p4 client

Create or edit a client workspace specification and its view.

Syntax

p4 client [-f] [-t template] [-T type] [name]
p4 client -d [-f [-Fs|-Fd]] name
p4 client -o [-t template] [-T type] [name]
p4 client -S stream [[-c change] -o] [name]
p4 client -s [-f] -S stream [name]
p4 client -s [-f] -t template [name]
p4 client -i [-f]
p4 client -d -f --serverid=X [-Fs] name

Syntax conventions

Description

A P4 Server client workspace is a set of files on a user’s machine that mirror a subset of the files in the depot. More precisely, it is a named mapping of depot files to workspace files. Use the p4 client command to create or edit a client workspace specification. Invoking this command displays a form in which the user enters information so that the P4 Server can maintain the workspace.

The terms "client, "workspace", "client workspace", and "workspace client" mean the same thing.

The p4 client command puts the client spec into a temporary file and invokes the editor configured by the environment variable P4EDITOR. For new workspaces, the client name defaults to the P4CLIENT environment variable, if set, or to the current host name. Saving the file and exiting the editor creates or modifies the client spec.

The client view, which is specified in the p4 client form’s View field, specifies the mapping between files in the workspace and depot.

The mapping between a client workspace file and a depot file:

  • Can specify the same or different relative locations.
  • Can specify the same or different names.
  • Is typically a many-to-many mapping, such as path/to/....html path/from/....htm, where ... is a wildcard and the fourth "." is the literal . before the file extension. See Wildcards in File specifications.

The new or altered client specification is stored in the P4 Server database (metadata The data stored by P4 Server that describes the file revisions in the depot, where they get their content from (see lazy copy), and the current state of client workspaces, protections, groups, users, labels, streams, and branches. Metadata is stored in the server database and is separate from the archive files that users submit.). The files (versioned files Source files stored in the depot, including one or more revisions to each file. Also known as archive files, archives, and depot files. Versioned files typically use the naming convention 'filename,v' or '1.changelist.gz'.) in the workspace are not touched. The new view does not take effect until the next p4 sync.

To submit changes to a stream, you must associate the stream with a client workspace by using the command p4 client -S stream clientname. To change the stream associated with a workspace, use the command p4 client -s -S stream clientname.

About mapping in client workspace views

To exclude matching files, precede the mapping with the - minus sign.

If more than one mapping line refers to the same files, the later mapping line overrides the earlier one.

Map multiple server directories to the same client workspace directory

To map multiple server directories to the same client workspace directory, use the + sign to overlay the later mapping on an earlier one. 

//depot/project1/...     //bruno-client/project/...
+//depot/project2/...    //bruno-client/project/...

If files match both the earlier and later mappings, the file matching the later mapping is used. To learn more, see Map different depot locations to the same workspace location in the P4 CLI Documentation.

Map a server directory to multiple client workspace directories

To map the same server directory to more than one client workspace directory, use the & sign.

//depot/...     //bruno-client/...
&//depot/and/tools/... //bruno-client/and/utility1/...
&//depot/and/tools/... //bruno-client/and/utility2/...

Files mapped in this way are read-only. For more details, see Map a single depot path to multiple locations in a workspace in the P4 CLI Documentation.

Form Fields

Field Name Type Description

Client:

Read-only

The client workspace name, as specified in the P4CLIENT environment variable or its equivalents.

When called without a clientname argument, p4 client operates on the workspace specified by the P4CLIENT environment variable or one of its equivalents. If called with a clientname argument on a locked workspace, the workspace specification is read-only.

Be aware of the Limitations on characters in filenames and entities.

Owner:

Writable, optional

The name of the workspace owner. The default owner is the user that created the workspace.

The specified owner does not have to be a P4 Server user. You might want to use an arbitrary name if the user does not yet exist, or if you have deleted the user and need a placeholder until you can assign the spec to a new user.

Update:

Read-only

The date the workspace specification was last modified.

Access:

Read-only

The date and time that the workspace was last used in any way.

The access time is only valid for the server where the client resides, which is where the client was created or where the client was moved to. This is an issue only in a commit-edge architecture.

Reloading a workspace with p4 reload does not affect the access time.

Host:

Writable, optional

The name of the workstation on which this workspace resides. If included, operations on this client workspace can be run only from this host. If not set, access is allowed from any host.

The hostname must be provided exactly as it appears in the output of p4 info when run from that host.

This field is meant to prevent accidental misuse of client workspaces on the wrong machine. Providing a host name does not guarantee security, because the actual value of the host name can be overridden with the -H option to any p4 command, or with the P4HOST environment variable. For a similar mechanism that does provide security, use the IP address restriction feature of p4 protect.

Description:

Writable, optional

A textual description of the workspace. The default text is Created by owner.

Root:

Writable, mandatory

The directory (on the local host) relative to which all the files in the View: are specified. The default is the current working directory. The path must be specified in local file system syntax. (See "Syntax forms" under File specifications)

If you change this setting, you must physically relocate any files that currently reside there. On Windows client machines, you can specify the root as null to enable you to map files to multiple drives.

AltRoots:

Writable, optional

Up to two optional alternate client workspace roots.

P4 Server applications use the first of the main and alternate roots that match the application’s current working directory. Use the p4 info command to display the root being used.

This enables users to use the same P4 Server client workspace specification on multiple platforms, even those with different directory naming conventions.

If you are using multiple or alternate workspace roots (the AltRoots field), you can always tell which root is in effect by looking at the Client root: reported by p4 info.

If you are using a Windows directory in any of your workspace roots, you must specify the Windows directory as your main workspace root and specify your other workspace roots in the AltRoots field.

For example, an engineer building products on multiple platforms might specify a main client root of C:\Projects\Build for Windows builds, and an alternate root of /staff/userid/projects/build for any work on UNIX builds.

Options:

Writable, mandatory

A set of switches that control particular workspace options. To learn more, see Options field.

SubmitOptions:

Writable, mandatory

Options to govern the default behavior of p4 submit.

  • submitunchanged

    All open files (with or without changes) are submitted to the depot. This is the default behavior of P4 Server.

  • submitunchanged+reopen

    All open files (with or without changes) are submitted to the depot, and all files are automatically reopened in the default changelist.

  • revertunchanged

    Only those files with content, type, or resolved changes are submitted to the depot. Unchanged files are reverted.

  • revertunchanged+reopen

    Only those files with content, type, or resolved changes are submitted to the depot and reopened in the default changelist. Unchanged files are reverted and not reopened in the default changelist.

  • leaveunchanged

    Only those files with content, type, or resolved changes are submitted to the depot. Any unchanged files are moved to the default changelist.

  • leaveunchanged+reopen

    Only those files with content, type, or resolved changes are submitted to the depot. Unchanged files are moved to the default changelist, and changed files are reopened in the default changelist. This option is similar to submitunchanged+reopen, except that no unchanged files are submitted to the depot.

LineEnd:

Writable, mandatory

Configure carriage-return/linefeed (CR/LF) conversion. See Processing line endings.

Stream:

Writable, optional

Associates the workspace with the specified stream. P4 Server generates the view for stream-associated workspaces. You cannot modify that view manually.

StreamAtChange:

Writable, optional

A changelist number that sets a back-in-time view of a stream.

When StreamAtChange is set, running p4 sync (when called with no arguments) updates the workspace to files at this changelist revision, instead of the head revision. You cannot submit changes (p4 submit returns an error) when StreamAtChange is set, because the workspace view no longer reflects the current stream inheritance.

This field is ignored unless the Stream field is also set to a valid stream.

ServerID:

Writable, optional

If set, restricts usage of the workspace to the named server. If unset, use is allowed on master server and on any replicas of the master other than Edge servers.

View:

Writable, multi-line

Specifies the mappings between files in the depot and files in the workspace. See p4 help views for more information. A new view takes effect on the next p4 sync operation.

Comments are preceded by ## as shown in this example:

View:
         ## Comment line
        //depot/main/...  "//eds_win/c:/Current Rel/..."  ## comment appended

ChangeView:

Writable, optional, multi-line

Restricts access to depot paths to a particular point in time.

For example:

//depot/path/...@1000

Revisions of the files in the specified path are not visible if they were submitted after the specified changelist number.

Files matching a ChangeView path are read-only, and therefore cannot be:

  • Opened for add, edit, delete, or integrate

  • Shelved or submitted

The names of automatic labels can be used as specifiers in import mappings on stream specs and in the ChangeView on client specs.

Type:

Writable, optional

Specifies the type of client workspace: writeable, readonly, partitioned, partitioned-jnl, or graph.

  • By default, clients are created with the type writeable, and the Type field is not shown in the spec.

  • The P4 Server uses a central db.have table to track the have list The list of file revisions currently in the client workspace. for writeable clients. However, when many clients syncing a large number of files at the same time, the central table is subject to contention.

  • Other client types can reduce this contention because, for them, P4 Server uses client-specific db.have.pt tables that are independent of the central db.have table. To enable this feature, an administrator uses the client.readonly.dir configurable to set the location on the server for the independent db.have tables.

Type Independent db.have.pt table? Journaled, checkpointed, and recoverable? Use Case
writeable No Yes

For general use.
partitioned-jnl Yes Yes For general use in situations where client workspaces might otherwise experience contention for the server's central db.have table.
readonly Yes No For short lived clients used in build automation scripts that do not edit or submit files.
partitioned Yes No

For short lived clients used in build automation scripts that do edit or submit files.
graph No Yes For use with depots and repos of type graph and Git Connector. To learn more, see Work with Git.

Replication

Replication is supported for the client types that are journaled, checkpointed, and recoverable.

Between Commit Servers and Edge Servers, only the client spec is replicated. To learn more, see Setting global client views in Client workspaces and client views.

Converting client types

The following tables indicates which client types can be converted to another client type.

  To writeable To graph To readonly To partitioned To partitioned-jnl
From writeable Not applicable If no open files and not a stream client If no open files Allowed Allowed
From graph If no open files Not applicable Not allowed Not allowed Not allowed
From readonly Allowed Not allowed Not applicable Allowed Allowed
From partitioned Allowed Not allowed If no open files Not applicable Allowed
From partitioned-jnl Allowed Not allowed If no open files Allowed Not applicable

To learn more, see Client workspace types in the P4 Server Administration Documentation.

If there are one or more lines under a field, indent the lines. For example, 
Description:
    Created by maria

Options

-d name

Delete the specified client workspace whether or not the workspace is owned by the user. The workspace must be unlocked and must have no opened files or pending changes.

The combination of -d with -f allows the P4 Server administrator to delete a locked workspace that is owned by other user. This also reverts any files opened on the workspace.

A user with admin or the owner can delete a workspace even if it has shelved files. See the -Fs and -Fd options. Otherwise, a client with shelved files cannot be deleted.

If you try to forcibly delete a client bound to another server, you need to specify the --serverid option and specify the server id of the other server. This ensures that you do not accidentally delete the client believing it to be connected to your own server.

-f

Allows the last modification date, which is normally read-only, to be set.

Administrators can use the -f option to delete or modify locked workspaces owned by other users.

Use of this option requires admin access granted by p4 protect.

-Fs

Allows the deletion with -d of a client even when that client contains shelved changes. The client is deleted and the shelved changes are left intact. (You must use the -f option with the -Fs option.)

-Fd

Allows the deletion with -d of a client even when that client contains shelved changes. The client and the shelved changes are both deleted. (You must use the -f option with the -Fd option.)

-i

Read the client workspace specification from standard input.

-o

Write the client workspace specification to standard output.

-o -c change

When used with -S stream, displays the workspace specification that would have been created for a stream at the moment the change was submitted.

-s

Switch workspace view. To switch the workspace view to a stream, specify -S stream. To switch the view defined for another workspace, specify -tclientname.

Switching views is not allowed in a client that has opened files. The -f option can be used with -s to force switching with opened files. View switching has no effect on files in a client workspace until p4 sync is run.

--serverid=X

If you try to forcibly delete a client bound to another server, you need to specify the --serverid option and specify the server id of the other server. This ensures that you do not accidentally delete the client believing it to be connected to your own server.

This variant of the p4 client command must be issued directly to the commit server.

-S stream

Associates the workspace with the specified stream, which is used to generate its workspace view.

-t name

Copy client workspace clientname's view and options into the View: and Options field of this workspace. If you specify a default client template using the template.client configurable, you do not have to specify this option.

-T type

By default, clients are writeable. When you create a client workspace, use -T type to set a specific type. To learn more, see the Type: field.

g-opts

See Global options.

Usage notes

Can File Arguments Use Revision Specifier? Can File Arguments Use Revision Range? Minimal Access Level Required Command Alias

N/A

N/A

list

admin for -f

 p4 workspace
  • Use quotation marks to enclose depot-side or client-side mappings of file or directory names that contain spaces.
  • Spaces in workspace names are translated to underscores. For example, typing the command p4 client "my workspace" creates a workspace called my_workspace.
  • By default, any user can edit any workspace specification with the p4 client clientname command. To prevent this, set the locked option and use p4 passwd to create a password for the workspace owner.

  • To specify a workspace on Windows that spans multiple drives, use a Root: of null, and specify the drive letters in the workspace view. For instance, the following workspace spec with a null root maps //depot/main/... to an area of the C: drive, and other releases to the D: drive:

    Copy 
    Client: eds_win
    Owner:  edk
    Description:
            Ed's Windows Workspace
    Root:   null
    Options:        nomodtime noclobber
    SubmitOptions:  submitunchanged
    View:
             ## Comment line
            //depot/main/...     "//eds_win/c:/Current Release/..."
            //depot/rel1.0/...   //eds_win/d:/old/rel1.0/...  ## Comment appended
            //depot/rel2.0/...   //eds_win/d:/old/rel2.0/...

    A comment in the View section has ## at its beginning.

    Indent each line under a field, as shown above for Description: and View:

    Use lowercase drive letters when specifying workspaces across multiple drives.

Options field

The Options field contains values separated by spaces. Each of the options has two possible settings:

Option Choice Default

[no]allwrite

If allwrite is set, unopened files in the workspace are left writable.

If allwrite is set and noclobber is NOT specified, a safe synchronization is performed.

A setting of allwrite leaves unopened files writable by the current user. It does not set filesystem permissions to ensure that files are writable by any user of a multi-user system.

noallwrite

[no]altsync

If altsync is set, and a P4 Virtual File Service (P4 VFS) application is installed to make use of P4ALTSYNC, the client can create, delete, or update placeholders of the file metadata instead of always taking time to download the full file content. See the P4 Virtual File Service (P4 VFS) Documentation.

This option can only be changed when the client's have list is empty. See p4 have.

 noaltsync

[no]clobber

If clobber is set, a p4 sync overwrites ("clobbers") files in the workspace that have the same name as the newly-synced files if those files are writable but unopened.

If allwrite is set and noclobber is NOT specified, a safe synchronization is performed.

noclobber

[no]compress

If compress is set, the data stream between the user’s workstation and the P4 Server is compressed.

The compress option speeds up communications over slow links by reducing the amount of data that has to be transmitted. Over fast links, the compression process itself might consume more time than is saved in transmission.

nocompress

[un]locked

Grant or deny other users permission to edit or delete the workspace specification. (To make a locked workspace effective, the workspace’s owner’s password must be set with p4 passwd.)

If locked, only the owner is able to use or edit the workspace specification. P4 Server administrators can override the lock by using the -f (force) option with p4 client.

unlocked

[no]modtime

For files without the +m (modtime) file type modifier:

  • If modtime is set, the modification date (on the local filesystem) of a newly synced file is the datestamp on the file when the file was last modified.
  • If nomodtime is set, the modification date is the date and time of sync, regardless of version.

For files with the +m (modtime) file type modifier: the modification date (on the local filesystem) of a newly synced file is the datestamp on the file when the file was submitted to the depot, regardless of the setting of modtime or nomodtime on the client.

Files with the modtime (+m) type are intended for developers who need to preserve original timestamps on files. The use of +m in a file type overrides the workspace’s modtime or nomodtime setting. For a more complete discussion of the +m modifier, see File types.

nomodtime (date and time of sync) for most files.

Ignored for files with the +m file type modifier.

[no]rmdir

If rmdir is set, when a command such as p4 sync causes a non-empty workspace directory to become empty, that workspace directory is deleted.

If rmdir is set, p4 sync might remove your current working directory. If so, change to an existing directory before continuing with your work.

normdir

Processing line endings

The LineEnd field controls the line-ending character(s) used for text files in the client workspace. Changing the line end option does not update the client files until you refresh the client files with p4 sync -f.

The LineEnd field accepts one of five values:

Option Meaning

local

Use mode native to the client (default)

unix

UNIX-style (and macOS) line endings: LF

mac

Mac pre-macOS: CR only

win

Windows- style: CR + LF.

share

The share option normalizes mixed line-endings into UNIX line-end format. The share option does not affect files already synced into a workspace; however, when files are submitted to the depot, the share option converts all Windows-style CR/LF line-endings and all Mac-style CR line-endings to the UNIX-style LF, leaving lone LF line-endings untouched.

When you sync your workspace, line endings are set to LF. If you edit the file on a Windows machine, and your editor inserts CR characters before each LF, the extra CR characters do not appear in the archive file.

The most common use of the share option is for users of Windows workstations who mount their UNIX home directories as network drives; if you sync files from UNIX, but edit the files on a Windows machine.

The share option implicitly edits the files during a submit. As a consequence, if you have set the LineEnd field to share in your client spec, the p4 resolve command might prompt you to edit the file before resolving.
If all the servers run the same operating system, errors and confusion about file names can be avoided. To learn more, see Case sensitivity and multi-platform development in the P4 Server Administration Documentation.

Working with streams

Without -s, the -S stream option can be used to create a new client spec dedicated to a stream. If the client spec already exists, and -S is used without -s, it is ignored. Using -S sets the client’s Stream field. The special syntax -S //a/stream@changelist can be used to set both Stream and StreamAtChange at the same time.

The -S stream option can be used with -o -c change to inspect an old stream client view. It yields the client spec that would have been created for the stream at the moment the change was recorded.

Working with build servers

A server of type build-server (see p4 help server) is a replica that supports build farm integration. The p4 client command can be used to create or edit client workspaces on a build-server. Such workspaces can issue the p4 sync command in addition to any read-only command supported by the replica. For more information, run p4 help buildserver.

When creating or editing a client workspace for a build-server, the client specified by the optional name argument, as well as the client specified by the P4CLIENT environment variable or by the global -c client argument, must not exist, or must be restricted to this server. This command cannot be used to create or edit a workspace that is not restricted to this build-server.

Working with read-only clients

Build automation scripts, which routinely create, sync, and tear down clients, can fragment the db.have table over time. To avoid this, you can specify the type readonly for these clients. Such clients cannot add, delete, edit, integrate, or submit files, but this should not be an issue in build scripts.

A readonly client is assigned its own personal db.have database table, and the location of this table is specified using the client.readonly.dir configurable.

To set up a read-only client:

  1. Set the client.readonly.dir configurable to the directory where the db.* tables for the client should be stored.

    For example, if you create a read-only client whose name is myroc and you set client.readonly.dir to /perforce/1, then syncing files using this client will write to the following database

    /perforce/1/server.dbs/client/hashdir/db.myroc

  2. Set the Type field of the client spec to readonly.

Including Graph Depot repos in your client

See p4 client (graph).

Examples

p4 client

Edit or create the workspace specification named by the value of P4CLIENT or its equivalents.

p4 client -t gale bruno

Create or edit a workspace named bruno, opening the form with the field values and workspace options in the workspace named gale as defaults.

p4 client -d release1

Delete the workspace named release1.
p4 client -d -f -Fd release1 As admin, delete both the workspace named release1 and all of its shelved changes of another user.
p4 client -o build-client | sed "s/Created by/Created by automated build/" | p4 client -i

Automate the modification of the Description: field in a client specification.

This example uses -o and -i to redirect from standard out to standard in.

Related commands

To list all workspaces known to the system

p4 clients

To read files from the depot into the workspace

p4 sync

To open new files in the workspace for addition to the depot

p4 add

To open files in the workspace for edit

p4 edit

To open files in the workspace for deletion

p4 delete

To write changes in workspace files to the depot

p4 submit

Graph depot version p4 client (graph)