About Preservation Policies

A preservation policy is a set of rules that determine how the output files from a build process are represented in Dimensions CM. A preservation policy is associated with a stage for a project/stream, and each type of target, or output file resulting from a build, is preserved according to these preservation rules when a build is run for the project/stream for that stage.

For further information on Build see the Dimensions Build online help.

There are three types of preservation rule that determine the type of item revision that can be created for a build output:

- Normal: An output file from a build is stored as a normal item revision with the file stored in a Dimensions item library.

- External: An output file from a build (such as a listing) that is stored outside a build area. It is represented as an item revision but the item file is not stored in a Dimensions item library. You can, however, get or check out the item revision, in which case the external file is copied to your work area.

- Placeholder: An output file from a build that can be inside or outside a build area. It is represented as an item revision but the item file is not stored in a Dimensions item library and you cannot get or check out the item file.

Note that external and placeholder item revisions do not get promoted from one build area to another.

When you define a preservation policy, you specify the default preservation rule for all item types for build outputs by choosing one of these three options. You can then optionally add one or more preservation rules to override the default one for any specific item types that you want to be treated differently.

Once defined, you can associate different preservation policies with different stages of a build project. If you do not specify a preservation policy for a build stage the default is to preserve all build outputs as normal Dimensions items.

Related Topics

Managing Preservation Policies