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P4 Server Administration Documentation | 2025.2

# Caveats, warnings, and recommendations

Although the material in this section has already been presented elsewhere in this chapter, it is important enough to bear repeating. When editing job specifications with `p4 jobspec`, follow these guidelines.

Read and understand the material in this section before you attempt to edit a job specification.

- Do not attempt to change, rename, or redefine fields 101 through 105. These fields are used by P4 Server and should not be deleted or changed. Use `p4 jobspec` only to add new fields (106 and above) to your jobs.

  Field 101 is required by P4 Server and cannot be renamed nor deleted.

  Fields 102 through 105 are reserved for use by P4 Server applications. Although it is possible to rename or delete these fields, it is highly undesirable to do so. P4 Server applications might continue to set the value of field 102 (the `Status` field) to `closed` (or some other value defined in the `Presets:` for field 102) upon changelist submission, even if the administrator has redefined field 102 for use as a field that does not contain `closed` as a permissible value, leading to unpredictable and confusing results.

- After a field has been created and jobs have been entered, do not change the field’s ID number. Any data entered in that field through `p4 job` will be inaccessible.
- Field names can be changed at any time. When changing a field’s name, be sure to also change the field name in other `p4 jobspec` fields that reference this field name. For example, if you create a new field `106` named `severity` and subsequently rename it to `bug-severity`, then the corresponding line in the jobspec’s `Presets` field must be changed to `bug-severity` to reflect the change.
- The comments that you write in the `Comments` field are the only way to let your users know the requirements for each field. Make these comments understandable and complete. These comments are also used to display tooltips in P4V, the P4 Visual Client (P4V).

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