%% Regarding Any Clearcase users on Debian?;
%% Nico De Ranter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
ndr> I'm trying to get Clearcase (huge, expensive code revision
ndr> system) to work on Debian but I can't get the mvfs module to
ndr> load. Has anybody tried this before? and succeeded? Please don't
ndr> tell me to revert to Redhat 6.2 :-(
I've been using ClearCase 4.1 on Debian since it was released last
November. Works fine.
There are a number of issues to consider:
0) Be sure you have all the latest patches: most particularly patches
11 and 12. Before that, ClearCase on Linux (even Red Hat) was not
so stable.
1) ClearCase only supports Linux kernels 2.2.14-2.2.16. To be precise,
they only officially support the Red Hat versions of those kernels.
I have used ClearCase with the Linux 2.2.17 kernel, but others have
reported problems.
ClearCase MVFS will _NOT_ work with any kernel prior to 2.2.14 (why
would you want to? :) or later than 2.2.17 (the NFS changes
introduced in 2.2.18 change the filesystem module interface
sufficiently that MVFS won't work).
I have used the vanilla kernels from www.kernel.org with ClearCase
and they worked fine, but what I did to be extra-safe was go to the
Red Hat site and get their kernel sources package for the Red Hat
7.0 kernel (2.2.16-22, in Red Hat-speak). This is 2.2.16 plus a lot
of patches Red Hat applied. Remember that, as with Debian's kernel
source packages, this is a regular RPM not an SRPM. Then I used
rpm2cpio to unpack it, and built it and installed it using Debian
make-kpkg etc.
2) You have to edit /etc/issue to fool the ClearCase installer into
thinking that you are running Red Hat; add something like "Red Hat
version 7.0" to /etc/issue when installing--but be sure to take it
out again after so people don't think you're really running Red Hat!
:)
3) You must also apply Rational's small kernel patch as described in
the ClearCase release notes, and install the MVFS code before you
build the kernel.
Also be sure the various kernel module settings are correct, as
described in the release notes, and that you have picked the MVFS
module to be built when you're in the kernel filesystems config
menu. And of course you need NFS enabled.
4) You don't say what version of Debian you're using, but note that
ClearCase wants GLIBC 2.1.3 (as shipped on Red Hat 6.2/7.0). I was
using "testing", and upgraded my GLIBC to 2.2.1 with no problems.
However, last month when I upgraded to GLIBC 2.2.3, the ClearCase
albd_server stopped working :(. It comes up fine and goes into a
select() wait for connections, but no clients can connect to it.
Very weird.
What I did was to unpack a copy of the Debian potato libc6 2.1.3 DEB
in a different directory, then play games with ld.so to have the
ClearCase programs use that libc instead of my standard system
libc. It took a bit of hacking but it works fine now. Let me know
if you need more details.
If you stay with Debian potato you won't have to mess with this.
Finally, if you have an extra system lying around I strongly suggest you
install Red Hat 6.2 or 7.0 on it, then install ClearCase there. If you
run into any issues you should verify that they exist on the Red Hat
system as well before reporting them as bugs to Rational: Rational does
not officially support any version of Linux other than Red Hat. This
system doesn't have to be anything special; just use that P100 doorstop
you have lying around :). CheapBytes will sell you a CD with RH 6.2 or
7.0 on it for $5 or less.
HTH.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul D. Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> HASMAT--HA Software Methods & Tools
"Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These are my opinions---Nortel Networks takes no responsibility for them.
