Latest Features in PERFORCE

PERFORCE ...

The Fast Software Configuration Management System

Release #2020 - September '96

Latest Features


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Change Review

PERFORCE now supports change review, where users can receive automated email about changes submitted to the PERFORCE depot.

Users can select files for change review using the standard PERFORCE file patterns. For example, a build engineer could subscribe to review only the files named Makefile throughout the tree plus all the files under a porting subdirectory. Because change review subscription is based on file names, not existing files, users can review the addition and deletion of files as well.

Change review in PERFORCE is a notification system only: it does not prevent users from making their changes.

Disconnected Client Support

PERFORCE now has commands that directly support reconciling a client that has changed while "disconnected" from the depot. This allows users to unplug their laptops and work from home, or remote users to drop their dialup connections, and still have PERFORCE track changes.

PERFORCE compares the client file tree with the depot by exchanging file fingerprints, rather than file contents. This makes it possible to compare thousands of files a minute, even over dialup links.

User Tracking

PERFORCE now track users who access the depot, recording the date and time of their last access. This makes it possible for administrators (and other users) to see who is actively using the system.

Namespace Protection

PERFORCE's protection mechanism, which can limit access to the depot to specific users on specific hosts, has been extended to allow access to be limited to selected files. Files are selected using the standard PERFORCE file patterns. The protection levels have been extended to include a new "list" access mode, in addition to the existing read/write modes, that permits users to see the names of files but not their contents.

With the new namespace protection, PERFORCE administrators can have disparate groups share the same depot and be guaranteed not to interfere with each other. By removing write access to a subtree, the files can effectively be frozen from further change. Since access is based on flexible file patterns, users can be allowed to change only certain files, such as files named Makefile.

Symbolic Links

PERFORCE now understands symbolic links and can revision them. On NT and OS/2 (where symlinks are not supported) they appear as (small) text files.

More Information

Check out the the full release notes for the latest release of PERFORCE.

Latest Features in PERFORCE
Copyright 1996 Perforce Software. Comments to info@perforce.com.
Last updated: September 22, 1996