How to symlink view private files in clearcase?

Question

In our clearcase we are having few folders require same contents.

We use to have symlink to achieve that. But Now our folders are having view private files, so symlink doesn't do any good.

Is copying it again the only mechanism ?

Any other policy or settings which can help to symlink view private file?

Answer 1

Symlinks (OS symlinks, not cleartool symlinks) should be supported, even for private files (they would certainly work in snapshot view anyway: those are based on the native OS).
Otherwise, copy is still a solution to fallback on.

But I am not aware of any dedicated policy on ClearCase for symlinks on private view files.
The is only one policy for versionned symlinks (created by cleartool ln -s, but this isn't your current scenario):

On Linux and UNIX systems, symbolic links are listed as absolute pathnames by default.
To list symbolic links as relative pathnames, set the environment variable CCASE_LS_RELATIVE_SYMLINK_PATH.

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The OP Samselvaprabu mentions using Dynamic view drive and i am in windows environment, and reports the following error on symlink creation:

Object Msilist.bat is not a valid symlink target; no symlinks will be created. 
Please select only valid symlink targets and retry the operation. 

The man page "To create a Vob symlink" mentions the following restrictions:

You can use the cleartool ln -s command to create a VOB symbolic link (symlink) to the following items:

• A file or directory (checked in or checked out)
• A symbolic link
• An eclipsed element (dynamic views only)
• A hijacked element (snapshot views only)

The target of the symbolic link must be in the same view as the directory in which the symbolic link is to be created.
If you are in a snapshot view, unloaded elements are not valid symlink targets. Also, the directory in which the symlink is to be created must also be loaded.

My point was:

If cleartool ln -s doesn't work, especially for private file (which are not in ClearCase anyway), use OS symlink (in your case, NTFS symlinks if you are on Windows Vista or more, otherwise simple junction points)

So OS symlinks (native symlinks, not created by cleartool) should work.