How can I select a specific version of the root folder (.) in a snapshot view (Base ClearCase 7.1.2.9, no UCM)?

Question

Stumbled over this at work yesterday: I have a small VOB and created a snapshot view to access the data (source files) in it. If I give the ConfigSpec as:

load /vob/extern
element * CHECKEDOUT

element * /main/LATEST

, I will see all elements in their "LATEST" version and running a cleartool describe or xlsvtree on a single element can confirm this. Fine.

There is a src folder at the top level, having the versions "0-2", and when I setup the ConfigSpec as

load /vob/extern
element * CHECKEDOUT

element src /main/1
element * /main/LATEST

I can select the "1" version of the src directory, while keeping all other elements at "LATEST". Super.

However, this doesn't seem to work with the root folder (versions "0-7"). When I edit the ConfigSpec to

load /vob/extern
element * CHECKEDOUT

element . /main/6
element * /main/LATEST

, the version "6" of "." doesn't get selected (it's at "7"=LATEST again)! How can I accomplish this in a snapshot view?

I have also made the following, admittedly desperate, attempts

element "." /main/6

and

element "\." /main/6

, but to no avail. Searched the web/stackoverflow for quite a while and the man pages for "version_selector", "config_spec" and "wildcards_ccase" didn't offer me any explanation for the current behaviour.

I also tried another

rm -rf *
cleartool update

after setting the ConfigSpec, but the version of "." stays at "7".

Answer 1

The relative path '.' does not seem to work, and the config spec falls back to the next valid rule.

Try and use, after reading config_spec Pattern, an absolute path:

element /vob/extern  /main/6
# or
element /vob/extern/ /main/6