Rating: 
Summary: 80% vendor specific
Review: The authors illustrate how the following problems can be solved using a version control tool. Identify and store artifacts in a secure repository. Control and audit changes to artifacts. Organize artifacts into versioned components. Create baselines at project milestones. Record and track requests for change. Organize and integrate consistent sets of versions using activities. Maintain stable and consistent workspaces. Support concurrent changes to artifacts and components. Ensure reproducibility of software builds. The historical background of software configuration management is described in chapter 2. Delta storage mechanisms are described on page 33. The ClearCase tool is described in chapter 3 through chapter 11. Strong emphasis is placed on the UCM process modeled on activities. ClearCase's unique features are not summarized in a single location. The manuals provided by Rational with the ClearCase product are better than the materials presented in this book. The product manuals are also clearly divided between using the UCM and using base ClearCase.
Rating: 
Summary: Anyone using Rational ClearCase should read this book
Review: This book is very helpful for anyone using Rational ClearCase. It contains valuable examples, allowing the ClearCase user or manager of a CM group to gain additional insights regarding how to best apply the tool. The book also introduces basic concepts and the evolution of Software Configuration Management tools. It also explains how CM can be managed and controlled both within a project and between multiple projects. Additionally, the book explores the Configuration Management issues and approaches related to managing geographically distributed development projects.
Rating:
Summary: Good practical treatment of Clearcase, UCM, and SCM
Review: This book provides the reader with a lot of practical advice about using Clearcase and UCM with various size organizations. I have used Clearcase for many years with various software development groups. In my experience, it's rare to find a development group that uses Clearcase to it's full potential. That's usually because not enough thought, planning, and maintenence goes into the SCM process. Clearcase (and UCM for that matter) is just a set of tools. Expecting it to solve your SCM problems out of the box is like expecting a set of carpentry tools to build a house. This book suggests some ways that Clearcase (and branching in particular) can be used to manage software change and release. Some of the techniques are tuned for development groups of a particular size and/or development strategy. That is totally appropriate, since no single SCM process will fit a development group of any size. After reading this book you should come away with many ideas about how to better use ClearCase and UCM in your software organization. And even if you don't choose to use the UCM tool, there are plenty of ideas that can be applied to basic ClearCase usage.
| 
