Migrating Perforce from case-sensitive to case-insensitive

Question

I'll be migrating a Unix Perforce installation to a new (Unix) server with more storage next month. Because we now have a lot of Windows users, I'd like to start up the new server in case-insensitive mode (-C1). According to Perforce, this scenario isn't supported (http://answers.perforce.com/articles/KB_Article/Cross-Platform-Perforce-Server-Migration).

My question: Assuming I can verify that there are no case conflicts among current files and directories in the depot, would restoring a case-sensitive checkpoint using case-insensitive mode work? What if there are deleted files and directories that contain case conflicts? what would happen if a rollback was attempted to a time when case conflicts existed?

As I see it, my only other option for keeping the file histories accessible would be to start the new server with the current file versions. Then on the existing server I'd delete most of the existing user accounts, transfer the license to the new server, and keep the old server around (indefinitely) under the free license model.

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Finally got around to preparing for this migration, and I can now state definitively:

p4d will NOT allow you to restore a checkpoint with case-insensitive mode turned on (-C1) if that checkpoint was created in case-sensitive mode on a Linux server.

When you try, it will report an error that the checkpoint was created in case-sensitive mode.