Clearcase - Squid Patch Activity

In UCM enabled ClearCase, where companies use ClearQuest for bug tracking and is connected with ClearCase, we sometimes come across instances of corruption of the activity records.

Eg. of error :

Could not perform requested operation: a UCM/Clearquest data 
inconsistency may exist:
Clearquest "Defect" record "<record ID>" is linked to a UCM object that 
can not be found.

This usually happens if the link between the activity record id and database is broken (probably due to network failure).

In such a case we need to run the squid_patch utility located at CC_HOME\etc\utils to re-link the record.

Usage:

• Go to E:\Program Files\IBM\RationalSDLC\ClearCase\etc\utils   (Check relevant location of the utils folder as per your setup)

• Then run the squid_patch utility 

[ Eg: squid_patch.exe DBD -activity DBD001122334 ucm_vob_object "" ]

Please refer the foll. technote and article.

OSX - Indian Rupee Symbol

For Indian users using, Mac OSX, here's a quick tip for saving the Indian Rupee ₹ symbol as a shortcut.

1. Go to System Preferences -> Language & Text
2. Then click the Text tab next to language
3. Click the + button from bottom to add a new shortcut
4. Type (INR or inr or Rs) under the Replace column and type the equivalent ₹ symbol under the With column

Check the following screenshot for reference

Now open up TextEdit and type INR and it will automatically replace it with the ₹ symbol.

Shell Scripting - Read User Input

Inorder to accept user defined input in a shell script, make use of the read command. Try a simple example in Terminal.

Eg:

#!/usr/bin/bash
echo "Please enter your name"
read name
echo "Welcome to shell scripting $name"

Make sure the bash interpreter location is correctly defined in the shebang statement. Else you would see the error like - bad interpreter: No such file or directory

Shell Scripting : The Shebang

People who are new to shell scripting or are new to it often hear the term "shebang". If you're one of them, then you might have seen the shebang symbol in the topmost line in any shell script but maybe you're not sure what it means or what's its significance.

The symbol #!  i.e shebang is part of the topmost statement of a shell script which is used to tell which interpreter you'll be using.

Eg:

#!/usr/bin/bash  (Bash interpreter)

#!/usr/local/perl   (invokes the Perl interpreter)

#!//usr/bin/ksh (Korn shell interpreter)

#!/usr/bin/awk   (use the AWK interpreter)

OSX Terminal Clear Screen

A lot of pro Windows users when switching to a Mac, often find it difficult to get rid of their old habits.

One of those habits happen to be clear screen (CLS) in the DOS prompt. But on a Mac, when you fire up a terminal window and type a few commands, you usually tend to type CLS later to clear the clutter. And you are are like Oh boy! how in the world do I clear the screen? :) when you see the error [ -bash: cls: command not found ]

Here's a quick tip: Just remember to type Command+K to clear the screen.

Pav Bhaji @ Juhu Beach, Mumbai

Juhu Beach is one of Mumbai's open public spaces where people come to relax on the beach, stroll on the sands, jog around listening to their iPods and of-course to relish authentic street food.

Check out the following video to see the preparation of most popular street food - Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji is essentially a fine mixture of potatoes of tomatoes with spices and lots of butter.

Macbook Pro Battery Tips

• Macbook Pro is one of the few laptops that have had the best battery performance in my opinion. Having used Dell and HP laptops loaded with Windows OS, in the past, it was evident how quickly the battery runs out of juice. Macbook Pro's on the other hand has had really good battery performance. I've heard that the Macbook Air has much better battery performance.

• However, ever since Apple released the OSX Mavericks free upgrade, a lot of users have complained about battery issues. Infact the hullabaloo about battery issues is so loud, that I've refrained from upgrading to Mavericks even if it's free. As a matter of fact, if you see the 200+ feature list for the upgrade, you'll notice that a majority of 'new' features are useless. So instead, I just upgraded the Safari browser along with the other regular app updates. However, ever since Safari was updated to v6.1 even my battery drains out quite fast. I have a feeling that the Safari browser is a lot buggier than its previous versions and tends to max out the CPU and memory consumption - thereby draining out battery much faster.

• Inorder to keep a track on the battery shelf life I've started to use an app called Coconut Battery. Its a small little utility to monitor the battery statistics. One good feature I liked about it is you can save data on various dates and keep a track on the charge cycles. My 15" MBP is more than 2 yrs old and has had close to 200 cycles by now. As per Apple's support article, my model supports a max cycle count of 1000.

• I also read somewhere that the battery performance usually gets deteriorated due to overheating. Overheating happens when you run multiple apps which use system resources heavily. So it would help to keep a check on the battery temperatures as well. Deteriorating batteries tend to bloat and bulge thereby affecting the internals. You can check some apple discusiion forums about the same here.

• You can also calibrate the battery by going powerless once in a while and allow the battery to completely drain out. Then let the laptop cool for some time. Once cooled down, plugin the power cord and restart again.