Question

I am trying to delete a file in ClearCase. When I attempt to delete it I get a message that the element has checkouts. When I do a version tree on the file I see that the file is checked out by another user, in another view, on a different branch.

How do I delete this file? In addition why doesn’t ClearCase let me delete this file?

Answer 1

You can delete it through the command line and cleartool, by forcing its delete (option which isn’t available with the GUI)

cleartool rmname -force theFile

Don’t forget to checkout the parent directory first, then to checkin that same parent directory, in order for everyone to see that you have dereferenced that file within said directory.

See cleartool rmname:

–f/orce:

Forces the removal of the name when there is at least one checkout of the element.
When used with –nco, suppresses the prompt for confirmation.

That will work even when you had this before:

, as explained in the technote "About cleartool rmname and checkouts".