About sharing control of a branch with developers at other sites

Tip: This section describes how to request control of a branch from another development site. Do not read this section unless your project manager or HCL VersionVault MultiSite administrator directs you to.

If your company uses HCL VersionVault MultiSite to distribute development among multiple geographical sites, you may share source files with developers at other sites. Each site has its own replica of the VOB, and developers work in their site-specific replica (known as the current replica). Each replica controls (masters) a particular branch of an element, and only developers at the site of that replica can work on that branch. In this scenario, HCL VersionVault MultiSite branch mastership does not affect you, and you can do your work as usual.

However, sometimes elements cannot have multiple branches. For example, some file types cannot be merged, so development must occur on a single branch. In this scenario, all developers must work on a single branch (usually, the main branch). Only one replica is allowed to master a branch at any given time. Therefore, if a developer at another site needs to work on the element, she must request mastership of the branch.

Tip: The developer can also request mastership of branch types. For more information, see the Help.

For example, the file doc_info.doc cannot be merged because it is a file type for which you do not have a type manager, but developers at different sites need to make changes to it. If the branch is mastered by your current replica, you can check out the file. If the branch is mastered by another replica, you cannot check out the file. If you try to check out the file, an error message is presented.

On the Windows® system

  • In the graphical interface: 
    Branch '\main' is not mastered by the current replica. Master 
replica of branch is 'sanfran_hub'. Only unreserved, nonmastered 
checkout is allowed at the current replica.
  • On the command line: 
    cleartool: Error: Cannot checkout branch 'main'.
The branch is mastered by replica 'sanfran_hub'.
Current replica is 'boston_hub'.
cleartool: Error: Unable to check out 'doc_info.doc'.

On the UNIX® system and Linux®

cleartool checkout -c "command changes" doc_info.doc

cleartool: Error: Cannot checkout branch "/main".
The branch is mastered by replica "sanfran_hub".
Current replica is "boston_hub".
cleartool: Error: Unable to check out "doc_info.doc".

For you to check out the file reserved or to check in the file after a nonmastered checkout, your current replica must master the branch. You can request mastership through the graphical interface on the Windows® system, or with a cleartool command on the Windows® system and Linux® and the UNIX® system.

If you have permission to request mastership from the master replica of the branch, if mastership requests are enabled, and if there are no blocking conditions, then the mastership change is made at the master replica, and an HCL VersionVault MultiSite update packet that contains the change is sent to your current replica. When your current replica imports the packet, it receives mastership of the branch and you can check out the file.

Tip: Authorizing developers to request mastership and enabling mastership requests at a replica are tasks performed by the HCL VersionVault MultiSite administrator. For more information, see the Help.

When you use mastership requests to transfer control of a branch, you can use either of two methods to do your work:

  • Request mastership of the branch and wait for mastership to be transferred to your current replica; then perform a reserved checkout. You must use this method if you cannot or do not want to merge versions of the element.
  • Request mastership of the branch and use a nonmastered checkout to check out the branch immediately. You may have to perform a merge before you can check in your work.