Question

Why do I get these .MKELEM files? How do I get rid of them?

I found some docs that said they are temp files created by ClearCase GUI when adding files to source control. But sometimes, they don’t go away.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: I “get access denied” trying to delete or rename the .MKELEM. They seem to get created when I add new files to clearcase.

Answer 1

As mentioned in the mkelem tip page:

During the element-creation process, the view-private file is renamed to prevent a name collision that would affect other Rational® ClearCase® tools (for example, triggers on the mkelem operation). If this renaming fails, you see a warning message.

If a new element is checked out, mkelem temporarily renames the view-private file, using a .mkelem (or possibly, .mkelem.n) suffix. After the new element is created and checked out, mkelem restores the original name. This action produces the intended effect: the data formerly in a view-private file is now accessible through an element with the same name.

If mkelem does not complete correctly, your view-private file may be left under the .mkelem file name

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The fact that a .mkelem stays can be, like LeopardSkinPillBoxHat mentions in his answer, because of a file blocked due to a process.

It can also happens:

• in ClearCase view incorrectly protected (where ClearCase can checkout the new element, creating a version 0, but cannot check that element in.

alt text http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/cchelp/v7r0m1/topic/com.ibm.rational.clearcase.dev.doc/topics/cc_dev/images/creating_element.gif

• when a trigger prevents the checkin part of the new element creation

• when the view actually exclude CHECKEDOUT versions! (no ‘element * CHECKEDOUT‘ rule…)

• on Solaris 10, due to an incorrect format in one of the ClearCase jvm config file. (ClearCase 7.1)

• when add to source control is used on Windows in views mapped to a mount point (Mount points are persistent directories that point to disk volumes), only in old ClearCase 2002 or 2003.

See also the Under the hood: What happens when you add to source control article.