%% Rolf Magnus <ramagnus@t-online.de> writes:
>> If by 'a "view" mechanism' you mean ClearCase's dynamic view
>> capability, then you'll never find that in any open source tool, or
>> indeed in any other proprietary tool either. That capability is
>> unique to ClearCase.
rm> Just out of interest: What does it do?
ClearCase dynamic views use the MVFS, or Multi-Versioned File System, to
implement workspaces. The MVFS basically provides a "live" mapping
between a UNIX (or, I guess, Windows if you go that way) directory
structure containing directories, files, etc., and the SCM data which is
implemented in a relational database.
Creating a workspace, then, just involves defining the mapping and takes
a second or two: no copying around is involved. Changing the version of
the code you're looking at is similarly trivial, regardless of how far
you're moving in the codebase.
The downside is it takes a lot of horsepower in the client, server, and
network to make this fast enough to be usable.