RTC/Jazz : what does "load a repository workspace" mean?

Question

I'm new to Jazz/RTC, IBM's source control/project management/uber-bug tracker. Our projects have used CVS/SVN/Git for years so I am very familiar with scm concepts and practices (branches, merging, tagging, fetch, merge ,push, etc). Alas, at this point some of RTC's concepts have not sunk in.

"Loading a repository workspace" as far as I know copies the "repository workspace" down to the local filesystem.

Questions:

• What exactly does it mean to "load a repository workspace"?
• When would you unload a repository workspace? (Why is it so network intensive?)
• If dealing with mutliple branches would you have multiple repository workspaces? would you load and unload them into local filesystem when "switching branches"?
• What is the relationship between the eclipse workspace and the "loaded repository workspace" and "sandbox"?

As a bonus: could someone point towards a 'RTC for cvs/svn/git users' article?

thanks

Answer 1

• What exactly does it mean to "load a repository workspace"?

It is a bit like a git checkout: you are creating a local working tree in which you will be able to modidify your files.
RTC offers actually 2 workspaces: one on the server side, and one that you load wherever you want on the local workstation.

This is with the latter that you ask RTC to detect the files you will change, from where you will do a checking: that operation will register a change set in your repo workspace (stored on the server)

Compared to Git, this allows for private checking (as in git), but saved on the server side (so if your workstation breaks, you can recover your checked-in work by loading it again in a new local workspace)

• When would you unload a repository workspace? (Why is it so network intensive?)

You don't really have to. If you want to reload everything i guess, but you actually can load a repo workspace as many time as you want.
RTC doesn't keep track of those sandboxes. But each local workspace knows which repo workspace it refers to (it is in the .jazz5 folder)

• If dealing with multiple branches would you have multiple repository workspaces?

No: repo workspaces are linked to a stream which in turn can represent a branch in term of history.
You would have multiple streams.

You can choose to have multiple repo workspace on a same stream if you want to try different approach for the same development effort, but usually one repo workspace is enough.

• would you load and unload them into local filesystem when "switching branches"?

No. You also can have different sandboxes (local workspaces) loaded (and switch between Eclipse workspaces)

• What is the relationship between the eclipse workspace and the "loaded repository workspace" and "sandbox"?

It happens that the RTC client is based on the Eclipse GUI, which offers "Eclipse workspaces" since more than 10 years (way before RTC).
You simply import a project loaded from a local workspace into an "Eclipse workspace", for Eclipse to be aware of it.

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Erigami mentions in the comments:

• "Comparing concepts between Subversion and Rational Team Concert"
• "What do load, unload, accept, and deliver mean?"