findmerge

To use findmerge with UCM activities, you specify one or more activities and the option –fcsets. (The activity-selector arguments must precede the –fcsets option.) Each version listed in a change set becomes the from-version in a merge operation. As always, the to-version is the one in your view.

For other versions, for example, those of type file, the type manager may or may not be able to merge the data in the versions that findmerge identifies. For some versions, you may need to perform the merge manually, as follows:

1. Check out the version.
2. Incorporate data from the version on another branch into your checked-out version, using a text editor or some other tool.
3. Connect the appropriate versions with a merge arrow, using merge –ndata.

If you specify –print as the action (and you do not also specify any of the merge actions), findmerge does not actually perform any merges. Instead, it shows what merge activity would be required:

Needs Merge "proj.c" [to /main/41 from /main/v2_plus/6 base /main/v2_plus/3]
Log has been written to "findmerge.log.2006-11-16T17:39:18"
.
.
.

In addition, it writes a set of shell commands to perform the required merges to a log file. At some later point, you can execute the commands in the log file all at once or a few at a time.

If the directory version from which you are merging contains new files or subdirectories, findmerge –print does not report on those files or directories until you merge the directory versions. Therefore, you may want to run findmerge twice: once to merge the directory versions and again with the –print option to report which files need to be merged. You can then cancel the checkout of the directories if you do not want to save the directory merge.

Under some circumstances, findmerge –print does not detect all the required merges (that is, all the merges that findmerge –print would perform). This occurs when one or more directory merges are required, but are not performed.

By default, findmerge merges a directory before determining merge requirements for the versions cataloged within the directory. Thus, if merging directory srcdir makes a newly created file version, patch.c, appear, findmerge proceeds to detect that patch.c itself also needs to be merged. But if the only specified action is –print, findmerge can determine only that srcdir must be merged; it cannot determine that patch.c must also be merged.

This incomplete reporting also occurs in these situations:

• You decline to merge a directory when prompted by the –okmerge or –okgmerge option.
• You specify –depth, which causes the versions cataloged in a directory to be processed before the directory version itself.
• You use –directory or –nrecurse to suppress processing of the versions cataloged in a directory.
• You use –type f, which suppresses processing of directory versions.

You can use the following procedure to guarantee that the log file produced by findmerge –print includes all the required file-level merges within the directory tree under srcdir:

1. Actually perform all the directory-level merges:

   cmd-context findmerge srcdir –type d –merge
   

2. Generate a log file that contains the findmerge commands required for files within the merged directory hierarchy:

   cmd-context  findmerge srcdir –type f –print

Executing the log file produces results identical to entering the single command findmerge srcdir –merge.

The findmerge command uses one of two algorithms to locate and examine versions. When the number of versions to be examined is below a certain threshold (approximately 100), findmerge uses the algorithm that uses the VOB's metadata. When the number of versions exceeds the threshold, findmerge uses the algorithm that requires walking through the VOB's directory structure. The directory walkthrough method is slower than the metadata method.

Default

None.

pname ...

One or more file, directory versions, or both; only the specified file versions and the subtrees under the specified directory versions are considered.

–all, pname ... –all

Appending –all to a pname list causes all the versions in the VOB containing the pname to be considered, whether or not they are visible in your view. By itself, –all specifies the top-level directory of the VOB containing the current working directory.

findmerge performs additional work after processing the VOB directory tree if you use –all or –avobs in combination with –ftag; in this case, it issues a warning message for each version that is not displayed in the to-view, but is displayed in the from-view.

–avo/bs

Considers all versions in the VOBs active (mounted) on the local host in ClearCase. (If environment variable CLEARCASE_AVOBS is set to a list of VOB-tags, this set of VOBs is used instead (separate VOB tags in the list by colons (UNIX and Linux) or semicolons (Windows)).)

activity-selector ...

One or more UCM activities. Specify activity-selector in the form activity:activity-name[@vob-selector]. You must specify the –fcsets option immediately following this argument.

Default

None. You must use one of these options to specify another version of each version, to be compared with the version in your view.

–fta/g view-tag

Compare with the version selected by your view with the version selected by the view specified by view-tag. view-tag may not specify a snapshot view. A version of the same element is always used, even if the version has a different name in the other view.

–fve/rsion version-selector

Compare with the version specified by the version-selector. A version selector involving a branch type, for example, .../branch1/LATEST, is optimized for selecting the set of versions to consider and performs better than other types of queries. If the branch exists only on a relatively small number of versions in the VOB, this option performs much better than other types of queries.

–fla/test

(Consider only versions that are currently checked out.) Compare with the most recent version on the branch from which your version was checked out. This option is useful with versions for which you have unreserved checkouts: if one or more new versions have been checked in by other users, you must merge the most recent one into your checked-out version before you can perform a checkin.

–fcs/ets

Consider all the versions in the change set of each specified activity-selector argument.

Use the following options to select a subset of the versions specified by pname arguments and the –all or –avobs option.

–dep/th

Causes directory entries to be processed before the directory itself.

–nr/ecurse

For each directory version, considers the file and directory versions within it, but does not descend into its subdirectories.

–d/irectory

For each directory, considers only the directory itself, not the directory or file versions, or VOB symbolic links it catalogs.

–fol/low

Causes VOB symbolic links to be traversed.

–use/r login-name

Considers only those elements owned by user login-name.

–gro/up group-name

Considers only those elements owned by group group-name.

–typ/e f, –typ/ e d , –typ/e fd

Considers file versions only (f), directory versions only (d), or both (fd).

–nam/e pattern

Considers only those versions whose leaf names match the specified file-name pattern. (See the wildcards_ccase reference page.)

–ele/ment query

Considers only those versions that satisfy the specified query (same as the find command). A simple branch query, for example, brtype(br1), is optimized for selecting the set of versions to consider and performs better than other types of queries. When the branch exists only on a relatively small number of versions in the VOB, this option performs much better than other types of queries.

If a merge is required from a version that happens to be version 0 on its branch, findmerge performs the merge and issues a warning message:

Element "util.c" has empty branch [to \main\6 from \main\br1\0]

More often, findmerge determines that no merge is required from a zeroth version; it handles this case as any other no-merge-required case.

The following option overrides this default behavior.

–nze/ro

Does not perform a merge if the from-contributor is version 0 on its branch. This gives you the opportunity to delete the empty branch, and then perform a merge from the version at which the branch was created.

findmerge flags this special case with a warning message:

Element "msg.c" requests merge to /main/12 backwards on same branch
	from /main/18

This situation arises in these cases:

• You are merging from a parent branch to a subbranch.
• For a particular version, no subbranch has been created yet.
• Your config spec selects a version of that version using a –mkbranch config spec rule.

In this case, findmerge performs the merge by checking out the version (which creates the subbranch at the to-version), then overwriting the checked-out version with the from-version.

The following option overrides this default behavior.

–nba/ck

Does not perform the merge in the case described earlier. It may be appropriate to simulate the merge by moving the version label down to the from-version. Note, however, that this alternative leaves the version without a subbranch, which may or may not be desirable.

 findmerge does the following:

• Silently skips versions that do not require a merge.
• (If you use –all or –avobs in combination with –ftag) Issues a warning message if your config spec does not select any version of a version, but the config spec of the view specified with –ftag does. (For example, this occurs when a new version has been created in the from-view.)

The following options override this default behavior.

–why/not

For each version that does not require a merge, displays a message explaining the reason. This is especially useful when you are merging between views whose namespaces differ significantly.

–vis/ible

Suppresses the warning messages for versions that are not visible in the current view.

Default

A line is written to a merge log file for each version that requires a merge. The log takes the form of a UNIX or Linux shell script or Windows batch file that can be used to perform, at a later time, merges that are not completed automatically (see –print and –abort, for example). A number sign (#) at the beginning of a line indicates that the required merge was performed successfully. The log file's name is generated by findmerge and displayed when the command completes.

–log pname

Creates pname as the merge log file, instead of selecting a name automatically. To suppress creation of a merge log file, use –log /dev/null (UNIX and Linux) or –log NUL (Windows)

Default

When findmerge checks out versions to perform merges, it prompts for a single checkout comment (–cq). You can override this behavior with your .clearcase_profile file. See the comments reference page. Edit comments with chevent.

–c/omment comment | –cfi/le comment-file-pname |–cq/uery | –cqe/ach | –nc/omment

Overrides the default with the option you specify. See the comments reference page.

Default

If the findmerge action performs a checkout, it is a reserved checkout.

–unr/eserved [ –nma/ster ]

Performs any findmerge checkouts as unreserved checkouts.

With –nmaster, checks out the branch even if the current replica does not master the branch. Do not use this option if you cannot merge versions of the element.

For a discussion of how new versions are created from reserved and unreserved checkouts, see the checkin reference page.

If you have findmerge perform the merges, you can specify the following options, which work exactly as they do in the merge command. (–abort and –qall are mutually exclusive.)

–q/uery

Prompts you for a choice on every change in the from-versions. Changes in the to-version are automatically accepted unless a conflict exists.

–abo/rt

Cancels a merge if it is not completely automatic.

–qal/l

Turns off automated merging. Prompts you to determine whether you want to proceed with each change.

–qnt/rivial

Turns off automated merging and prompts you to determine whether you want to proceed except in the case where a trivial merge (branch copy) would be done.

–ser/ial

Reports differences with each line containing output from one contributor, instead of in a side-by-side format.

–bla/nk_ignore

When comparing and merging files, ignores extra white space characters in text lines so that leading and trailing white space is ignored altogether and internal runs of white space characters are treated like a single space character. This option must be used with one of the merge options: –mer/ge, –okm/erge, –gm /erge, or –okg/merge.

Default

findmerge calculates a base contributor for a merge.

{ –bta/g | –fbt/ag } view-tag

Specifies the base view that contains the base contributor version. With –bta/g findmerge will check to see if the base contributor is a valid common ancestor, and if not, come up with its own base contributor. With –fbt/ag findmerge will not make the check.

Default

None.

–pri/nt [ –l/ong | –s/hort | –nxn/ame ]

Lists the names of the versions that require a merge. The default listing includes the version IDs of the to-versions and from-versions and the version ID of the base contributor (common ancestor):

Needs Merge "Makefile" [to \main\7 from \main\br1\1 base \main\6]

Specifying –short reduces the listing to version-extended path names of the to- and from-versions:

Makefile@@/main/7 Makefile@@/main/br1/1

Specifying –long adds to the default listing a description (describe command output) of the from-version:

Needs Merge "Makefile" [to /main/7 from /main/br1/1 base /main/6]
version "Makefile@@/main/br1/1"
  created 2006-11-09T11:18:39 by Allison K. Pak (akp.user@neptune)
  element type: text_file
  predecessor version: /main/br1/0

Specifying –nxname reduces the listing to the standard path name of the version:

.\Makefile

–mer/ge –abort, –okm/erge –abort, –g/raphical, –gm/erge, –okgm/erge

(Valid only for versions whose type manager implements the merge method. See the type_manager reference page for more information.) Performs a merge for each version that requires it.

Three kinds of interfaces can be used: the –merge option performs a character-oriented merge, the –graphical option invokes the Merge Manager, and the –gmerge option invokes the graphical merge utility. All these actions attempt to check out the to-version, if it is not already checked out to your view.

The ok variants pause for verification on each version, thus allowing you to process some versions and skip others.

Special case: Specifying –merge –gmerge causes findmerge to perform a character-oriented merge in –abort mode; if the merge aborts (because it could not proceed completely automatically), the interactive graphical merge tool is invoked.

–exe/c command-invocation, –ok command-invocation

Runs the specified command for each selected version. findmerge does not perform a checkout operation when either of these options is specified. With –ok, findmerge pauses for verification on each version, thus allowing you to process some versions and skip others.

Like the find command, findmerge sets the following variables in the specified command's environment:

CLEARCASE_PN	Path name of version
CLEARCASE_XN_SFX	Extended naming symbol (default: @@)
CLEARCASE_ID_STR	Version ID of to-version
CLEARCASE_XPN	Version-extended path name of to-version
CLEARCASE_F_ID_STR	Version ID of from-version
CLEARCASE_FXPN	Version-extended path name of from-version
CLEARCASE_B_ID_STR	Version ID of base contributor version

Windows: If you invoke a command built in to the Windows shell (for example, cd, del, dir, or copy), you must invoke the shell with cmd /c. For example:

–exec 'cmd /c copy %CLEARCASE_PN% %HOME%'

If a path within command-invocation contains spaces, you must enclose it in quotation marks. For example, in cleartool single-command mode (note the backslash used to escape the second quotation mark):

–exec "cmd /c copy %CLEARCASE_PN% \"c:\findmerge results""

In cleartool interactive mode (no escape character needed):

–exec 'cmd /c copy %CLEARCASE_PN% "c:\findmerge results"'

–co

Attempts to check out the destination if it is not already checked out to your view. May be used as part one of a two-pass invocation of findmerge, where the second part uses an option such as –exec.