Perforce 2008.1 P4 User's Guide
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Chapter 2
Configuring P4

This chapter tells you how to configure connection settings.

Configuration overview

Perforce uses a client/server architecture: you sync files from the server repository, called the depot, and edit them on your client machine in your client workspace. This chapter assumes that your system administrator has a Perforce server running. For details about installing the Perforce Server, refer to the Perforce System Administrator's Guide.

To set up your client workspace so you can work with the server, perform the following steps.

Step#
 For details, see...

1. Configure settings for your server host and port (to specify where the Perforce Server is running).

"Configuring Perforce settings" on page 19.

2. Define your client workspace (at a minimum, assign a name and specify a workspace root where you want local copies of depot files stored).

"Defining client workspaces" on page 22.

3. Verify the connection.

"Verifying connections" on page 23.

After you configure your workspace, you can populate it by syncing files that are stored in the depot. For details, see "Syncing (retrieving) files" on page 50 and the description of the p4 sync command in the Perforce Command Reference.

Before you start to configure your client machine, ask your Perforce administrator for the server host and port setting. Also ask whether a workspace has already been configured for your client machine.

What is a client workspace?

A Perforce client workspace is a set of directories on the client machine where you work on file revisions that are managed by Perforce. Each workspace is given a name that identifies the client workspace to the Perforce Server. If no workspace name is specified (by setting the P4CLIENT environment variable) the default workspace name is the name of the client machine. To specify the effective workspace name, set the P4CLIENT environment variable. A client machine can contain multiple workspaces.

All files within a Perforce client workspace share a root directory, called the client root. The client root is the highest-level directory of the workspace under which the managed source files reside.

If you configure multiple workspaces on the same machine, keep workspace locations separate to avoid inadvertently overwriting files. Ensure that client roots are located in different folders and that their client views do not map depot files to overlapping locations on the client machine.

After you configure your workspace, you can sync files from the depot and submit changes. For details about these tasks, refer to Chapter 4, Managing Files and Changelists.

How Perforce manages the workspace

Perforce manages the files in a client workspace as follows:

The state of your client workspace is tracked and managed by the Perforce server. To avoid conflicts with the file management that is performed by the server, do not manually change read-only permission settings on files. You can verify that the state of the client workspace corresponds to the server's record of that state. For details, refer to Technote 2 on the Perforce web site:

Files in the workspace that you have not put under Perforce control are ignored by Perforce. For example, compiled objects, libraries, executables, and developers' temporary files that are created while developing software but not added to the depot are not affected by Perforce commands.

After defining your client workspace, you can fine-tune the workspace definition. Probably most important, you can restrict the portion of the depot that is visible to you, to prevent you from inadvertently syncing the entire depot. For details, refer to "Refining client views" on page 24.

Configuring Perforce settings

This guide refers to Perforce settings using environment variables (for example, "set P4CLIENT"), but you can specify Perforce settings such as server port, user, and workspace names using the following methods, listed in order of precedence:

  1. On the command line, using flags

  2. In a config file, if P4CONFIG is set

  3. User environment variables (on UNIX or Windows)

  4. System environment variables (on Windows, system-wide environment variables are not necessarily the same thing as user environment variables)

  5. On Windows, in the Perforce user registry (set by issuing the p4 set command)

  6. On Windows, in the Perforce system registry (set by issuing the p4 set -s command)

To configure your client machine to connect to a Perforce server, you specify the name of the host where the server is running, and the port on which the server is listening. The default server host is perforce and default server port is 1666. If the server is running on your client machine, specify localhost as the host name. If the server is running on port 1666, you can omit the port specification.

You can specify these settings as described in the following sections. For details about working detached (without a connection to a Perforce server), see "Working detached" on page 59.

Using the command line

To specify server settings on the command line, use the -p flag. For example:

Server settings specified on the command line override any settings specified in config files, environment variables, or the Windows registry. For more details about command-line flags, refer to the discussion of global options in the Perforce Command Reference.

Using config files

Config files are text files containing Perforce settings that are in effect for files in and below the directory where the config file resides. Config files are useful if you have multiple client workspaces on the same machine. By specifying the settings in config files, you avoid the inconvenience of changing system settings every time you want to work with a different workspace.

To use config files, you define the P4CONFIG environment variable, specifying a file name (for example, .p4config). When you issue a command, Perforce searches the current working directory and its parent directories for the specified file and uses the settings it contains (unless the settings are overridden by command-line flags).

Each setting in the file must be specified on its own line, using the following format:

The following settings can be specified in a config file.

Setting
 Description

P4CHARSET

Character set used for translation of Unicode files.

P4COMMANDCHARSET

Non-UTF-16 or UTF-32 character set used by Command-Line Client when P4CHARSET is set to a UTF-16 or UTF-32 character set.

P4CLIENT

Name of the current client workspace.

P4DIFF

The name and location of the diff program used by p4 resolve and p4 diff.

P4EDITOR

The editor invoked by those Perforce commands that use forms.

P4HOST

Hostname of the client workstation. Only useful if the Host: field of the current client workspace has been set in the p4 client form.

P4LANGUAGE

This environment variable is reserved for system integrators.

P4MERGE

The name and location of the third-party merge program to be used by p4 resolve's merge option.

P4PASSWD

Supplies the current Perforce user's password for any Perforce client command.

P4PORT

The host and port number of the Perforce server or proxy with which to communicate.

P4USER

Current Perforce user name.

For details about these settings, refer to the Perforce Command Reference.

Using environment variables

To configure server connection settings using environment variables, set P4PORT to host:port, as in the following examples.

If the server is running on
 and is listening to port
 set P4PORT to

your computer

1666

localhost:1666

perforce

1666

1666

houston

3435

houston:3435

deneb.com

1818

deneb.com:1818

Using the Windows registry

On Windows machines, you can store connection settings in the registry by issuing the p4 set command. For example:

There are two ways you can configure Perforce settings in the registry:

To see which settings are in effect, type the p4 set command. For details about the p4 set command, see the Perforce Command Reference.

Defining client workspaces

To define a client workspace:

  1. Specify the workspace name by setting P4CLIENT; for example, on a UNIX system:

  2. Issue the p4 client command.

    Perforce displays the client specification form in your text editor. (For details about Perforce forms, refer to "Using Perforce forms" on page 47.)

  3. Specify (at least the minimum) settings and save the specification.

No files are synced when you create a client specification. To find out how to sync files from the depot to your workspace, refer to "Syncing (retrieving) files" on page 50. For details about relocating files on your machine, see "Changing the location of your workspace" on page 30.

The minimum settings you must specify to configure a client workspace are:

The workspace name defaults to the client machine's hostname, but a client machine can contain multiple workspaces. To specify the effective workspace, set P4CLIENT.

The client root is the top directory of your client workspace, where Perforce stores your working copies of depot files. Be sure to set the client root, or you might inadvertently sync files to your client machine's root directory.

Your client view determines which files in the depot are mapped to a client workspace and enables the server to construct a one-to-one mapping between individual depot and workspace files. You can map files to have different names and locations in your workspace than they have in the depot, but you cannot map files to multiple locations in the workspace or the depot. By default, the entire depot is mapped to your workspace. You can define a client view to map only files and directories of interest, so that you do not inadvertently sync the entire depot into your workspace. For details, see "Refining client views" on page 24.

Verifying connections

To verify a connection, issue the p4 info command. If P4PORT is set correctly, information like the following is displayed:

User name: bruno
Client name: bruno_ws
Client host: workstation_12
Client root: c:\bruno_ws
Current directory: c:\bruno_ws
Client address: 127.0.0.1:28
Server address: localhost:1667
Server root: /usr/depot/p4d
Server date: 2008/06/28 15:03:05 -0700 PDT
Server uptime: 752:41:23
Server version: P4D/FREEBSD4/2008.1/156375 (2008/05/25)
Proxy version: P4P/SOLARIS26/2008.1/156884 (2008/05/25)
Server license: P4 Admin <p4adm> 20 users (expires 2009/01/01)

The Server address: field shows the Perforce server to which p4 connected and also displays the host and port number on which the Perforce server is listening. If P4PORT is set incorrectly, you receive a message like the following:

Perforce client error:
       Connect to server failed; check $P4PORT.
       TCP connect to perforce:1666 failed.
       perforce: host unknown.

If the value you see in the third line of the error message is perforce:1666 (as above), P4PORT has not been set. If the value is anything else, P4PORT is set incorrectly.

Refining client views

By default, when you create a client workspace, the entire depot is mapped to your workspace. You can refine this mapping to view only a portion of the depot and to change the correspondence between depot and workspace locations.

To display or modify a client view, issue the p4 client command. Perforce displays the client specification form, which lists mappings in the View: field:

Client:  bruno_ws
Owner:   bruno
Description:
         Created by bruno.
Root:    C:\bruno_ws
Options: noallwrite noclobber nocompress unlocked nomodtime normdir
SubmitOptions:   submitunchanged
View:
         //depot/...   //bruno_ws/...

The following sections provide details about specifying the client view. For more information, see the p4 client command description and the description of views in the Perforce Command Reference.

Specifying mappings

Views consist of multiple mappings. Each mapping has two parts.

The left-hand side of a client view mapping is called the depot side, and the right-hand side is the client side.

To determine the location of any client file on the host machine, substitute the client root for the client name on the client side of the mapping. For example, if the client root is C:\bruno_ws, the file //depot/dev/main/jam/Jamfile resides in the workspace as C:\bruno_ws\dev\main\jam\Jamfile.

Later mappings override earlier ones. In the following example, the second line overrides the first line, mapping the files in //depot/dev/main/docs/manuals/ up two levels. When files in //depot/dev/main/docs/manuals/ are synced, they reside in c:\bruno_ws\docs\.

View:
    //depot/dev/...            //bruno_ws/dev/...
    //depot/dev/main/docs/...  //bruno_ws/docs/...

Using wildcards in client views

To map groups of files in client views, you use Perforce wildcards. Any wildcard used on the depot side of a mapping must be matched with an identical wildcard in the mapping's client side. You can use the following wildcards to specify client view mappings.

Wildcard
 Description

*

Matches anything except slashes. Matches only within a single directory. Case sensitivity depends on your server platform

...

Matches anything including slashes. Matches recursively (everything in and below the specified directory).

%%1 - %%9

Positional specifiers for substring rearrangement in filenames.

In this simple client view:

all files in the depot's dev branch are mapped to the corresponding locations in the workspace. For example, the file //depot/dev/main/jam/Makefile is mapped to the client workspace file C:\bruno_ws\dev\main\jam\Makefile.

Note

To avoid mapping unwanted files, always precede the "..." wildcard with a forward slash.

The mappings in client workspace views always refer to the locations of files and directories in the depot; you cannot refer to specific revisions of a file in a client view.

Mapping part of the depot

If you are interested only in a subset of the depot files, map that portion. Reducing the scope of the client view also ensures that your commands do not inadvertently affect the entire depot. To restrict the client view, change the left-hand side of the View: field to specify the relevant portion of the depot.

Mapping files to different locations in the workspace

Views can consist of multiple mappings, which are used to map portions of the depot file tree to different parts of the workspace file tree. If there is a conflict in the mappings, later mappings have precedence over the earlier ones.

Mapping files to different filenames

Mappings can be used to make the filenames in the client workspace differ from those in the depot.

Rearranging parts of filenames

Positional specifiers %%0 through %%9 can be used to rearrange portions of filenames and directories.

Excluding files and directories

Exclusionary mappings enable you to explicitly exclude files and directories from a client workspace. To exclude a file or directory, precede the mapping with a minus sign ( - ). White space is not allowed between the minus sign and the mapping.

Avoiding mapping conflicts

When you use multiple mappings in a single view, a single file can inadvertently be mapped to two different places in the depot or workspace. When two mappings conflict in this way, the later mapping overrides the earlier mapping.

Mapping different depot locations to the same workspace location

Overlay mappings enable you to map files from more than one depot directory to the same place in a client workspace. To overlay the contents of a second directory in your client workspace, use a plus sign (+) in front of the mapping.

Overlay mappings are useful for applying sparse patches in build environments.

Dealing with spaces in filenames and directories

Use quotation marks to enclose files or directories that contain spaces.

For more information, see "Spaces in filenames, pathnames, and identifiers" on page 42.

Mapping Windows workspaces across multiple drives

To specify a Perforce client workspace that spans multiple Windows drives, use a Root: of null and specify the drive letters (in lowercase) in the client view. For example:

Client:     bruno_ws
Update:     2004/11/29 09:46:53
Access:     2005/03/02 10:28:40
Owner:      bruno
Root:       null
Options:    noallwrite noclobber nocompress unlocked nomodtime normdir
SubmitOptions: submitunchanged
LineEnd:    local
View:
    //depot/dev/...      "//bruno_ws/c:/Current Release/..."
    //depot/release/...  "//bruno_ws/d:/Prior Releases/..."
    //depot/www/...      //bruno_ws/d:/website/...

Using the same workspace from different machines

By default, you can only use a workspace on the machine that is specified by the Host: field. If you want to use the same client workspace on multiple machines with different platforms, delete the Host: entry and set the AltRoots: field in the client specification. You can specify a maximum of two alternate client workspace roots. The locations must be visible from all machines that will be using them, for example through NFS or Samba mounts.

Perforce compares the current working directory against the main Root: first, and then against the two AltRoots: if specified. The first root to match the current working directory is used. If no roots match, the main root is used.

Note

If you are using a Windows directory in any of your client roots, specify the Windows directory as your main client Root: and specify your other workspace root directories in the AltRoots: field.

In the following example, if user bruno's current working directory is located under /usr/bruno, Perforce uses the UNIX path as his client workspace root, rather than c:\bruno_ws. This approach allows bruno to use the same client workspace specification for both UNIX and Windows development.

Client: bruno_ws
Owner:  bruno
Description:
        Created by bruno.
Root:   c:\bruno_ws
AltRoots:
        /usr/bruno/

To find out which workspace root is in effect, issue the p4 info command and check the Client root: field.

If you edit text files in the same workspace from different platforms, ensure that the editors and settings you use preserve the line endings. For details about line-endings in cross-platform settings, refer to the Perforce System Administrator's Guide.

Changing the location of your workspace

To change the location of files in your workspace, issue the p4 client command and change either or both of the Root: and View: fields. Before changing these settings, ensure that you have no files checked out (by submitting or reverting open files).

If you intend to modify both fields, perform the following steps to ensure that your workspace files are located correctly:

  1. To remove the files from their old location in the workspace, issue the
    p4 sync ...#none command.

  2. Change the Root: field.

  3. To copy the files to their new locations in the workspace, perform a p4 sync. (If you forget to perform the p4 sync ...#none before you change the client view, you can always remove the files from their client workspace locations manually).

  4. Change the View: field.

  5. Again, perform a p4 sync. The files in the client workspace are synced to their new locations.

Configuring workspace options

The following table describes workspace Options: in detail.

Option
 Description
 Default

[no]allwrite

Specifies whether unopened files are always writable. By default, the Perforce server makes unopened files read-only. To avoid inadvertently overwriting changes or causing syncs to fail, specify noallwrite.

noallwrite

[no]clobber

Specifies whether p4 sync overwrites writable but unopened workspace files. (By default, Perforce does not overwrite unopened files if they are writable.)

noclobber

[no]compress

Specifies whether data is compressed when it is sent between the client and the server.

nocompress

[un]locked

Specifies whether other users can use, edit, or delete the client workspace specification. A Perforce administrator can override the lock with the -f (force) flag.

If you lock your client workspace specification, be sure to set a password for the workspace's owner using the p4 passwd command.

unlocked

[no]modtime

For files without the +m (modtime) file type modifier:

  • If modtime is set, the modification date (on the local filesystem) of a newly synced file is the datestamp on the file when the file was submitted to the depot.
  • If nomodtime is set, the modification date is the date and time of sync, regardless of Perforce client version.

    For files with the +m (modtime) file type, the modification date (on the local filesystem) of a newly synced file is the datestamp on the file when the file was submitted to the depot, regardless of the setting of modtime or nomodtime on the client.

nomodtime
(date and time of sync).

Ignored for files with the +m file type modifier.

[no]rmdir

Specifies whether p4 sync deletes empty directories in a workspace if all files in the directory have been removed.

normdir

Configuring submit options

To control what happens to files in a changelist when you submit the changelist to the depot, set the SubmitOptions: field. Valid settings are as follows.

Option
 Description

submitunchanged

All open files (with or without changes) are submitted to the depot.

This is the default behavior of Perforce.

submitunchanged+reopen

All open files (with or without changes) are submitted to the depot, and all files are automatically reopened in the default changelist.

revertunchanged

Only those files with content or type changes are submitted to the depot. Unchanged files are reverted.

revertunchanged+reopen

Only those files with content or type changes are submitted to the depot and reopened in the default changelist. Unchanged files are reverted and not reopened in the default changelist.

leaveunchanged

Only those files with content or type changes are submitted to the depot. Any unchanged files are moved to the default changelist.

leaveunchanged+reopen

Only those files with content or type changes are submitted to the depot. Unchanged files are moved to the default changelist, and changed files are reopened in the default changelist.

This option is similar to submitunchanged+reopen, except that no unchanged files are submitted to the depot.

Configuring line-ending settings

To specify how line endings are handled when you sync text files, set the LineEnd: field. Valid settings are as follows.

Option
 Description

local

Use mode native to the client (default)

unix

UNIX-style (and Mac OS X) line endings: LF

mac

Macintosh pre-OS X: CR only

win

Windows- style: CR, LF

share

The share option normalizes mixed line-endings into UNIX line-end format. The share option does not affect files that are synced into a client workspace; however, when files are submitted back to the Perforce Server, the share option converts all Windows-style CR/LF line-endings and all Mac-style CR line-endings to the UNIX-style LF, leaving lone LFs untouched.

When you sync your client workspace, line endings are set to LF. If you edit the file on a Windows machine, and your editor inserts CRs before each LF, the extra CRs do not appear in the archive file.

The most common use of the share option is for users of Windows workstations who mount their UNIX home directories as network drives; if you sync files from UNIX, but edit the files on a Windows machine.

For detailed information about how Perforce uses the line-ending settings, see Tech Note 63 on the Perforce web site:

Deleting client workspace specifications

To delete a client workspace specification, issue the p4 client -d clientname command. Deleting a client specification removes the Perforce server's record of the workspace but does not remove files from the workspace or the depot.

When you delete a workspace specification:

  1. Revert (or submit) any pending changelists that have been opened from the workspace.

  2. Delete existing files from a client workspace (p4 sync ...#none). (optional)

  3. Delete the workspace specification.

If you delete the workspace specification before you delete files in the workspace, you can delete workspace files using your operating system's file deletion command.

Security

For security purposes, your Perforce administrator can configure the Perforce server to require passwords and to limit the length of time for which your login ticket is valid. The following sections provide details.

Passwords

Depending on the security level at which your Perforce server is running, you might need to log in to Perforce before you can run Perforce commands. Without passwords, any user can assume the identity of any other Perforce user by setting P4USER to a different user name or specifying the -u flag when you issue a p4 command. To improve security, use passwords.

Setting passwords

To create a password for your Perforce user, issue the p4 passwd command.

Your system administrator can configure your Perforce server to require "strong" passwords. A password is considered strong if it is at least eight characters long and contains at least two of the following:

For example, a1b2c3d4, A1B2C3D4, aBcDeFgH are strong passwords.

To reset or remove a password (without knowing the password), Perforce superuser privilege is required. If you need to have your password reset, contact your Perforce administrator. See the Perforce System Administrator's Guide for details.

Using your password

If your Perforce user has a password set, you must use it when you issue p4 commands. To use the password, you can:

Connection time limits

Your Perforce administrator can configure the Perforce server to enforce time limits for users. Perforce uses ticket-based authentication to enforce time limits. Because ticket-based authentication does not rely on environment variables or command-line flags, it is more secure than password-based authentication.

Tickets are stored in a file in your home directory. After you have logged in, your ticket is valid for a limited period of time (by default, 12 hours).

Logging in and logging out

If time limits are in effect for your server, you must issue the p4 login command to obtain a ticket. Enter your password when prompted. If you log in successfully, a ticket is created for you in the ticket file in your home directory, and you are not prompted to log in again until either your ticket expires or you log out by issuing the p4 logout command.

To see how much time remains before your login expires, issue the following command:

If your ticket is valid, the length of time remaining is displayed.

To log out of Perforce, issue the following command:

Working on multiple machines

By default, your ticket is valid only for the IP address of the machine from which you logged in. If you use Perforce from multiple machines that share a home directory (typical in many UNIX environments), log in with:

Using p4 login -a creates a ticket in your home directory that is valid from all IP addresses, enabling you to remain logged into Perforce from more than one machine.

To log out from all machines simultaneously, issue the following command:

For more information about the p4 login and p4 logout commands, see the Perforce Command Reference.

Working with Unicode servers

The Perforce server can be run in Unicode mode to activate support for file names or directory names that contain Unicode characters, and Perforce identifiers (for example, user names) and specifications (for example, changelist descriptions or jobs) that contain Unicode characters.

In Unicode mode, the Perforce server also translates unicode files and metadata to the character set configured for the client machine, and verifies that the unicode files and metadata contain valid UTF-8 characters.

Note

If you only need to manage textual files that contain Unicode characters, but do not need the features listed above, you do not need to run your server in Unicode mode. Your system administrator will tell you if your server is using Unicode mode or not.

For such installations, assign the Perforce utf16 file type to textual files that contain Unicode characters. You do not have to set the P4CHARSET or P4COMMANDCHARSET environment variables. See "Assigning File Types for Unicode Files" on page 116 for details.

To correctly interoperate with Unicode-mode servers, and to ensure that such files are translated correctly by the Perforce server when the files are synced or submitted, you must set P4CHARSET to the character set that corresponds to the format used on your client machine by the applications that access them, such as text editors or IDEs. These formats are typically listed when you save the file using the Save As... menu option.

Values of P4CHARSET that begin with utf16 or utf32 further require that you also set P4COMMANDCHARSET to a non utf16 or utf32 character set in which you want server output displayed. "Server output" includes informational and error messages, diff output, and information returned by reporting commands.

For further information, see the System Administrator's Guide.

Setting P4CHARSET on Windows

To set P4CHARSET for all users on a workstation, you need Perforce administrator privileges. Issue the following command:

To set P4CHARSET for the user currently logged in:

Your client machine must have a compatible True Type or Open Type font installed.

Setting P4CHARSET on UNIX

You can set P4CHARSET from a command shell or in a startup script such as .kshrc, .cshrc, or .profile. To determine the proper value for P4CHARSET, examine the setting of the LANG or LOCALE environment variable. Common settings are as follows:

If LANG is...
 Set P4CHARSET to

en_US.ISO_8859-1

iso8859-1

ja_JP.EUC

eucjp

ja_JP.PCK

shiftjis

In general, for a Japanese installation, set P4CHARSET to eucjp, and for a European installation, set P4CHARSET to iso8859-1.

Perforce 2008.1 P4 User's Guide
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Last updated: 07/08/08