What’s new

This section provides a summary of the notable changes in Swarm for the 2021.2 release. Full details are available in the distribution's RELNOTES.txt file.

Major new functionality

Improvements to automatic tests

Iterate tests for affected projects and branches

Swarm now supports separate test runs for each project and branch when the review spans a number projects and branches. This is selected on a per test basis, see Iterate tests for affected projects and branches checkbox.

Add On Demand tests to workflows

You can now add tests to a workflow and set them to be run manually from reviews that use that workflow.

For information on adding an on demand test to a workflow, see Add a workflow.
For information on manually running a test, see Test status.

Rerun tests from the review

You can now rerun tests from the Test status dropdown in a review, see Test status.

Block approval if a test fails

You can now block approval of a review if a test fails, see Add a workflow.

Work-in-Progress tag for shelved changelists

You can now add a work-in-progress tag (#wip by default) to a pending changelist description so that you can update the files in your shelf without triggering an update to the associated review or the creation of a new review. This is useful when a lot of changes are requested for a review, and you want to do them in stages and get them all reviewed when you are happy with your changes. When you are ready for your changes to go back into review, delete #wip from the changelist description and update your shelf to update the review.

For information on using the work-in-progress tag, see Work-in-progress tag.
For information on changing the work-in-progress tag, see Tag processor.

Swarm OVA now uses Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

From Swarm version 2021.1, the Swarm OVA operating system has been updated to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (previously Ubuntu 16.04 LTS). If you are using the 16.04 LTS OVA, we recommend you deploy the 20.04 LTS OVA and move your existing Swarm installation to your new OVA. For instructions on deploying the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS OVA and moving your Swarm instance to it, see Deploy and configure a Swarm VM from an OVA and Moving your Swarm instance.

API version support changing

Support for APIs older than v9 will be removed in the Swarm 2022.2 release.

In the next release of Swarm, we will introduce a new set of v11 APIs. These will refine and extend the v10 APIs, and further standardize the endpoint and response pattern.
The v10 APIs will continue to be available for some time to come.
- Any improvements made in the migration to v11 will not be backported to v9 or v10.
- New API endpoints will be created as v11 and will not be backported to v9 or v10.

PHP support changing for the next release of Swarm

We are planning to remove support for PHP 7.0 and 7.1 in the next release of Swarm. This is part of our commitment to move away from using versions of platforms that have reached End-of-Life (EOL).

Minor new functionality

New API endpoints

A number of new endpoints have been added to the API, see the Swarm API.

Important information

Swarm no longer supports Ubuntu 16.04

Swarm 2021.1 does not support Swarm installation on Ubuntu 16.04. This is part of our commitment to focus on supported technology platforms.

Swarm no longer supports CentOS 6 and RHEL 6

Swarm 2020.2 does not support Swarm installation on CentOS 6 and RHEL 6. This is part of our commitment to focus on supported technology platforms.

Helix Core server 2020.1 stream spec file permissions change

Helix server 2020.1 and later, permissions have changed for viewing and editing stream spec files in Swarm. To view and edit stream spec files in Swarm, the Swarm user must have admin permissions for the entire depot //...

Trigger script updated for Swarm 2020.1

The swarm.shelvedel shelve-del trigger script has been updated in Swarm 2020.1, the trigger script must be updated in the Helix server trigger table or added if it does not already exist, see Update the Helix server triggers table to run the trigger script.

Custom module support in Swarm 2020.1 and later

The Zend 3 Framework project has been forked to an open source project called Laminas, see https://getlaminas.org/about/. Swarm 2020.1 now uses the Laminas framework, this is part of our commitment to move away from using versions of platforms that have reached End-of-Life (EOL).

If you have existing custom Swarm modules created for Swarm 2019.3 or earlier, you must update them to use the Laminas framework. For instructions on updating your Zend custom modules to Laminas, see Migrate existing custom modules to the Laminas framework.

Upgrading from Swarm 2019.1 and earlier

Swarm 2019.2 introduced a Redis in-memory cache to improve performance and reduce the load on the Helix Core server. This replaces the file-based cache that was previously used by Swarm.

On Swarm systems with a large number of users, groups, and projects, the initial population of this cache can take some time. If you have a large Swarm system you should read through the Redis server connection and configuration options before installing or upgrading Swarm, see Redis server.

API support changing for Swarm User Interface release (2020)

We have started adding a new set of v10 APIs to Swarm. These will provide a new endpoint and response pattern, and are designed for use with the new rich User Interface that is being introduced in 2020. Swarm will continue to support the v9 APIs for some time, see API versions.

API support changed for Swarm 2019.3

APIs older than v9 are being deprecated, support for them will be removed in a future release. See API versions.

Workflow feature support changed for Swarm 2019.2

The Swarm workflow feature is enabled by default. If you are upgrading from an earlier version you will need to update your triggers, see Upgrade Swarm.

PHP and Apache version support changed for Swarm version 2019.1

We have removed support for versions of PHP older than 7.0 in Swarm 2019.1. As a result of this change, support for Apache 2.2 has also been removed. This is part of our commitment to move away from using versions of platforms that have reached End-of-Life (EOL).

Ensure that you can install a supported version of PHP and Apache before upgrading to Swarm 2019.1. For information on versions of PHP and Apache supported by Swarm, see PHP and Apache web server.

P4PHP 2019.1 or later required for Swarm 2019.1 and later

The latest version of P4PHP is included in the Swarm package, OVA, and tarball installations.

Known limitations

Issue with userids containing a / character

Issue: Logging in to Swarm 2020.2 or earlier with a userid that contains a forward slash (/) character results in a spinner for the user icon that does not go away.

Fix: This is fixed for new installations of Swarm 2021.1 and later, but is not fixed if you upgrade from an earlier version of Swarm. To fix this issue when you upgrade from Swarm 2020.2 or earlier, add AllowEncodedSlashes NoDecode to the VirtualHost block of your /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/perforce-swarm-site.conf file. For more information about the VirtualHost block, see Apache configuration.

Swarm shelvedel trigger can fail when Helix server is on Windows and a shelf is deleted from the command line

The Swarm shelvedel trigger will fail in the following specific situation:

When the Helix server is hosted on Windows and a user runs the shelf delete command while in the root of one of their local drives.

For example, c:\p4 -u bruno -c my_shelf shelve -d -c 9

Unsupported characters in user names and group names in Swarm 2019.2 and later

Swarm does not support the following characters in user names and group names: :@{}()

Swarm support for the "Private editing of streams" feature in Helix server 2019.1 and later

Supported: stream specs can be edited in your workspace using the Private editing of streams feature and they are displayed in reviews.

Not supported: Swarm cannot commit locked stream specs.

Multiple-Helix server instances on a single Swarm instance

Issue: Swarm will lose connection to all of the Helix servers if you edit the base_url configurable value in the environment block of <swarm_root>/data/config.php. This will stop your system working.

Fix: Remove the base_url configurable from the environment block of <swarm_root>/data/config.php.

Global Dashboard does not support Single Sign-On (Helix Authentication Service)

Issue: If Helix Authentication Service is enabled for Swarm and the Try to login to all available servers with these credentials checkbox or the All available servers option is selected in a login dialog, Swarm will not try to log in to any of the other Helix server instances that are configured for Helix Authentication Service.

Workaround: Log in to them individually using the instance Log in button

in the sidebar or by including the server instance name in the URL, for example: https://swarm.company.com/serverA.

Project Commits tab can fail to show some Helix server commits in the top level view

The Project Commits tab top level client view is made up of all of the branches of the project.

For example, Project Alpha:

Branch: QA:

//depot/alpha/dev/QA/...

Branch: Dev :

//depot/alpha/dev/...

-//depot/alpha/dev/QA/...

The project commits tab view is generated by processing the branches in the order that they were created in and from top to bottom for the paths in each of those branches.

For the project Alpha example above:

The first path includes all of the directories and files under //depot/alpha/dev/QA/ in the project commits tab top level view.

The second path includes all of the directories and files under //depot/alpha/dev/ in the project commits tab top level view.

The third path excludes all of the directories and files in //depot/alpha/dev/QA/ from the project commits tab top level view.

Result: commits made to //depot/alpha/dev/QA/ that should be shown for the QA branch are not displayed in the Project Commits tab top level view.

When you have a simple branch structure this can be avoided by considering this issue when you create your branches. In the example above, creating the Dev branch first and then creating the QA branch avoids the problem because//depot/alpha/dev/QA/ is not excluded from the Project Commits tab top level view.

Tip

Individual branch views display the commits correctly.

Swarm OVA installation fails with a Run p4 login2 error

Issue: Swarm OVA deployment against a Helix server configured for Helix Authentication Service fails with a Run p4 login2 error.

Workaround: You must run p4 login2 for a super user account configured for Helix Authentication Service before deploying the Swarm OVA. For p4 login2 detail, see p4 login2 in Helix Core P4 Command Reference.

Task Stream Reviews

Pre-commit reviews in a task stream are not yet supported.