mkhltype

Product	Command type
ClearCase®	cleartool subcommand

Platform
UNIX®
Linux®
Windows®

Description

The mkhltype command creates one or more hyperlink types for future use within a VOB. After creating a hyperlink type, you can connect pairs of objects with hyperlinks of that type, using mkhlink.

Conceptually, a hyperlink is an “arrow” from one VOB-database object (version, branch, element, or VOB symbolic link) to another. To enable objects in two different VOBs to be connected, a hyperlink type with the same name must be created in both VOBs.

For example, you create a hyperlink type named design_spec, for use in linking source code files to the associated design documents. Later, you can use mkhlink to create a hyperlink of this type between my_prog.c and my_prog.dsn.

Predefined hyperlink types

The following predefined hyperlink types are created in a new VOB:

Merge	Merge hyperlinks record a merge of two or more versions of an element (performed by the merge command) with one or more merge arrows. Each merge arrow is actually a hyperlink of type Merge, connecting one of the contributors to the target version.
GlobalDefinition	GlobalDefinition hyperlinks record the relationship between a global definition and a local instance of a global type.
AdminVOB	AdminVOB hyperlinks record a VOB's administrative VOB.
RelocationVOB	RelocationVOB hyperlinks point from VOBs to which objects have been relocated to the VOBs in which the objects were originally located. These hyperlinks occur only between VOB objects. (See the relocate reference page.)

Restrictions

Identities

No special identity is required unless you specify the –replace option. For –replace, you must have one of the following identities:

Type 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: VOB, hyperlink type (with –replace only).

Mastership

(Replicated VOBs only) With –replace, your current replica must master the type.

Options and arguments

Handling of name collisions

Default

An error occurs if a hyperlink type named type-name already exists in the VOB.

–rep/lace

Replaces the existing definition of type-name with a new one. If you do not include options from the existing definition, their values are replaced with the defaults (Exception: the type's global scope does not change; you must explicitly specify –global or –ordinary).

If you specify a comment when using –replace, the comment appears in the event record for the modification (displayed with lshistory –minor); it does not replace the object's creation comment (displayed with describe). To change an object's creation comment, use chevent.

Constraints:

You cannot replace predefined hyperlink types.
When replacing a hyperlink type that was created with the –shared option, you must use –shared again; that is, you cannot convert a hyperlink type from shared to unshared.
When converting a global type to ordinary, you must specify the global type as the hlink-type-selector argument. You cannot specify a local copy of the global type.

Specifying the scope of the hyperlink type

Default: Creates an ordinary hyperlink type that can be used only in the current VOB.
–glo/bal [ –acq/uire ]: Creates a hyperlink type that can be used as a global resource by the VOBs in the administrative VOB hierarchy. With –acquire, mkhltype checks all eclipsing types in those VOBs and converts them to local copies of the new global type.
For more information, see the IBM Rational ClearCase Administrator's Guide.
–ord/inary: Creates a hyperlink type that can be used only in the current VOB.

Mastership of the hyperlink type

Default: Attempts to attach hyperlinks of this type succeed only in the VOB replica that is the current master of the hyperlink type. The VOB replica in which the new hyperlink type is created becomes its initial master.
–sha/red: Hyperlinks of this type can be created in any VOB replica. (You can delete a hyperlink of this type only at the master site.)
If a type is global and shared, additional mastership restrictions exist when you create instances of the type. You cannot create instances of the type unless the client VOB contains a local copy of the type, or the administrative VOB at the current site masters the type. For more information, see the IBM Rational ClearCase Administrator's Guide.

Event records and comments

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.

Naming the hyperlink types

Default

The hyperlink type is created in the VOB that contains the current working directory unless you specify another VOB with the @vob-selector argument.

hlink-type-selector ...

Names of the hyperlink types to be created. Specify hlink-type-selector in the form [hltype:]type-name[@vob-selector]

type-name

Name of the hyperlink type

See the cleartool reference page for rules about composing names.

vob-selector

Object-selector for a VOB, in the form [vob:]pname-in-vob. The pname-in-vob can be the pathname 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)

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.

Create a hyperlink type named tested_by.
cmd-context mkhltype -nc tested_by
Created hyperlink type "tested_by".
Create a hyperlink type named design_spec in the \docs VOB, and provide a comment on the command line.
cmd-context mkhltype -c "source to design document" design_spec@\docs
Created hyperlink type "design_spec".