-clone - make an exact copy of a change

-CLone [ option... ] change-number [ change-number ]

-CLone -Help

-CLone -VERSion

The -CLone command is used to create exact replicas of changes. This is of most use when a change need to be applied to several parallel branches.

One change number must be supplied. This is the change to be replicated. If any branch options are given (see below) the mandatory change number applies to the branch specified. If no branch is specified, the change applies to the project (implicit or explicit).

If the optional second change number is supplied, this is the change number to be created to hold the replica; if it is not supplied, the next available change number will be used.

If the change to be replicated has been completed, the appropriate file revisions will be extracted from history; otherwise the files will be copied from the development directory of the change to be copied. Be warned: if a file in the change which was cloned subsequently changes, those changes will not automagically be tracked. It is best if changes are cloned at a stable time, such as one of the states after develop end, or even after integrate pass.

Development Directory Location

Aegis provides you with what is often called a ``view path'' which indicates to development tools (compilers, build systems, etc) look first in the development directory, then in the branch baseline, and so on up to the trunk baseline.

The problem with view paths is that in order to remove files, you need some kind of "whiteout" to say ``stop looking, it's been removed.''

When you user the aerm(1) or aemv(1) commands, this means "add information to this change which will remove the file from the baseline when this change is integrated". I.e. while the change is in the being developed state, the file is only "removed" in the development directory - it's still present in the baseline, and will be until the change is successfully integrated.

When you use the aerm(1) or aemv(1) commands, Aegis will create a 1K file to act as the whiteout. It's contents are rather ugly so that if you compile or include the "removed" file accidentally, you get a fatal error. This will remind you to remove obsolete references.

When the change in integrated, the removed file is not copied/linked from the baseline to the integration directory, and is not copied from the development directory. At this time it is physically gone (no whiteout). It is assumed that because of the error inducing whiteout all old references were found and fixed while the change was in the being developed state.

File Manifests

# generate the file manifest
manifest.make.inc: manifest.make.awk
	( aegis -l cf -ter ; aegis -l pf -ter ) | \
	awk -f manifest.make.awk > manifest.make.inc
# now include the file manifest
include manifest.make.inc

/* run when the change file manifest is altered */
change_file_command = "rm -f manifest.make.inc";
/* run when the project file manifest is altered */
project_file_command = "rm -f manifest.make.inc";

Options and Preferences

Whiteout File Templates

whiteout_template =
[
	{
		pattern = [ "*.[ch]" ];
		body = "#error This file has been removed.";
	}
];

whiteout_template =
[
	{ pattern = [ "*.c" ]; }
];

Notification

When you use aeclone(1) to clone a change set, and then integrate one of the two change sets, you will observe that Aegis says that the files of the un-integrated change are now out-of-date.

If you run aem(1) to bring the out-of-date files back up-to-date, fmerge(1) and some (but not) all other merging tools, it signals just about everything as a conflict, even though both alternatives are identical.

The problem is that two changes making identical edits to the same place in the same file are a logical conflict, even if not an actual conflict, and it takes a human to figure out the difference. Think of a shopping list: the ensuite needs more soap, and so does the main bathroom. The second "soap" on the merge of the two shopping lists isn't a duplicate, you really do need two boxes of soap. Sometimes edits of source files are the same: sometimes the logical conflict is resolved by applying both identical edits, not just one.

This is just the fmerge(1) command being more conservative than RCS's merge(1) command.

The easiest way to deal with this common situation it to run an aecpu -unchanged command before you run the aem(1) merge command, and you will have less grief. It's also worth remembering that Aegis stashes the original file with a CW],B suffix (B for backup) so you can simply mv fubar,B fubar if you know that all of the conflicts are logical conflicts.

The following options are understood:

-BRanch number

This option may be used to specify a different branch for the origin file, rather than the baseline. (See also -TRunk option.) Please Note: the -BRanch option does not take a project name, just the branch number suffix.

-GrandParent

This option may be used to specify the grandparent branch (one up from the current branch) for the origin file, rather than the baseline. (The -grandparent option is the same as the ``-branch ..'' option.)

-Change number

This option may be used to specify a particular change within a project. See aegis(1) for a complete description of this option.

-DIRectory path

This option may be used to specify which directory is to be used. It is an error if the current user does not have appropriate permissions to create the directory path given. This must be an absolute path.

Caution: If you are using an automounter do not use `pwd` to make an absolute path, it usually gives the wrong answer.

-Help

This option may be used to obtain more information about how to use the program.

-List

This option may be used to obtain a list of suitable subjects for this command. The list may be more general than expected.

-WhiteOut

This option may be used to request that deleted files be replaced by a ``whiteout'' file in the development directory. The idea is that compiling such a file will result in a fatal error, in order that all references may be found. This is usually the default.

-No_WhiteOut

This option may be used to request that no ``whiteout'' file be placed in the development directory.

-Output filename

This option may be used to specify a filename which is to be written with the automatically determined change number. Useful for writing scripts.

-Project name

This option may be used to select the project of interest. When no -Project option is specified, the AEGIS_PROJECT environment variable is consulted. If that does not exist, the user's $HOME/.aegisrc file is examined for a default project field (see aeuconf(5) for more information). If that does not exist, when the user is only working on changes within a single project, the project name defaults to that project. Otherwise, it is an error.

-TRunk

This option may be used to specify the project trunk for the origin file, rather than the baseline. (See also -BRanch option, the -trunk option is the same as the ``-branch -'' option.)

-Wait

This option may be used to require commands to wait for access locks, if they cannot be obtained immediately. Defaults to the user's lock_wait_preference if not specified, see aeuconf(5) for more information.

-No_Wait

This option may be used to require commands to emit a fatal error if access locks cannot be obtained immediately. Defaults to the user's lock_wait_preference if not specified, see aeuconf(5) for more information.

All options may be abbreviated; the abbreviation is documented as the upper case letters, all lower case letters and underscores (_) are optional. You must use consecutive sequences of optional letters.

All options are case insensitive, you may type them in upper case or lower case or a combination of both, case is not important.

For example: the arguments "-project, "-PROJ" and "-p" are all interpreted to mean the -Project option. The argument "-prj" will not be understood, because consecutive optional characters were not supplied.

Options and other command line arguments may be mixed arbitrarily on the command line, after the function selectors.

The GNU long option names are understood. Since all option names for are long, this means ignoring the extra leading '-'. The "--option=value" convention is also understood.

It is an error if the current user is not an administrator of the project. (In some cases it is possible for developers of a project to create changes, see aepattr(5) for more information.)

The command will exit with a status of 1 on any error. The command will only exit with a status of 0 if there are no errors.

See aegis(1) for a list of environment variables which may affect this command. See aepconf(5) for the project configuration file's project_%specific field for how to set environment variables for all commands executed by Aegis.

aenc(1)

Create a new change.

aeca(1)

modify the attributes of a change

aena(1)

add a new administrator to a project

aepa(1)

modify the attributes of a project

version

Copyright Peter Miller; All rights reserved.

The program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details use the ' -VERSion License' command. This is free software and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; for details use the ' -VERSion License' command.

tab(;); l r l. Peter Miller;E-Mail:;millerp@canb.auug.org.au CW/\/\*;WWW:;http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp/