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IBM DevOps Code ClearCase

Score9.5 out of 10

26 Reviews and Ratings

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What is IBM DevOps Code ClearCase?

An enterprise-grade configuration management system that provides controlled access to software assets.

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

What users are saying about IBM DevOps Code ClearCase.
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IBM Rational ClearCase is a poor modern solution to source control

Incentivized
Verified User
Engineer in Engineering (10,001+ employees employees)

Pros

  • Simple user interface.
  • When it works, it works.
  • Integrates well with Microsoft Visual Studios.

Cons

  • Extremely buggy.
  • Sometimes the repository gets locked for no reason.
  • Slow.

Return on Investment

  • Managed code versioning for many years.
  • Only one person can edit code at a time - slows processing down.
  • IBM is an expensive product to support.

Alternatives Considered

sourcetree and Stash

Other Software Used

Skype for Business

ClearCase is the Clear Choice for complex versioning and centralized development

Incentivized
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees employees)

Pros

  • Rational ClearCase is excellent for handling versioning and branching. No other tool I've used has the depth that ClearCase has when it comes to handling complex branching scenarios and identifying where certain versions of particular files are within a particular configuration.
  • Rational ClearCase handles parallel development of many dependent applications really well.
  • The use of ClearCase Views to switch between projects and configurations is extremely convenient as opposed to the local workstation model of the competitors.

Cons

  • ClearCase Mulitisite feels like a clunky solution for global development. The need to keep copies of the same VOBs in various location and keep them in sync by sending change packets across the network can be problematic at times. This systems seems to require a good bit of manual intevention when the VOBs miss a packet and get out of sync.
  • The learning curve can be overwhelming for new users.
  • The "Evil Twin" problem (where files with the same name are added to the same location, instead of versioning the same file) can be devestating to the system and can take days to fix. Unfortunately, I had this experience in my early days of ClearCase when somebody ran a script that inadvertantly created hundreds of "Evil Twin" files. The system was inaccesible for days as I worked to resolve this issue. It shouldn't be that easy to mess up the system so badly.

Return on Investment

  • The number of bugs in a release has been down 45% since using ClearCase and ClearQuest
  • A ClearCase Administrator/Guru is required on site. Add $75,000 - $100,000 in the annual budget for that.
  • On time releases are up 35% since using ClearCase and ClearQuest

Other Software Used

Team Foundation Server, Visual SourceSafe