IBM Support

New features and other changes in Rational ClearCase version 10.0.1.x

Question & Answer


Question

What are the new features and other changes in ClearCase®?

Answer

Descriptions of the changes are organized by version-specific tabs.

V10.0.1.2

Performance

Enhancement to the logic involving locks on global types improves the check-in performance of files and directories. This reduces contention when multiple check-in operations are occurring throughout the system.

ALBD service

When installing ClearCase on Windows, you now have the option to run the ALBD service using the local system account instead of using a domain user whose password needs to be maintained over time.

A system where the ALBD service is running as the local system account will not be able to host local views and VOBs. However, the system will still be able to access views and VOBs hosted on remote systems.

The Local System Account option is only available when Local Views and VOBs and all the Server Components features are not selected. The only way to switch back to running the ALBD service as a domain user will be to uninstall and reinstall ClearCase.

Eclipse 4.30

Both the ClearTeam Explorer for Eclipse IDE and the ClearTeam Explorer Extension now support Eclipse 4.30.

TLS v1.3 support for Web view

For web views, CTE, rcleartool, and CM API now support Transport Layer Security (TLS) v1.3 connections to the CCRC WAN server when the WAN server runs in a WAS or Tomcat server that enables TLS v1.3. In the default configuration, CTE or rcleartool or CM API selects the highest supported protocol between TLS v1.2 and TLS v1.3. If required, the configuration can be adjusted to force TLS v1.3 or TLS v1.2 specifically. For more information, see technote https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/240547.

The automatic view does not support TLS v1.3.

Microsoft Visual Studio Code

The IBM DevOps Code ClearCase-Visual Studio Code extension version 1.0.3 is compatible with ClearCase 10.0.1.2 and later. The time-based process management is a new feature that allows you to configure idle time. For more information, see the IBM DevOps Code ClearCase Integration with Visual Studio Code blog.

New platform support

For platform requirements, see the Software Product Compatibility Report (SPCR) tool.

Status of the feature level

The ClearCase® VOB feature level is unchanged in this release. For more information on feature levels and ClearCase® releases, see technote https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/73065.

V10.0.1.1

z/OS Extension

64-bit ClearCase Extension on z/OS (also known as Connectors) is available. The z/OS Extension enables mainframe users to submit Remote Builds on z/OS from ClearCase and to use the TSO client to access a ClearCase repository.

Base ClearCase/ClearQuest Perl integration

We have committed to keep the Base ClearCase/ClearQuest Perl integration in the ClearCase release through the calendar year 2024.

Cadence integration

ClearCase 10.0.1.1 integration with Cadence Virtuoso IC23.1 is supported on RHEL 8.

New platform support

For platform requirements, see the Software Product Compatibility Report (SPCR) tool.

Status of the feature level

The ClearCase® VOB feature level is unchanged in this release. For more information on feature levels and ClearCase® releases, see technote https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/73065.

V10.0.1

Support for JRE 11

ClearCase now requires Java JRE 11. Starting in ClearCase 10.0, you must have a 64-bit Java runtime (JRE) installed before you install ClearCase. For more information about the Java Runtime Environment, see IBM Documentation.

Eclipse upgrade to 4.23

ClearCase now runs with Eclipse version 4.23, and ClearTeam Explorer is built with Eclipse 4.23. Due to the updates in Eclipse "P2" packaging, ClearCase must be uninstalled before ClearCase 10.0.1 can be installed. If you are already running 64-bit ClearCase, see the ClearCase 10.0.1 Update Guide for more information. If you are moving to ClearCase 10.0.1 from 32-bit ClearCase, see the ClearCase Migration Guide for more information.

Automatic Hijack Mode for snapshot and web views

We have introduced an optional new way of working in ClearCase. A new feature called automatic-hijack mode is added for snapshot and web views, which allows you to automatically hijack files without explicitly checking-out or modifying permissions. A view created with auto-hijack mode presents version-controlled files as writeable, as opposed to read-only. Any modification to the file automatically hijacks the file without any explicit user action. Files that are automatically hijacked are treated like explicitly hijacked files in earlier releases.  This feature is implemented in the cleartool and rcleartool command-line interfaces and the ClearTeam Explorer UI.

Note: the auto-hijack mode must be selected at the time the view is created.

For more information, see the mkview, lsview, and ClearTeam Explorer documentation.

ClearCase support for zLinux on the s390x

We have completed the conversion to 64-bit support for ClearCase running on z/Linux on the s390x hardware. 

Integration of IBM ClearCase with Jenkins

The integration of IBM® ClearCase with Jenkins helps to enable a continuous integration pipeline between ClearCase and Jenkins. Using the ClearCase plug-in in Jenkins, Jenkins can run automated or manual builds on ClearCase streams and baselines whenever there is an intended change in the source control. The ClearCase integration with Jenkins is supported only on the Windows and Linux x86_64 platforms using UCM streams with an automatic view or web view. For more information, see IBM Documentation.

Microsoft Visual Studio Code

In IBM® ClearCase, ClearCase is integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VS Code) to provide basic ClearCase operations through the VS Code integrated development environment (IDE). Both automatic and web views are supported. The ClearCase integration with VS Code is supported only on the Windows platform. For more information, see the Rational ClearCase Integration with Visual Studio Code blog.

Integration of IBM ClearCase with Beanbag Review Board

In IBM® ClearCase 10.0.1, ClearTeam Explorer is integrated with Review Board to provide the interface to create or update review requests from your ClearTeam Explorer interface. For more information, see the Rational ClearTeam Explorer Integratoin with Beanbag Review Board blog.

Automatic Views in ClearCase Remote Client offering

Automatic views provide advanced, WAN-friendly workspace management and enhanced security capabilities by utilizing the ClearCase virtual file system, the MVFS (Multi-Version File System).  Prior to 10.0.1, automatic views could only be installed from the full ClearCase product offering using the IBM Installation Manager.   

Automatic views are now also included in the ClearCase Remote Client offering as an optionally installable feature.  This significantly eases the deployment of automatic views for WAN-only users who do not need the full product capabilities. 

For more information about automatic views, see technote https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6845524.

Microsoft Windows Symbolic Link Support

On Microsoft Windows, ClearCase would load VOB symbolic links into snapshot view copy areas as copies of the target of the symbolic link (which could be an individual file or an entire directory hierarchy) instead of maintaining the link.  Recent improvements in Windows symbolic links allowed ClearCase 10.0.1 to add the option of loading VOB symbolic links as Windows symlinks.  The default behavior remains the same, but the new behavior may be chosen when creating snapshot views by using ‘-slink_mode use_slinks’ with the ‘cleartool mkview’ command. For more information, see the mkview documentation.

High-Performance Unicode File Management

ClearCase provides extensive version management of Unicode files in all 5 encodings (UTF-8, UTF-16LE, UTF-16BE, UTF-32LE, and UTF-32BE).  Since ClearCase 10.0.0.1, the C++ based UTF type managers deliver improved performance when handling UTF files.  This impacts checkin, checkout, diff, merge, annotate and cleartext construction (uncompressing a version when needed) operations.  This release also contains several important bug fixes to the UTF processing.

Progress Bar for an automatic view

When loading an automatic view in Rational® ClearTeam Explorer, you will see a progress bar to indicate the load running in the background. For more information, see IBM Documentation

Systemd Support on Linux

The systemd facility is now supported on Linux systems, this allows ClearCase to work seamlessly with newer versions of Linux and network services.  The clearcase startup script (/usr/atria/etc/clearcase) has been updated to use systemctl appropriately. For more information, see Changes in the ClearCase startup script

Automatic Rebuild and install of MVFS on Linux

Whenever there is an update to the Linux OS kernel or a new OS version, MVFS will be automatically rebuilt and reinstalled. Additionally, if you install or upgrade Rational ClearCase on a Linux host, where the Linux kernel is not compatible with the loadable kernel module included with ClearCase, MVFS rebuilds automatically. For more information, see IBM Documentation.

Less need to reboot when installing ClearCase on Windows

ClearCase install, update, or uninstall on Windows no longer requires a reboot in many situations, easing ClearCase administration. The MVFS can now be cleanly unloaded in many cases, thus avoiding a reboot. If you are installing ClearCase on a system for the first time, or reinstalling after a successful uninstall, then a reboot is not required. Some situations may still require a reboot. For more information, see How to install ClearCase on Windows without system reboot.

VOB automount support for AIX

The support for automounting VOBs on Linux and Solaris has been extended to AIX. For more information, see Automounting of ClearCase VOBs

Cadence Virtuoso integration enhancements

When you set the CCASE_CDS_SIMPLIFIED_MSG environmental variable to TRUE, now Cancel check-out messages will also be logged into the Command Interpreter Window in a simplified form along with the existing check-in and check-out messages.

Platform Updates

See the Software Product Compatibility Report (SPCR) for specific details. 

IBM Rational ClearCase Admin Console GUI

On the IBM® Rational ClearCase Admin Console GUI on Windows, when you click the View Name in All Views section or VOB Name in All VOBs, the respective Properties dialog opens as expected.

Changes to commands

The lsbl command, when executed with the -stime_desc option, can print the baseline list in reverse or descending order based on the timeline.

Status of the feature level

The ClearCase® VOB feature level is unchanged in this release. For more information on feature levels and ClearCase releases, see technote https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/73065.

Installation

The rcleartool command-line interface is now automatically configured by the installation process. The setup process that was previously required when running rcleartool for the first time is now not required.

On Linux_x86_64, when you update an earlier version of ClearCase to ClearCase 10.0.1 or later, then the Update Not Supported panel is displayed with the message "An update is not supported and the only way to do the update is to uninstall the current version and install the new version." For more information, see the ClearCase 10.0.1 Update Guide

Behavior changes for Installation Manager features on UNIX or Linux

Minimal Developer Installation is a subset of the Full Function Installation. If Minimal Developer Installation is selected, Full Function Installation will be disabled.

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Document Information

Modified date:
15 July 2024

UID

ibm16956257