tool hunt!

VSS''s integration into Visual Studio is extremely good, and if CVS meets your needs then I would say that VSS will as well. There are hard limits to its abilities, but you have to have some pretty large needs before they become apparent.

ld

Subversion is a CVS like open source system that has plugins for windows and visual studio (tortoiseSVN and ankhSVN). Surely there must be a cvs plugin somewhere too though.

http://subversion.tigris.org/

[edited by - JeffF on April 9, 2004 2:21:21 PM]

There is a plug-in for VS that hooks up to CVS, CSS.
I''ve never used it though, I just use WinCVS.

VSS is horrible, it''s not reliable.

If you want tight integration with a UML tool, use the Architect version of Visio.

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Original post by Magmai Kai Holmlor
VSS is horrible, it''s not reliable.

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In what sense? I don''t think I''ve ever seen it lose a version...

ld

My experience was just the opposite. It sort of implodes under it''s own weight, just like large word documents.

It''s far less reliable than other tools, doesn''t have a server/IP remote access option, doesn''t perform merging, and doesn''t provide good branch management. It''s a complete and utter failure unusable by a development team of any size. Oh, but the new version will have resizable dialogs!

Perhaps it''s changed, but Microsoft whiched to SourceDepot (if I have my facts straight, SD is a customized branch from Perforce, MS brought the source code) after W2k development which broke thier crude in-house source tool which was based on SLM.

Go download cvsnt and WinCVS and you''ll never use VSS again.
The SubVersion project was created to address a couple of deficencies in cvs, and looks like it''s comparable to Perforce.


...
Here''s another VS integration package for CVS called Igloo.

Hate to be pure argumentative, but had to at least respond.

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Original post by Magmai Kai Holmlor
It''s far less reliable than other tools,

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Again, I haven''t found this to be the case.

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doesn''t have a server/IP remote access option

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Nothing simple to set up, but a lot of professionals are going to be tunneling in with a VPN connection.

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doesn''t perform merging

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This is an outright lie. Its merging is if anything too eager - if you turn on auto merging, you can''t properly manage histories.

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doesn''t provide good branch management.

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We manage 3 branches of our primary project just fine. Somewhere around 2.5 million LOC, 12 developers all on the source base.

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It''s a complete and utter failure unusable by a development team of any size.

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Don''t get me wrong here, I''m not saying VSS is the best tool for the job. But it works. It''s cheap. It integrates with VS extremely easily by default.

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Oh, but the new version will have resizable dialogs!

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Of course, if you read the whole spec for the new version, you''ll see that pretty much all of your complaints are addressed.

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Go download cvsnt and WinCVS and you''ll never use VSS again.

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WinCVS <> good VS integration.



ld

I guess I was just burned so bad by thier earlier versions I find it difficult to even consider using it now.

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This is an outright lie. Its merging is if anything too eager - if you turn on auto merging, you can''t properly manage histories.

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Ok, it performs merging, but it''s broken

By good branch management I mean one that doesn''t make a complete copy and performs good multi-branch merging - this is much more important when you have many developers.

Oh god, VPN+VSS+lots of developers sounds like a recipe for disaster. Approach this with kid gloves, make two backups, and don''t say I didn''t warn you

CVS doesn''t have advanced merging or branch management either, although it does have remote access it''s implementation is poor. I still find it superior to VSS (and given MSDN subscriptions, the cost is effectively the same).

I guess I don''t value the VS integration nearly as much as you do. Clicking on WinCVS and performing a check-out/check-in never seemed hard to me. What does the VS integration do for you other than add icons on the toolbar?

...
My needs were about 1/5 yours and VSS was not up to challenge. Poking around, I read that they fixed the major corruption issues in the v5 release. I even gave it a second look with v6, but we needed cross-atlantic access and it wasn''t usable with a slow VPN tunnel.

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Original post by Magmai Kai Holmlor
What does the VS integration do for you other than add icons on the toolbar?

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The first proviso I should make here is that the primary development environment is VB, although I''ve found all of the points below to apply equally well to C++ in VS 6.0 and .NET.

The clarity of workflow is improved a ridiculous amount - you can''t even start editing a file under source control in VS unless you check it out, and meanwhile if you have a source file shared you can update it with two clicks (right click on item->get latest version). I''m becoming painfully aware that the level of developer at our place of business is nowhere near top-tier, but then that''s the case all over. Top-tier devvers probably wouldn''t need this child safety lock environment, but I highly doubt that they mind much either. Our experience has mainly been one of ample joy. VS.NET 2003 is a lot more annoying and a lot less seamless, but it''s still not as bad as having to mess around with extra resources all the time.

ld