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Visual Source Safe

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  • R Rage

    Hi CPians, My department contemplates buying VSS as source control tool. What do you think about it, and what would you see as the best source control tool ? ~RaGE();

    I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus

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    El Corazon
    wrote on last edited by
    #18

    Rage wrote:

    My department contemplates buying VSS as source control tool.

    So they did this because of the MS name, or because a salesman told them they could have it "real cheap"... here are some tips on keeping VSS stable and working: 1) Never allow your disk to pass 60% of your storage space 2) Never upgrade your hardware/software on the VSS server 3) Never allow more than one person to use the server (we're not even talking one at a time) 4) Never delete a file, always add and depricate, never remove 5) Never back it up when your one person is using the server. 6) Always back it up nightly with saved versions lasting at least 2 weeks in case you don't notice an issue for a few days. 7) Always make sure luck favors you above all others. We have one person who loves VSS, he has his own server, his own network, and only he submits on it. He's never had a problem. Though he may just be very lucky. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)

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    • M Monty2

      Rage wrote:

      what would you see as the best source control tool ?

      This question should be in the CP faq or something, its discussed so many times here :-D My favorite is TortoiseSVN + Subversion :cool:


      **You know you're obsessed with computer graphics when you're outside and you look up at the trees and think, "Wow! That's spectacular resolution!"

      Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial "we."**

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      Craig G Fraser
      wrote on last edited by
      #19

      Subversion is the way to go. We have migrated from VSS and have no regrets. We alsouse the Ank plugin for VS2005....not very stable though...so mostly do all the checking in/updating from explorer using Tortoise. Cheers, Craig ** I'd rather try and fail than fail to try ;) **

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      • R Rage

        Hi CPians, My department contemplates buying VSS as source control tool. What do you think about it, and what would you see as the best source control tool ? ~RaGE();

        I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus

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        David Crow
        wrote on last edited by
        #20

        I've been using it since its inception. It does what we need it to do. Other folks have different requirements and thus it may not be the right tool for the job.


        "The largest fire starts but with the smallest spark." - David Crow

        "Judge not by the eye but by the heart." - Native American Proverb

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        • R Rage

          Hi CPians, My department contemplates buying VSS as source control tool. What do you think about it, and what would you see as the best source control tool ? ~RaGE();

          I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus

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          Christian Graus
          wrote on last edited by
          #21

          Best I have used is VSTS. VSS is fine, despite all the whining from the CVS weenies. I challenge anyone to make CVS work as quickly as VSS does, out of the box. I hear subversion is a good tool, however, and it is free. I doubt it integrates with your IDE, tho. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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          • R Ryan Binns

            Rage wrote:

            My department contemplates buying VSS as source control tool. What do you think about it

            Visual SourceUnsafe? Stay well away. If you do use it, do backups every few seconds, as it will randomly corrupt its own database and you'll lose all your data...

            Rage wrote:

            what would you see as the best source control tool ?

            Use either Subversion or Perforce. We're choosing between these two at work at the moment, moving away from RCS and Visual SourceUnsafe.

            Ryan

            "Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"

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            Christian Graus
            wrote on last edited by
            #22

            Ryan Binns wrote:

            If you do use it, do backups every few seconds, as it will randomly corrupt its own database and you'll lose all your data...

            Rubbish - I have used VSS for years. If this is your experience, you're doing it wrong. VSS is not perfect ( using it over a modem is hell ), but I've NEVER lost data from a VSS database. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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            • C Christian Graus

              Best I have used is VSTS. VSS is fine, despite all the whining from the CVS weenies. I challenge anyone to make CVS work as quickly as VSS does, out of the box. I hear subversion is a good tool, however, and it is free. I doubt it integrates with your IDE, tho. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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              Howard Richards
              wrote on last edited by
              #23

              Much agreement here. I've not had any problems with VSS but I am looking to migrate to VSTS: primarily the integration of tasks, builds and source control into one. 'Howard

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              • R Ryan Binns

                Rage wrote:

                My department contemplates buying VSS as source control tool. What do you think about it

                Visual SourceUnsafe? Stay well away. If you do use it, do backups every few seconds, as it will randomly corrupt its own database and you'll lose all your data...

                Rage wrote:

                what would you see as the best source control tool ?

                Use either Subversion or Perforce. We're choosing between these two at work at the moment, moving away from RCS and Visual SourceUnsafe.

                Ryan

                "Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"

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                Taka Muraoka
                wrote on last edited by
                #24

                Ryan Binns wrote:

                do backups every few seconds

                Of course, if you do that, pretty soon you'll be backing up a corrupted database ;P


                0 bottles of beer on the wall, 0 bottles of beer, you take 1 down, pass it around, 4294967295 bottles of beer on the wall. Awasu 2.2.2 [^]: A free RSS/Atom feed reader with support for Code Project.

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                • C Christian Graus

                  Best I have used is VSTS. VSS is fine, despite all the whining from the CVS weenies. I challenge anyone to make CVS work as quickly as VSS does, out of the box. I hear subversion is a good tool, however, and it is free. I doubt it integrates with your IDE, tho. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                  Rage
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #25

                  You are working alone, Christian, aren't you ? I heard handling multiple users at the same time seems a pretty tough job for VSS. ~RaGE();

                  I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus

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                  • C Christian Graus

                    Ryan Binns wrote:

                    If you do use it, do backups every few seconds, as it will randomly corrupt its own database and you'll lose all your data...

                    Rubbish - I have used VSS for years. If this is your experience, you're doing it wrong. VSS is not perfect ( using it over a modem is hell ), but I've NEVER lost data from a VSS database. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                    Jeremy Falcon
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #26

                    Christian Graus wrote:

                    but I've NEVER lost data from a VSS database.

                    It gets worse the larger the db gets. Jeremy Falcon

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                    • C Christian Graus

                      Best I have used is VSTS. VSS is fine, despite all the whining from the CVS weenies. I challenge anyone to make CVS work as quickly as VSS does, out of the box. I hear subversion is a good tool, however, and it is free. I doubt it integrates with your IDE, tho. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                      Jeremy Falcon
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #27

                      Christian Graus wrote:

                      I challenge anyone to make CVS work as quickly as VSS does, out of the box.

                      VB works quicker than C++ out of the box too. Jeremy Falcon

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                      • J Jeremy Falcon

                        Christian Graus wrote:

                        I challenge anyone to make CVS work as quickly as VSS does, out of the box.

                        VB works quicker than C++ out of the box too. Jeremy Falcon

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                        Christian Graus
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #28

                        ROTFL - good point. I don't think CVS rewards the learning curve as C++ does tho. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                        • R Rage

                          You are working alone, Christian, aren't you ? I heard handling multiple users at the same time seems a pretty tough job for VSS. ~RaGE();

                          I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus

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                          Christian Graus
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #29

                          Actually VSTS is the only product I use alone. I use VSS with Nish now, and have used it in a number of teams of various sizes. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                          • J Jeremy Falcon

                            Christian Graus wrote:

                            but I've NEVER lost data from a VSS database.

                            It gets worse the larger the db gets. Jeremy Falcon

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                            Christian Graus
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #30

                            How big does it have to be ? I worked in a company of 50 devs for 5 years, all our projects were in one VSS database, which was a fair size when I started. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                            • C Christian Graus

                              ROTFL - good point. I don't think CVS rewards the learning curve as C++ does tho. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                              Jeremy Falcon
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #31

                              Christian Graus wrote:

                              I don't think CVS rewards the learning curve as C++ does tho.

                              I still haven't used it. Although, I think I'm gonna give perforce a go. My main thing is I want VS integration; I've been too spoiled by it. Jeremy Falcon

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                              • C Christian Graus

                                How big does it have to be ? I worked in a company of 50 devs for 5 years, all our projects were in one VSS database, which was a fair size when I started. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                                Jeremy Falcon
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #32

                                Christian Graus wrote:

                                How big does it have to be ?

                                I would think that would be large enough, provided there was years worth of data. And I'm sure there could've been other factors involved too. But, in my experience, VSS started choking the most with largers DBs. In my personal use at home I haven't had any issues that I recall. The first thing that happened with VSS is it started slowing down. The next thing was flags weren't be seting properly (checked in, out, etc.). Fortunately, we have had corrupted data (outside of the flags of course). Jeremy Falcon

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                                • P Paul Watson

                                  Not really. Stick with tortoise. regards, Paul Watson Ireland FeedHenry needs you

                                  Shog9 wrote:

                                  eh, stop bugging me about it, give it a couple of days, see what happens.

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                                  Anna Jayne Metcalfe
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #33

                                  Ankh is one of the test solutions we use for regression testing Visual Lint, and boy does it come up with some weird issues. ;) Anna :rose: Currently working mostly on: Visual Lint :cool: Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.

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                                  • A Anna Jayne Metcalfe

                                    Ankh is one of the test solutions we use for regression testing Visual Lint, and boy does it come up with some weird issues. ;) Anna :rose: Currently working mostly on: Visual Lint :cool: Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.

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                                    Paul Watson
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #34

                                    hehe yeah. Even uninstalling Ankh is a mission. They tell you to reset the VS environment which basically nukes all your other settings too. Not the greatest add-in for VS ever made. regards, Paul Watson Ireland FeedHenry needs you

                                    Shog9 wrote:

                                    eh, stop bugging me about it, give it a couple of days, see what happens.

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                                    • R Rage

                                      You are working alone, Christian, aren't you ? I heard handling multiple users at the same time seems a pretty tough job for VSS. ~RaGE();

                                      I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus

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                                      Anna Jayne Metcalfe
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #35

                                      Not necessarily. VSS is fine for most uses, but if you don't analyse/fix the database regularly it will bite you. That aside, the UI is easy to use and intuitive (not brilliant by any means - the reporting is crap, for example) and largely project orientated. It also integrates reasonably well with Visual Studio and its automatic merge is generally trouble free. Its worst points are poor support for branch/merge operations, no support for changesets/atomic checkins and woeful remote access capability (though that's supposed to be improved in VS2005. I've not tried it yet). Its silly little ideosyncrasies include renaming a file in a development branch affecting all pinned copies of the file in release branches (nasty!) and being unable to branch a pinned file when someone else has a more recent one checked out elseware. It's big advantage is of course that most people get it via MSDN anyway. Anna :rose: Currently working mostly on: Visual Lint :cool: Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "Be yourself - not what others think you should be" - Marcia Graesch "Anna's just a sexy-looking lesbian tart" - A friend, trying to wind me up. It didn't work.

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                                      • M Monty2

                                        marcdev wrote:

                                        My one is TortoiseCVS + CVSNT

                                        Haven't used CVSNT at all so i can't compare but i am pretty satisfied with SVN.


                                        **You know you're obsessed with computer graphics when you're outside and you look up at the trees and think, "Wow! That's spectacular resolution!"

                                        Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial "we."**

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                                        Marcelo Beccari
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #36

                                        In the company that I work, we use CVS ... but, we're thinking about change to SVN, because we believe it's better ... In my house I just have SVN and i am very happy! :) Beccari s/a

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                                        • C Christian Graus

                                          Ryan Binns wrote:

                                          If you do use it, do backups every few seconds, as it will randomly corrupt its own database and you'll lose all your data...

                                          Rubbish - I have used VSS for years. If this is your experience, you're doing it wrong. VSS is not perfect ( using it over a modem is hell ), but I've NEVER lost data from a VSS database. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                                          Gary Wheeler
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #37

                                          Hmm. I'll take the middle ground between you, Ryan, and Jeremy. VSS is reasonably safe, as long as you take certain precautions: - Never put your SourceSafe data base on a FAT32 partition. Always put it on an NTFS partition. - Run the Analyze tool nightly. The earlier you catch a DB problem, the easier it will be to correct. - Do not use the SourceSafe Admin backup/restore facilities unless you are willing to do a test restore on each and every backup you make. The backup has a number of well-known silent failure modes that create invalid backups that cannot be restored, even partially. - Whenever users complain that SourceSafe is checking out the wrong file, or they can't find a file they checked out, look in their SS.INI file. Visual Studio and/or SourceSafe have an awful tendency to override working directory settings, which causes check-ins/outs to happen in the wrong place. We have a policy that each user has a single folder that is the working folder for the top level project, and everything underneath matches the VSS project structure.


                                          Software Zen: delete this;

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