkout parent folder: k:\t2_6_14\java\libs\junit
11. Run the link command:

    cleartool ln -s junit-4.7 latest

12. Lastly, check in the junit folder.

Now practice!