chtype

Changes the type of an element or renames a branch

Applicability

Product

Command type

ClearCase®

cleartool subcommand

Platform

UNIX®
Linux®

Windows®
Parent topic: Cleartool subcommands for base ClearCase and UCM
Parent topic: Commands for managing software development projects (base ClearCase and UCM)
Parent topic: Rational ClearCase command reference

Synopsis

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

[ –f/orce ] [ –pna/me ] type-selector

{ pname ... | object-selector ... }

Description

The chtype command changes the element type of one or more existing elements or renames one or more existing branches. These operations involve changing the type object associated with the element or branch.

Restrictions

Identities

For an element, you must have one of the following identities:

  • Element owner
  • VOB owner
  • root (UNIX and Linux)
  • Member of the ClearCase administrators group (ClearCase on Windows)

For a branch, you must have one of the following identities:

  • Branch creator
  • Element owner
  • VOB owner
  • root (UNIX and Linux)
  • Member of the ClearCase administrators group (ClearCase on Windows)

Locks

An error occurs if one or more of these objects are locked:

Element

VOB, element type, element, pool

Branch

VOB, element type, element, branch type, branch.

Mastership

(Replicated VOBs only) For an element, your current replica must master the element. For a branch, your current replica must master the new branch type and the branch you are changing.

Options and arguments

Event records and comments

Default
Creates one or more event records, with commenting controlled by your .clearcase_profile file (default: –nc). 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.

Confirmation step

Default
chtype prompts for confirmation if changing an element's type will change the way its versions are stored in the VOB storage pool.
–f/orce
Suppresses the confirmation step.

Specifying the new type

Default
None.
type-selector
An element type or branch type. The type must already exist. (Exception: If you specify a global element type or global branch type, a local copy of the type is created if one does not already exist.) Specify type-selector in the form [type-kind:]type-name[@vob-selector].

type-kind

One of brtype branch type eltype element type

type-name

Name of the type object

vob-selector

Object-selector for a VOB, in the form [vob:]pname-in-vob. The pname-in-vob can be the path name of the VOB tag (whether or not the VOB is mounted) or of any file system object within the VOB (if the VOB is mounted)

Specifying the elements, branches, or activities

Default
None.
[ –pna/me ] pname ...
One or more path names, each of which specifies a file or directory element. A standard path name is valid; you need not append the extended naming symbol. That is, specifying a version is equivalent to specifying its element. Specifying a branch (for example, foo.c@@/main/bugfix) causes an error.

If pname has the form of an object selector (for example, eltype:fl2), you must use the –pname option to indicate that it is a path name. The –pname option must precede nonoption arguments. For example:

cmd-context chtype –nc –force –pname eltype:c_source eltype:fl2

object-selector ...
One or more extended path names, each of which specifies a particular branch of an element. For example:

foo.c@@/main/bugfix
bar.@@/main/maint/bug405

Examples

The UNIX system and Linux examples in this section are written for use in csh. If you use another shell, you may need to use different quoting and escaping conventions.

The Windows examples that include wildcards or quoting are written for use in cleartool interactive mode. If you use cleartool single-command mode, you may need to change the wildcards and quoting to make your command interpreter process the command appropriately.

In cleartool single-command mode, cmd-context represents the UNIX system and Linux shells or Windows command interpreter prompt, followed by the cleartool command. In cleartool interactive mode, cmd-context represents the interactive cleartool prompt.

  • Convert an element to type file.

    cmd-context chtype file hello.c
    Change version manager and reconstruct all versions for "hello.c"? [no]
    yes
    Changed type of element "hello.c" to "file".

  • Change branch rel2_bugfix to branch maintenance, providing a comment.

    cmd-context chtype -c "rel2_bugfix no longer in use"
    maintenance util.c@@\main\rel2_bugfix
    Changed type of branch "util.c@@\main\rel2_bugfix" to "maintenance".

  • Convert an archive library to compressed_file format, suppressing confirmation prompts.

    cmd-context chtype -force compressed_file libutil.a
    Changed type of element "libutil.a" to "compressed_file".

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