Migrating from ClearCase
ClearCase is a set of tools developed by IBM which also include a centralized version control system similar to Git.
A good read of ClearCase’s basic concepts is can be found in this StackOverflow post.
The following table illustrates the main differences between ClearCase and Git:
| Aspect | ClearCase | Git |
|---|---|---|
| Repository model | Client-server | Distributed |
| Revision IDs | Branch + number | Global alphanumeric ID |
| Scope of Change | File | Directory tree snapshot |
| Concurrency model | Merge | Merge |
| Storage Method | Deltas | Full content |
| Client | CLI, Eclipse, CC Client | CLI, Eclipse, Git client/GUIs |
| Server | UNIX, Windows legacy systems | UNIX, macOS |
| License | Proprietary | GPL |
Taken from the slides ClearCase and the journey to Git provided by collab.net
Why migrate
ClearCase can be difficult to manage both from a user and an administrator perspective. Migrating to Git/GitLab there is:
- No licensing costs, Git is GPL while ClearCase is proprietary.
- Shorter learning curve, Git has a big community and a vast number of tutorials to get you started.
- Integration with modern tools, migrating to Git and GitLab you can have an open source end-to-end software development platform with built-in version control, issue tracking, code review, CI/CD, and more.
How to migrate
While there doesn’t exist a tool to fully migrate from ClearCase to Git, here are some useful links to get you started: