Set up client workspaces

A client workspace is a set of directories on a user’s machine that mirrors a subset of the files in the depot. More precisely, it is a named mapping of depot files to workspace files. The workspace view defines which depots you can sync to your client workspace.

A view consists of mappings, one per line. The left-hand side of the mapping specifies the depot files and the right-hand side the location in the workspace where the depot files reside when they are retrieved from the depot.

When you create a client workspace, a classic depot is mapped to your workspace by default. However, a depot of type graph requires that you manually configure the mapping by editing the view field in the client workspace specification. You can also edit the spec to view only a portion of a depot or to change the correspondence between depot and workspace locations.

In the following example, a graph depot called graphDepot includes a repository called repo1. It is mapped to a dedicated folder called workspace such that all files located in the //graphDepot/repo1 directory on the Helix Server appear in the //workspace/graphDepot/repo1 directory on the machine where the client workspace resides.

//graphDepot/repo1/... //workspace/graphDepot/repo1/...

For advanced workflows, you could also have a mixed workspace to accommodate the mapping of both a classic depot and a graph depot. In this case, your mapping could look like this:

//graphDepot/repo1/... //mixed-client/graphDepot/repo1...
//depot1/moduleA/... //mixed-client/depot1/moduleA/...
  1. To create a depot client specification and its view, run the following command:

    $ p4 client clientName
  2. Edit the workspace view to meet your requirements. For details and examples, see the graph depot version of p4 client (graph) in Helix Core Command-Line (P4) Reference, which is different from the classic p4 client command.