One of the benefits of the ClearCase Development Team adopting Agile development practices is that we've been able to be more responsive to customer Requests for Enhancements (RFEs). As a result, we started regularly shipping new features in Fixpacks, which historically were limited to defect fixes. The new features are described in the Release Notes for each Fixpack. However, it became apparent that customers would benefit from a consolidated summary, hence this blog post. It enumerates the key enhancements to the product in each release (including Fixpacks) starting with ClearCase 10.0. The features are listed in reverse-chronological order so the latest features are first. This blog post will be updated as future Fixpacks are released.
ClearCase 11.0.0.04 and 10.0.1.04 (21-August-2025)
New "DevInt" integration API and CLI
IBM provides integrations with the most popular IDEs (Integrated Developer Environments) including Visual Studio Code and Eclipse. Numerous customers requested an easy way to create integrations with lesser used tools. In response, we created a new Developer Integration "DevInt" API (Application Programming Interface) and CLI (Command Line Interface). They provide easy-to-use interfaces to the most common developer operations (e.g. get file status, create view, checkout, checkin, deliver, update view, ...). They are built on the new REST STOP architecture (REST Server Through Operational Proxy) that efficiently supports UCM (Unified Change Management) and base ClearCase in all four view types (dynamic, snapshot, automatic and web views). The API and CLI initially support "silent mode" where all required arguments must be supplied. A future release may include "interactive mode" where the API will prompt the user for any missing (required or optional) arguments. The results of each action are returned in JSON making them easy to process. For more details, refer to the API and CLI documentation.
[11.0.0.04 only] JSON output from 'cleartool describe' and 'cleartool lshistory'
Many customers create extensive automation that includes ClearCase data and operations. Most popular languages (including scripting languages like Python) have JSON parsers. The two most heavily used ClearCase query operations were enhanced to optionally produce output in easy-for-automation-to-process structured JSON instead of the default easy-for-humans-to-read format. For more details, refer to the 'describe' and 'lshistory' documentation.
[11.0.0.04 only] New Type Manager Server
ClearCase type managers are responsible for choosing appropriate diff/merge tools and managing the storage of element contents in VOB containers (based on the type of the file). Type managers normally execute on the client machine. The new Type Manager Server allows the container management operations (used by operations such as 'checkin' and 'mkbranch') to execute on the VOB server machine instead, which may provide security or performance benefits. ClearCase administrators may enable the use of the Type Manager Server on a VOB-by-VOB basis. Operations involving machines that do not support the Type Manager Server will continue to execute the type managers on the client machine. For more details, refer to the 'type_manager' documentation.
ClearCase 11.0.0.03 and 10.0.1.03 (4-March-2025)
Introduction of the new REST STOP architecture style
Version control systems, at least at a large scale, don't align well with one of the key constraints of the REST Architectural Style. Roy Fielding's dissertation states, "client-server interaction: communication must be stateless ... such that each request from client to server must contain all of the information necessary to understand the request, and cannot take advantage of any stored context on the server. Session state is therefore kept entirely on the client." The dissertation proceeds to enumerate two potentially significant trade-offs:
"The disadvantage is that it may decrease network performance by increasing the repetitive data (per-interaction overhead) sent in a series of requests, since that data cannot be left on the server in a shared context. In addition, placing the application state on the client-side reduces the server’s control over consistent application behavior, since the application becomes dependent on the correct implementation of semantics across multiple client versions."
Both of these trade-offs create a significant problem for version control systems. Version control systems like ClearCase create, populate, and manage views (workspaces) on the client. Views will routinely contain tens or hundreds of thousands of versioned files. Updating a view requires that the client understand all pertinent server changes or that the server understand all pertinent client changes since the last update. For large views, this implies transferring this information potentially impacting hundreds of thousands of files across the network. In order to have a high-performance implementation, stored context on the server becomes essential.
In addition, views have complex client-side state and semantics. This implies a need for a common, sharable implementation of the client semantics to ensure correct and consistent client behavior.
The new REST STOP (REST Server Through Operational Proxy) architectural style extends the REST style to accommodate the need for a client-stateful-server (where necessary) and a shared implementation of key client semantics providing a high-performance client-server solution with an easy-to-consume API. This is accomplished by introducing a new type of proxy server, an Operational Proxy, that runs on the client and executes the operations with complex semantics on behalf of the API consumers.
Visual Studio Code Integration enhanced to utilize the REST STOP architecture
The ClearCase Visual Studio Code Integration was enhanced to utilize the new REST STOP architecture (REST Server Through Operational Proxy). This provides improvements in performance, security, and deployment. For more details, refer to the documentation.
CMI (Change Management Integration) enhancements
CMI provides a ClearCase integration with ClearQuest, Rational Team Concert, and Jira. CMI now also supports integrating with IBM DevOps Plan. Other enhancements include prompting for credentials when necessary and an "Apply to All" option when selecting a task while checking in multiple files with base ClearCase.
Improved 'mecleardiffmerge'
'mecleardiffmerge' (Multi-Encoding compare / merge) is the ClearCase diff / merge GUI that supports a mixture of files that are in different character encodings. It was reimplemented in C++ which improved its performance. This also eliminates the last dependency on a JRE (Java Runtime Environment) for CCLC (ClearCase Local Client) unless you are using the ClearCase Ant plug-in for audited Java builds. Note: CCRC (ClearCase Remote Client) continues to require a JRE.
Smart card authentication from CCRC.
Smart Card authentication from CCRC was validated using U.S. PIV (Personal Identify Verification) Cards and CAC (Common Access Cards). For more details, refer to the Technote.
ClearCase 11.0.0.01 and 10.0.1.02 (15-July-2024)
Added support for Samba with Winbind on RHEL 8
Refer to the "Installing and configuring Samba" documentation.
[11.0.0.01 only] JSON output from 'cleartool catcr' and 'cleartool getcache'
Many customers create extensive automation that includes ClearCase data and operations. Most popular languages (including scripting languages like Python) have JSON parsers. ClearCase config rec (audited build "configuration record" or "CR") query operations were enhanced to optionally produce output in easy-for-automation-to-process structured JSON instead of the default easy-for-humans-to-read format. For more details, refer to the 'catcr' and 'getcache' documentation.
ClearCase 11.0.0.00 and 10.0.1.01 (20-March-2024)
Added GB 18030 (Simplified Chinese) support in most applications
[11.0.0.00 only] ClearCase / Jenkins integration enhancements (Phase 2 of 2)
Phase 2 introduces significant enhancements. Dynamic and snapshot views are now supported. Multibranch pipelines jobs are now supported for development streams and may optionally be initiated by Preop-deliver and Make-Baseline triggers. Incoming MultiSite synchronization can also initiate builds. For more details, refer to the Jenkins Integration documentation.
[11.0.0.00 only] New 64-bit ClearCase Connectors for z/OS
Refer to the "Installing and using z/OS Extensions" documentation.
[11.0.0.00 only] CTE Symbolic link target operations
The ClearTeam Explorer (CTE) context menu now supports actions on the targets of symbolic links (symlinks).
ClearCase 10.0.1.00 (3-December-2023)
Automatic Views now available in CCRC offering
In earlier releases, using automatic views in a CCRC client context required installing from the "Full ClearCase " (CCLC) offering / package and deselecting all options except "Automatic views". automatic views are now available as an option in the CCRC client offering / package simplifying the deployment of automatic views.
New progress bar for Automatic View updates in CTE (ClearTeam Explorer)
One of the benefits of automatic views for CCRC users is that the views may continue to be used while a view update operation is in progress. CTE was enhanced with a progress bar displayed during the update of automatic views. This is especially valuable if you need to ensure the update operations complete before going offline.
New option in snapshot views to load VOB symbolic links as Windows symbolic links
ClearCase on Linux / Unix platforms has always loaded VOB symbolic links (symlinks) as native symbolic links in snapshot views. On Microsoft Windows, the target of symbolic links would be loaded instead. Microsoft enhanced Windows to support native symlinks. Thus, ClearCase now supports an option to load VOB symlinks as native symlinks on Windows. For more details, refer to the "Enhanced symbolic link behavior on Windows systems" topic in the documentation.
Integration enhancements
New CTE / Beanbag Review Board Integration
The ClearTeam Explorer (CTE) integration with Beanbag Review Board provides a direct interface for creating or updating review requests. For more details, refer to the Technote.
New ClearCase / Jenkins plugin (Phase 1 of 2)
The new ClearCase plugin for Jenkins supports scheduled builds, manual builds, and deliver-triggered builds in automatic and web views. For more details, refer to the Jenkins Integration documentation.
New ClearCase / Microsoft Visual Studio Code integration
The new ClearCase integration with Microsoft Visual Studio Code allows developers to execute common developer actions (e.g. checkout, checkin, ...) from the Visual Studio Code IDE. For more details, refer to the Visual Studio Code Integration documentation.
New ClearCase / Apache NetBeans integration
The new ClearCase integration with Apache NetBeans allows developers to execute common developer actions (e.g. checkout, checkin, ...) directly from the NetBeans IDE. For more details, refer to the NetBeans Integration documentation.
ClearCase / Cadence Virtuoso integration enhancement
Some error handling and reporting cases were simplified / improved.
systemd / systemctl support on Linux
ClearCase services on Linux are now managed with 'systemd' and 'systemctl' instead of 'init.d'.
Automatic rebuild of MVFS on Linux when needed
On Linux systems, ClearCase will now detect when it is necessary and rebuild the MVFS (MultiVersion File System used by dynamic and automatic views) after upgrading the operating system.
Automounting of VOBs on AIX
ClearCase dynamic views on AIX can now be configured to automount public VOBs when first accessed, avoiding the need to mount all public VOBs when starting ClearCase. This feature is already available on Linux and Solaris. For more details, refer to the "Automounting VOBs" topic in the documentation
Re-introduction of Linux on z/OS platform
Linux z/OS was added back as a supported platform (64-bit only).
ClearCase 10.0.0.00 (15-December-2022)
Semi-Live Reformat VOB
Reformatting a VOB (e.g. to upgrade to a new schema) required taking the VOB offline during the reformat process. For very large VOBs, this could make the VOB unavailable for a day (or even longer). "Semi-Live Reformat VOB" (SLRV) is a significant enhancement that allows the VOB to continue to be used during the reformat process. There is a brief period at the beginning and end of the process when the VOB is locked. This dramatically reduces the planning and burden of reformatting VOBs. For more details, refer to the SLRV documentation.
Auto-hijack mode for snapshot and web views
ClearCase views historically loaded checked-in files as read-only and required an explicit 'checkout' or 'hijack' before a file could be modified (note that CTE for Eclipse has an option to automatically 'checkout' or 'hijack' a file when starting to edit it). This explicit behavior is beneficial for environments where the team wants to ensure files are edited sequentially (e.g. for files that are difficult / impossible to merge) and avoid unnecessary merges. Some teams prefer to allow simultaneous modifications of the same file by different users. ClearCase snapshot and web views were enhanced to allow developers to create them in "auto-hijack" mode. In this mode, checked-in files are loaded in the view as writeable eliminating the need to explicitly 'hijack' files. Files may immediately be modified. A later view-update operation will detect any modified files and treat them as hijacked. They can be checked out, merged with the LATEST on the branch (if necessary), and checked in. For more details, refer to the 'mkview' documentation.
Re-introduction of UNIX platforms
Solaris SPARC, Solaris x86, AIX, and HP-UX were added back as "Core ClearCase UNIX Platforms" (64-bit only). Core ClearCase UNIX Platforms provide the CCLC (ClearCase Local Client) environment (i.e. the environment supporting dynamic and snapshot views). They do not support components dependent on a JRE (Java Runtime Environment) (e.g. CCRC, Ant plug-in).
Re-introduction of Solaris SPARC 8 Branded Zones platform
Solaris SPARC 8 Branded Zones (running in a Solaris SPARC 10 Global Zone) was added back as a "Core ClearCase Unix Platform" (64-bit only).
ClearCase and ClearQuest introduced decoupled releases
Prior to ClearCase and ClearQuest 10.0, both products required installing the matching version of the other. Starting with 10.0, different versions of the two products may be installed (subject to published support details - see Software Product Compatibility Reports - SPCR).
Guidance for deploying ClearCase on Cloud platforms
We published a whitepaper with guidance on deploying ClearCase on GCP (Google Cloud Platform). We had earlier published similar whitepapers for ClearCase on AWS (Amazon Web Services) and ClearCase on Azure.
Guidance for deploying ClearCase in Docker Containers
We published a whitepaper with guidance on deploying ClearCase in Docker Containers.