mkvob

mkvob creates the following directory elements in a VOB:

• VOB root directory. A mkdir command is implicitly executed to create a directory element (the VOB root directory) in the new VOB. Activating a VOB makes its root directory accessible at the path name specified by the VOB tag.
• lost+found directory. In ClearCase, mkvob also creates a special directory element, lost+found, as a subdirectory of the VOB root directory. In this directory are placed elements that are no longer entered in any versioned directory.

Each VOB storage directory is created with default storage pool subdirectories:

In considering access permissions, it is important to distinguish these two top-level directories:

• VOB storage directory. The standard directory created by this command, which is at the top level of a server storage location for VOBs.
• VOB root directory. The ClearCase directory element accessed at the VOB tag.

ClearCase implements its own access scheme that goes beyond the standard operating system facilities. These settings control access to many operations involving the VOB; they can be changed with the protectvob command.

See also the protect reference page (this command affects access to individual elements and shared derived objects) and the DevOps Code ClearCase Administrator's Guide.

By default, VOBs are created with interop text mode support enabled. In this mode, the VOB database keeps track of the number of lines in all versions of each text file. This mode is required to support access to the VOB by interop text mode views (see the mkview reference page). To change the state of a VOB's interop text mode support, use the msdostext_mode utility. For more information, see the DevOps Code ClearCase Administrator's Guide.

mkvob creates exactly one VOB tag for the newly created VOB. This tag applies to the local host's network region by default. To make additional VOB tags for other regions, use the mktag command. In general, the VOB tags for a given VOB should all be public or all private.

Some VOBs are to be shared, and others are to be used primarily by their creators. Accordingly, there are two kinds of VOB tags: public and private.

For an explanation of public and private VOBs, see ClearCase dynamic views: Activating the VOB.

• Snapshot views make no distinction between public and private VOBs: you can access private VOBs from a snapshot view regardless of who owns them.

A VOB cannot be used for development work in a dynamic view until it is activated with the cleartool mount command. This causes the VOB's storage directory to be mounted on the host at the VOB tag location, as a file system of type MVFS. See the mount reference page for details.

A VOB to be used by some view for NFS access must be marked for export. Each export VOB is assigned an export ID, which ensures that NFS-exported view/VOB combinations have stable NFS file handles across server reboots or shutdown and restart of ClearCase.

If the VOB is registered in multiple regions, the export marking must appear on all of that VOB's tags in all the regions in which it is registered. To mark a VOB for export, use the –ncaexported option. To mark an existing VOB for export, use mktag –replace –ncaexported.

The VOB export ID is stored in the mount options field in the VOB tag registry. If you use the –ncaexported option and specify additional mount options in the mktag or mkvob command, the mount options field includes an appropriate export ID mount option.

For information about exporting VOBs, see the export_mvfs reference page.

The VOB database directory must be located on the VOB server host or on a supported network attached storage device that has been configured for VOB storage. For a discussion of network attached storage devices, see the DevOps Code ClearCase Administrator's Guide.

Default

None.

–tag vob-tag

ClearCase on UNIX or Linux. VOB tags are names for VOBs that are entered in the registry. They are of multicomponent (/vob/src) form for ClearCase. The VOB tag is where the VOB appears under the view root.

ClearCase dynamic views on UNIX or Linux. A path name, typically multicomponent, that specifies the mount-over directory at which the VOB is mounted as a file system of type MVFS. The VOB tag is entered in the VOB tag registry. If you are creating a private VOB (no –public option), you must also create the mount-over directory on each host where you will mount the VOB. (The cleartool mount command creates mount-over directories for public VOBs.)

ClearCase. If your network has multiple regions from which the VOB is to be accessed, use mktag to create an additional VOB tag for each region.

ClearCase on Windows. VOB tags are names for VOBs of the form \dirname. The backslash is required. The VOB tag is entered in the registry and is where the VOB appears under the view root.

Default

A standard (that is, nonproject) VOB.

–ucm/project

Creates a UCM project VOB for storing UCM-related objects including activities, baselines, components, folders, projects, and streams. Typically, a single project VOB is shared by multiple source VOBs; for example those that store versioned source code, documents, and so on.

Default

Creates one or more event records, with commenting controlled by your .clearcase_profile file (default: –cqe). See the comments reference page. Comments can be edited 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.

–tco/mment tag-comment

Adds a comment to the VOB tag's entry in the vob_tag registry file. Use lsvob –long to display the tag comment.

Default

Creates the VOB tag in the local host's network region. (Use the hostinfo –long command to display the network region.) for a discussion of network regions, see the DevOps Code ClearCase Administrator's Guide.

–reg/ion network-region

Creates the VOB tag in the specified network region. An error occurs if the region does not already exist.

Important: The VOB tag created with mkvob must be for the network region to which the VOB host belongs. Thus, use this option only when you are logged on to a remote host that is in another region. Moreover, a VOB tag for the VOB's home region must always exist.

Default

Mounts each VOB using the –options field in its vob_tag registry file.

–opt/ions mount-options

UNIX and Linux—Options to be used in mounting the VOB. The following options are valid: ro, rw, soft, hard, intr, nointr, noac, noauto, nodev, nodnlc, nosuid, suid, retrans, timeo, acdirmin, acdirmax, acregmin, acregmax, actimeo. See the appropriate operating system reference page (for example, mount(1M)) for the meanings of these options. If the mount options list contains white space, enclose it in quotes. By default, a VOB is mounted in nointr mode. This means that operations on MVFS files (for example, open(2)) cannot be interrupted by typing the INTR character (typically, CTRL+C). To enable keyboard interrupts of such operations, use the intr mount option.

Windows—Specifies mount options to be invoked when the VOB is activated through this VOB tag. See mount for details. (You must be a member of the ClearCase administrators group to use this option.)

Default

The VOB is not marked for export.

–nca/exported

Assigns an export ID to the VOB. See ClearCase on UNIX and Linux: Marking a VOB for export.

Default

Specified by the site property deny_remote_privileged_users (see the setsite reference page).

-nrem/ote_admin

Disables privileged access by remote users. When a VOB is created with this option, all privileged operations require the user to be logged on to the VOB server host with a privileged identity. Any request from a privileged user logged on to a remote host is treated as though it had been made by an ordinary user (it fails if a privileged identity is required). Use protectvob -remote_admin to enable privileged access by remote users to a VOB created with the -nremote_admin option.

This option is effective only when you are logged on the VOB server host as a privileged user.

Default

The VOB is created at the feature level that corresponds to the installed version of the product. For information about all feature levels and their correspondences to product versions, see technote 73065.

–flevel feature-level

Specifies the feature level at which the VOB is to be created: an integer value of 5 or greater. This option enables you to create ACL-disabled VOBs in versions 8.0.1 and later releases: first create the VOB, specifying –flevel 7, then use the chflevel command to raise the feature level.

Default

A private VOB.

–pub/lic

Creates a public VOB. See ClearCase dynamic views: Activating the VOB.

–pas/sword tag-registry-password

A password is required to create a public tag or to create a private tag when you include suid as an argument to –options.

In these cases, if you do not include the VOB tag password, mkvob prompts for it. An error occurs if there is no match. Note that the VOB is created, but without a VOB tag. Use mktag to supply a public or private VOB tag.

Important: This is a potential security breach, because the password remains visible on the screen.

Default

None.

–hos/t hostname –hpa/th host-storage-pname –gpa/th global-storage-pname

For information on these options, see the mkstgloc reference page.

To create a VOB that resides on a supported network attached storage (NAS) device, you must specify the option set, –host –hpath –gpath.

vob-storage-pname

The location at which a new VOB storage directory is to be created. (An error occurs if something already exists at this path name.) You can create a VOB at any location where the operating system allows you to create a subdirectory, with these restrictions:

• You cannot create a VOB under an existing VOB tag (VOB mount point).
• You cannot create a VOB within the view root directory.
• vob-storage-pname must not be a subdirectory of an existing VOB storage directory.
• vob-storage-pname must specify a location on a host where ClearCase has been installed or a location on a supported NAS device. The VOB database (located in subdirectory db of the VOB storage directory) must be located on the VOB server host or on a supported NAS device that has been configured for VOB storage.

UNIX and Linux—vob-storage-pname may be a full path name, relative path name, or simple subdirectory name. For related information, see the description of CCASE_GPATH_HINTS in the env_ccase reference page.

Windows—vob-storage-pname must be a UNC name.

–stg/loc { vob-stgloc-name | –aut/o }

Specifies a server storage location in which the VOB storage directory is to be created. The server storage location must have been created previously with mkstgloc. You can specify the name of the VOB server storage location explicitly as vob-stgloc-name, or specify –auto to direct mkvob to select one.

If you specify –auto, a server storage location for the VOB is selected as follows:

1. Server storage locations that have no global path (mkstgloc –ngpath) and that reside on remote hosts are disqualified.
2. Server storage locations on heterogeneous hosts are disqualified.
3. Local server storage locations are preferred over remote ones.
4. Globally accessible server storage locations (mkstgloc –gpath) are preferred over those that are not (mkstgloc –ngpath).
5. The server storage location with the most free space is selected.

• Create a private VOB storage directory, project3.vbs, in the /usr/vobstore directory on local host venus, and give it the VOB tag /vobs/project3. Then, mount the VOB on the local host.

  cmd-context mkvob -tag /vobs/project3 -c "main development sources" \
  /usr/vobstore/project3.vbs
  Created versioned object base.
  Host-local path: venus:/usr/vobstore/project3.vbs
  Global path: /net/venus/usr/vobstore/project3.vbs
  VOB ownership:
  owner anne
  group dev
  Additional groups:
  group usr
  group adm
  % mkdir /vobs/project3 (create VOB mount point to match the VOB tag)
  cmd-context  mount /vobs/project3 (mount VOB as file system of type MVFS)

• Create a public VOB, which will be mounted at startup time (by all hosts in the current host's network region), and mark it for export.

  cmd-context mkvob -tag /vobs/src1 -public -password tagPword \
  -ncaexported /vobstore/src1.vbs
  Created versioned object base.
  Host-local path: saturn:/vobstore/src1.vbs
  Global path: /net/saturn/vobstore/src1.vbs
  .
  .
  .

• Create a private VOB in a different region, explicitly specifying the registry information.

  cmd-context mkvob –tag /vobs/doctools \
  –c "storage for documentation tools" \
  –region unix_dev –host neon –hpath /vobstg/doctools.vbs \
  –gpath /net/neon/vobstg/doctools.vbs /vobstg/doctools.vbs
  Created versioned object base.
  Host-local path: neon:/vobstg/doctools.vbs
  Global path: /net/neon/vobstg/doctools.vbs
  .
  .
  .

• Create a VOB at VOB server storage location.

  cmd-context  mkvob -tag /vobbert -stgloc stgloc1
  Comments for "/export/home/bert/stgloc1/vobbert.vbs":
  test vob
  .
  Created versioned object base.
  Host-local path: peroxide:/export/home/bert/stgloc1/vobbert.vbs
  Global path:     <no-gpath>
  cleartool: Warning: This global path value precludes use of this
  VOB by dynamic views from region "test_region".
  .
  .
  .

• Create a private VOB storage directory, project3.vbs, in the C:\users\vbstore directory on local host venus, and give it the VOB tag \project3. Assume c:\users is shared as \\venus\users. Then, mount the VOB on the local host.

  cmd-context mkvob -tag \project3 -c "main development sources" ^
  \\venus\users\vbstore\project3.vbs
  Created versioned object base.
  Host: venus
  Local path: C:\users\vbstore\project3.vbs
  Global path: \\venus\users\vbstore\project3.vbs
  VOB ownership:
  owner anne
  group dev
  
  cmd-context  mount \project3 (mount VOB as file system of type MVFS)

• Create a public VOB, which will be mounted at startup time (by all hosts in the current host's network region).

  cmd-context mkvob -tag \src1 -public ^
  -password tagPword \\saturn\vbstore\src1.vbs
  Created versioned object base.
  Host: saturn
  Local path: C:\vbstore\src1.vbs
  Global path: \\saturn\vbstore\src1.vbs
  .
  .
  .