[updated] Relative Package Names

It is possible to have a report be built on a package that is specified with a relative (to the report) location.
It is not possible to set relative package names through the UI in ReportStudio but you can copy the XML source into an editor, make the changes and paste it back to RS.
The reference to the package is right at the beginning of the XML in the <modelPath> tag.
I tested with relative path on 8.3 and it worked.

This is great for keeping multiple environments on the same Cognos box.
The report age can be the same. There is no need to relink the report with a different package. The package can be redeployed into different folders (new feature in 8.3) with the same name. The packages would be practically the same only they would use different datasources. Changing the datasource is easy... just run a sed script on the model's XML and publish.
If you need to maintain a lot of environments eg. QA, staging, production, support on the same Cognos then you will find this very useful!

Update
Damn, it doesn't work. Report Studio axccepts the relative path but before saving the report it substitutes it with an absolute path.
the good news is that in 8.3 you can relink a report to another package through the portal by setting the properties... there's no need to open up the report in RS.