Using Check-In and Check-Out › File Permissions

File Permissions

CA Harvest SCM assumes a long-term relationship between a set of user working directories and a repository structure. In these working directories, CA Harvest SCM uses file permissions to indicate files not available for update. File permissions are altered during check-out and check-in.

Important! Because permissions are managed according to the state of corresponding items in CA Harvest SCM, we recommend that users do not alter file permissions. Altering file permissions could lead to unexpected results during check-out or check-in.

File permissions are handled differently depending on the client's operating system. For example, UNIX and Linux make greater use of file permissions than Windows operating systems. On Windows operating systems, CA Harvest SCM uses only one level of access permission, represented by the read-only attribute.

• On Windows client systems, checking out a file in browse or synchronize mode creates a file on the client file system marked as read-only. This indicates that the file cannot be modified and checked in because these modes do not create a reserved version in CA Harvest SCM. When checking out for update or concurrent update, the file is given normal (write access) file status.
• On UNIX and Linux, when a file is checked in to CA Harvest SCM, information about file permissions is maintained in the CA Harvest SCM database. When the corresponding item is checked out for update, the same file permissions are set on the client file, with one exception. Any time a user checks out an item for update, write access is granted so that changes can be made to the file.

  For example, consider a UNIX or Linux file with the following permissions:

  r-xrwxrwx
  

  When this file is checked in to CA Harvest SCM, the file permissions are stored. Upon check-out for update, the permissions are:

  rwxrwxrwx
  

  When a file is checked out for browse, CA Harvest SCM does not use the exact information stored with the file. It places the file in the directory without write permission for user, group, and other. The permissions now look like this:

  r-xr-xr-x