SourceSafe 2005

timeout

Currently we are using MS sourcesafe V6 from 99 in the company to control files. This piece of software is kinda out of date now with the new version being released. We are hoping to use it as a form of version control and I have been asked to investigate it. Trouble is I can't find an evaluation version on the Microsoft site and its pissing me off.

I think its built into Visual studio 2005 but I can't find a reference for it on the packages that are supposed to be inclued in the bundle.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/previous/ssafe/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/products/compare/default.aspx

Any help much appricated.
Timeout

Peace

Isn't VS2005 available for beta download... or maybe thats just MS Partners.

timeout

I think it is but I don't feel like downloading 700-800mb of rubbish if the package i want is not there which i can't confirm. If anyone can suggest an alternitive to Sourcesafe it would be an option also.

damnyanks

CVS or clear case?

aidan_walsh

SVN + TortoiseSVN, tbh.

rsynnott

SVN is certainly worth looking at. There are, I think, things to integrate it nicely with Visual Studio, too.

robfitz

Some open source SCM (version control and software configuration management) systems include:
Subversion
GIT
Arch
CVS

I would suggest you look at Subversion, it's much better then CVS. GIT and Arch are for distributed use so they might not be an option. This is a bigger list of SCM's.

satchmo

I've heard good things about Subversion alright, I'd give that a go.

1000th post, woot!

amen

you can also use continnous bit pricey though
are you just upgrading because its old software or because there is a need to ?
we use VSS6 and have been for the last few years no probs

timeout

amen wrote:

are you just upgrading because its old software or because there is a need to ?

Just cos its old software and not really supported anymore. The 2005 should take over the existing DB setup with very little hassel.

Found this trail link but says not avalible to mid december. Don't think it could be anymore mid December:rolleyes:

The fact that we could just upgrade means less hassle but if these other systems are going to before a better job then i'll gladly put a case for them forward.

The SVN looks like its all command line based but i got to read into it a bit more. Thanks for the help so far.

Timeout

aidan_walsh

The SVN server is command line based (a few commands to create the repository, and one to start the server) or can be hooked into Apache as a module, but TortoiseSVN (recommended by moi above) is a client that integrates into the Windows shell.

Even if you don't use that there are a lot of tools that integrate into IDEs, so I'm sure you can find one for VS.

robfitz

timeout wrote:

The SVN looks like its all command line based but i got to read into it a bit more.

VSS is also a command line program, look into ss.exe which is in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\VSS\win32 directory on my windows computer. It's just that most people would just use the GUI wrapper.

SVN has a number of different UI's, command line, gui, web, integration with explorere or visual stuido, etc.

Make sure you read the free subversion book at http://svnbook.red-bean.com/ if you haven't already found it.

Here are even more usefull links at.

The biggest problem yor'e likely to have is not with the gui or command line but with the way you work on files. VSS uses the the lock, edit, commit, subversion uses edit, update, commit. You also tend to commit multiple files in groups called changesets (but this is more like the way people tend to program).

ressem

Sourcesafe 2005 is supplied seperately to VS2005 in the MSDN distribution. Probably as they're pushing the Team Foundation Server source control, and describe sourcesafe as more suited to single developer projects.


Have tried out vss 2005.

There's 2 control models available when creating a database, the old
"lock-modify-unlock" and the newer "copy-modify-merge"

It doesn't treat unicode files as binary any more. I wouldn't trust it's "autodetect encoding of local file". Bit quicker and can deal with 4 GB
repositories instead of 2.

And there's some IIS access stuff. And that's about it for obvious changes.

timeout

ressem wrote:

Sourcesafe 2005 is supplied seperately to VS2005 in the MSDN distribution.

Do you have a link to a download as I can't find it on the site.

ressem

A paid MSDN subscription is required for access to the sourcesafe, sorry.

Visual studio trials are at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/products/trial/

but don't include sourcesafe.
It does include the team foundation server in the team suite download, if you're interesting in paying through the nose (SQL server + licences required in addition to the team server licences CALs)

Actually the team suite might also include sourcesafe. The other downloads don't.

timeout

ressem wrote:

A paid MSDN subscription is required for access to the sourcesafe, sorry.

Thanks for the update. With price of that package we will either just go with Sourcesafe 2005 or if my demo goes well it might be SVN.

Timeout

voxpop

CVSNT runs on a windows machine and TortiseCVS or winCVS as clients works well for me plus you can use igloo to intergrate Visual Studios with cvs

ressem

There's ankhsvn
http://ankhsvn.tigris.org to provide some of the same integration to Visual Studio as sourcesafe. Worked without issues so far in VS2005.

bonkey

ressem wrote:

Have tried out vss 2005.

Is it still a "file-based" application, as opposed to being a proper client-server configuration?

ressem

You're asking whether the clients still rely on a windows file share on the server?

Yes. Same as earlier versions.