How to deal with VB6 .vbp file references changing

Question

Our VB6 guy was part of the last RIF (Reduction in Force). The work he did has been split between me and another developer. We often are both are making changes to projects at the same time. This isn't a problem with CVS since we are working in different areas. However VB6 seems to modify the Reference section and change the paths each time either of us touches a project. Since we don't have the exact same path setup for out source trees we run into merge conflicts on the vbp file all the time.

Is there any way around this other than the obvious method of changing our setup so we have the same directory structures?

Answer 1

I would suggest two things:

1. Don't commit the .vbp unless you add a file to the project.
2. Mark the .vbp as read-only and check it in as such into your repo. When users check it out, it should still be read-only which will prevent changes to reference paths (and seemingly random reordering of the file) from being saved. When you have to make a change to the project--make the file read-write, save the change and then make it read-only again before committing.