Perforce 2009.2: Command Reference

p4 job

Synopsis

Create or edit a defect, enhancement request, or other job specification.

Syntax

p4 [g-opts] job [ -f ] [ jobName ]
p4 [g-opts] job -d jobName
p4 [g-opts] job -o [ jobName ]
p4 [g-opts] job -i [ -f ]

Description

A job is a written-language description of work that needs to be performed on files in the depot. It might be a description of a bug (for instance, "the scroll mechanism isn't working correctly") or an enhancement request (for instance, "please add a flag that forces a certain operation to occur") or anything else requiring a change to some files under Perforce control.

Jobs are similar to changelist descriptions in that they both describe changes to the system as arbitrary text, but whereas changelist descriptions describe completed work, jobs tell developers what work needs to be done.

Jobs are created and edited in forms displayed by p4 job. The user enters the textual description of the job into the form, along with information such as the severity of the bug, the developer to whom the bug is assigned, and so on. Since the Perforce superuser can change the fields in the job form with p4 jobspec, the fields that make up a job may vary from one Perforce server to another.

When p4 job is called with no arguments, a new job named jobNNNNNN is created, where NNNNNN is a sequential six-digit number. You can change the job's name within the form before quitting the editor. If p4 job is called with a jobname argument, a job of that name is created; if that job already exists, it is edited.

Once a job has been created, you can link the job to the changelist(s) that fix the job with p4 fix, p4 change, or p4 submit. When a job is linked to a changelist, under most circumstances the job's status is set to closed. (See the Usage Notes below for more information).

Form Fields

These are the fields as found in the default job form. Since the fields that describe a job can be changed by the Perforce superuser, the form you see at your site may be very different.

Field Name	Type	Description
Job:	Writable	The job's name. For a new job, this is new. When the form is closed, this is replaced with the name jobNNNNNN, where NNNNNN is the next six-digit number in the job numbering sequence. Alternately, you can name the job anything at all by replacing the text in this field.
Status:	Writable Value	The value of this field must be open, closed, or suspended. When the job is linked to a changelist, the value of this field is set to closed when the changelist is submitted.
User:	Writable	The name of the user who created the job.
Date:	Writable	The date the job was created.
Description:	Writable	An arbitrary text description of the job.

Options

-d jobname	Delete job jobname, but only if it has no associated pending or submitted fixes.
-f	Force flag. Allows Perforce administrators to edit read-only fields.
-i	Read the job form from standard input without invoking an editor.
-o	Write the job form to standard output without invoking an editor.
g-opts	See the Global Options section.

Usage Notes

Can File Arguments Use Revision Specifier?	Can File Arguments Use Revision Range?	Minimal Access Level Required
N/A	N/A	open

•	If the Perforce superuser has eliminated field ID# 102 (the Status: field) with p4 jobspec, Perforce is unable to close jobs when the changelists to which they are linked are submitted. Please see the p4 jobspec page and the Perforce System Administrator's Guide for more information.

•	After a job has been created or changed, Perforce indexes the job so that p4 jobs -e can locate the job quickly. The index keys are word, fieldname where word is a case-insensitive alphanumeric word. Values in date fields are stored as the number of seconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00.

Examples

p4 job	Create a new job; by default, its name is of the form jobNNNNNN.
p4 job job000135	Edit job job000135.

Related Commands

To list all jobs, or a subset of jobs	p4 jobs
To attach a job to an existing changelist	p4 fix
To view a list of connections between jobs and changelists	p4 fixes
To add or delete a job from a pending changelist	p4 change
To change the format of jobs at your site (superuser only)	p4 jobspec
To read information about the format of jobs at your site	p4 jobspec -o