Migrating from ClearCase

ClearCase is a set of tools developed by IBM which also include a centralized version control system similar to Git.

A good read of ClearCase’s basic concepts is can be found in this StackOverflow post.

The following table illustrates the main differences between ClearCase and Git:

Aspect ClearCase Git
Repository model Client-server Distributed
Revision IDs Branch + number Global alphanumeric ID
Scope of Change File Directory tree snapshot
Concurrency model Merge Merge
Storage Method Deltas Full content
Client CLI, Eclipse, CC Client CLI, Eclipse, Git client/GUIs
Server UNIX, Windows legacy systems UNIX, macOS
License Proprietary GPL

Taken from the slides ClearCase and the journey to Git provided by collab.net

Why migrate

ClearCase can be difficult to manage both from a user and an admin perspective. Migrating to Git/GitLab there is:

  • No licensing costs, Git is GPL while ClearCase is proprietary.
  • Shorter learning curve, Git has a big community and a vast number of tutorials to get you started.
  • Integration with modern tools, migrating to Git and GitLab you can have an open source end-to-end software development platform with built-in version control, issue tracking, code review, CI/CD, and more.

How to migrate

While there doesn’t exist a tool to fully migrate from ClearCase to Git, here are some useful links to get you started: