How Freezepointing Works

Freezepointing enables you to create freezepoint files from Configuring workspaces.

Nonworkspace directory hierarchies that contain SCCS history files can also be preserved using Freezepointing. Freezepointing issues a warning if the directory is not a workspace.

At a later time you can use the freezepoint files to recreate the directory hierarchies contained in the workspaces.

Freezepointing gives you the option of recreating a workspace containing the SCCS histories for all extracted files. Alternatively, you may choose to extract the derived files only; that is, retrieve the default delta using the SCCS get command with no options. In this case, SCCS histories are not recreated and TeamWare does not create a workspace.

Freezepoint Files

A freezepoint file is a text file that lists the default deltas from the SCCS history files contained in the workspace hierarchy being preserved. When you later recreate the hierarchy, Freezepointing uses those entries as pointers back to the original history files and to the delta that was the default at the time the freezepoint file was created.

The deltas are not identified by their standard SCCS delta ID (SID). Instead, a new means of identification called an SCCS Mergeable ID (SMID) is used. Using the SMID enables Freezepointing to work properly with files in which SIDS have been renumbered as part of a Configuring Bringover Update transaction. For more information, see Appendix A, About SCCS Mergeable IDs."

The freezepoint file contains the following information:

• The path name of the workspace from which the list of deltas was created

• The date and time that the file was created

• The login name of the user who created the freezepoint

• A group of hex digits that identifies the most recent SCCS deltas found in each file's corresponding SCCS history file

• A group of hex digits that identifies the root delta in each file's corresponding SCCS history file

• An optional user-supplied comment

The following example shows three entries from a freezepoint file.

filemerge.1 (previously 1.5) 92/03/19 14:09:08 jon a6f4fe81 89b4632b 418e7950 5510740e cf9ab4e1 95627c33 2287acc3 b9e0877e
putback.1 (previously 1.40)92/06/02 16:36:16 george 5b791c60 2b827cfd f0cc9a73 46ac975 24d9b3ec f87d1975 9ea59e0d 72ce2a4d
resolve.1 (previously 1.19) 92/06/10 16:38:07 paul f21fa6e6 668bf818 e4964f36 240d825c f1d3f57 8cc4c31c 9f53029f 8aaf3db1

You can view the contents of a freezepoint file using a standard text editor.

Creation

When you create a freezepoint file, you specify directories and files to Freezepointing in the Directories and Files pane of the Freezepointing window (see Figure 15-1). Freezepointing recursively descends the directory hierarchies and identifies the most recently checked-in deltas in each SCCS history file. Freezepointing then creates a freezepoint file that consists of a list of those files and unique numerical identifiers for each delta.

Extraction

You can later use Freezepointing to recreate the source hierarchy. You specify the name of the freezepoint file, the path name of the directory hierarchy from which the deltas are to be extracted (if different from the hierarchy from which it was derived), and the directory where you want the source hierarchy recreated.

The extract operation consists of creating a new directory hierarchy based on the information contained in the freezepoint file. The new hierarchy is comprised of g-files defined by the default deltas in the original SCCS history files; the history files themselves are not recreated unless you ask FreezePointing to create a workspace while performing the extraction. Deltas are extracted from SCCS history files located in the original source workspace.

Source Workspace

The source workspace is the directory hierarchy that contains the SCCS history files from which the freezepoint file is created. Usually, the source workspace is also the directory hierarchy from which g-files are later extracted to recreate the hierarchy.

You can specify an alternate source directory at the time you perform the extract operation.

Destination Directory

The destination directory is the top-level directory into which the files listed in the freezepoint file are extracted. You specify the path name of this directory in the Extract pane of the Freezepointing window.