Version control puzzle

[Geert Bellekens]

Hi,

Another one on the version control.
I'm using EA 7.0.815 with an oracle repository (although for this problem I tested with a .eap file as well)
I'm testing the integration with PCVS (versions 8 (Merant) and 10 (Serena) through the scc interface.
First we tested Serena with two users userA and userB
We did following:
- A packageA is checked in in the VC
- UserA nor UserB can modify packageA
- UserA checks out a packageA from VC
- UserA can now modify packageA
- UserB cannot modify packageA

So far so good, works exactly as expected. Now I did the same test with PVCS8

- A packageA is checked in in the VC
- UserA nor UserB can modify packageA
- UserA checks out a packageA from VC
- UserA can now modify packageA
- UserB can ALSO modify packageA

No I'm really puzzled. It seems like the settings for PVCS8 and PVCS10 are exaclty the same. In EA I don't see a difference... I really don't know anymore.  
Anyone that can shed some light on it?

[Geert Bellekens]

Hmm,

Since nobody here seems to have a clue about this problem, I've send the question to sparx support.

I'll update the topic with the reply.

[«Midnight»]

Thanks Geert,

I did not respond since I have no solution to offer. I for one am certainly interested in any information you can uncover.

David

[Geert Bellekens]

Hi,

As usual I got a response from Sparx support the next day.
Here it goes:

Hello Geert,

Thank you for your email reporting the problems you are experiencing with your SCC products.

EA connects to all SCC clients using exactly the same code, in exactly the same way.  All SCC clients should behave according to the MS SCC API specification.  Most do, we have found that some don't...

First of all, you need to make sure that your Version Control projects are set to enforce exclusive checkouts, so that only one user at a time can have a file checked-out.

Please also ensure that your two users have separate userIDs on the version control product and that they are connecting to their own separate working copy folders (i.e., they must not be sharing the same working copy folder).

If you have done all that and you find that your product still allows a user to edit a package that is checked-out to another user, then I can only guess that the VC product is misreporting the file status.

The VC product should report the status of a file checked out to another user, with the flags SCC_STATUS_OUTEXCLUSIVE and SCC_STATUS_OUTOTHER (and a couple of others) all set.  It has been my experience that some products simply don't get this right.

In your version control product, the SCC client is a separate component from the Windows GUI client.  It seems that for some vendors, the SCC client is provided as a bit of an afterthought.

At this stage, I would suggest that you find a product that works and stick with that one.

Unfortunately the company I work for has chosen PVCS as their enterprise version control system, so I'll just have to get it working together.
I'll report this issue to Serena support and update this post as soon as I have more information.

[Geert Bellekens]

OK,

So after a dozen emails back and forth to Serena support asking me for more information, and telling me that the integration with EA is not supported I finally got an email telling me that this issue is fixed in Serena Dimensions version 10... as I told them in my first email...  
Pff.. what a waste of time, one reason more to appreciate the excellent support from the Sparx team!
I've asked Serena if there is a chance they will create a patch with bugfix for Dimensions 8, but I'm expecting a simple NO.

[thomaskilian]

You will likely be proven correct. Thus once a again: Cheers to Sparx' support!

[Geert Bellekens]

Yep, got a NO from Serena as expected.
No more patches for PVCS (Dimensions) version 8