======================================================================== IPC::ClearTool ======================================================================== Copyright (c) 1998-2001 David Boyce (dsbperl@cleartool.com). All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. OBSOLESCENCE ALERT ------------------ Though this module continues to work, as of spring 2002 there are two reasons for deprecating its *direct* use: 1. Rational has released a supported module called ClearCase::CtCmd. Though IPC::ClearTool retains some advantages over CtCmd, the fact that CtCmd is supported as well as a bit faster and simpler to use make it the default choice nowadays. 2. In preference to coding to either API, though, I recommend installing ClearCase::Argv and coding to that. ClearCase::Argv provides an abstraction layer such that a script using it can be told to run using IPC::ClearTool, ClearCase::CtCmd, or the original system/backquotes model by changing one line or via a command-line flag. Thus it lets you avoid painting yourself into a corner by committing to any low-level API and would potentially let you switch to any future fancy new API without rewriting. The proof of this is that it predates CtCmd by a couple of years, yet I was able to add CtCmd support to it in a few hours and scripts that previously used IPC::ClearTool now work with either. DESCRIPTION ----------- This is really a trivial subclass of IPC::ChildSafe. While I originally wrote ChildSafe to work with cleartool, I wanted to design it in an open manner which didn't preclude use with other utilities. But this had the effect of making it slightly harder and more mysterious to use it with cleartool, since the user had to pass the magic 'tag' and 'eot' strings and perhaps modify the error discriminator. So I ended up making this module, which simply provides a new contructor method with the correct defaults for cleartool, and inherits everything else from ChildSafe. This module is of no value unless you have ClearCase installed, and in fact the tests will fail if you don't. And even if you have ClearCase you may still choose to use IPC::ChildSafe directly. See the documentation for IPC::ChildSafe for further details. LATEST VERSION -------------- This module is only available bundled with IPC::ChildSafe. If there is a newer version of that, it will most likely be found on CPAN. Or you can reach the author at the above email address. INSTALLING ---------- Installation consists of the usual sequence of commands: perl Makefile.PL make make test make install TESTED PLATFORMS ---------------- This will work an any platform where IPC::ChildSafe works.