Hiding an element in ClearCase

Question

I'm trying to hide an element in my ClearCase view. I've set the following line in my config spec:

element /path/to/some/element -none

Further down in my config spec, there is an include to another config spec (which in turn includes other config specs and so on - a complete mess, but I can't change this). I'm pretty sure there is another line in there setting this element to a tagged version. When I do ct ls on the file I see:

/path/to/some/element@@/main/1        Rule: SOME_TAG

Is the -none option to element overridable by a tag? If so, how can I work around it?

Answer 1

I confirm a config spec wouldn't operate well through a symbolic link.
See config spec man page

There is no VOB symbolic link scope.
A VOB symbolic link is cataloged (listed) in one or more versions of a directory element

A vob symbolic link adds some issue with the config spec (seen for instance after relocating elements)

Even without talking about Vob symlink, this technote mentions that ClearCase config spec without an unrelated wildcard or unrelated recursive rule will not resolve the end point of a symlink.

Answer 2

What dawned on my was that the path to the element contained a link to another VOB. After I changed the path to the absolute path of the other VOB, it worked:

element /var/vob/other_vob/vob/path/to/some/element -none

Apparently config spec settings don't apply through links.