I don't understand the usage of the TFS branching tool

Question

I'm evaluating tools that helps to manage branch for my team. We are working on a commercial product, so the tools must be chosen carefully to handle multiple releases, potential hotfix on older versions, etc.

Basically, what I want is to reach what git-flow allows.

But because we are already using TFS (2012 today, but 2013 upgrade in the pipe) with Visual Studio 2012 (but we didn't use branches before), I'd like to "stick" to a full MS product line.

Then I was looking for guidance, and I found this software. I've seen the short webcast Quick tour of the TFS Branch Tool VS Extension on channel9 that demonstrate the tool. But it only covers the creation of the initial structure. What about day to day work?

Let's say I've finished working on a feature or a hotfix. How can I guide the developer to merge to the correct branch? How can I have a easy to read view of the work?

The tools said "automate branching task in the ALM Rangers branching guidance"... but I don't see any menu that can do that. The only thing I see is the "Create initial structure" menu.

Did I miss something? Is there any other resource that can help me?

I like GIT... I believe in its strong branching features. But I feel the git experience in VS 2012 is terrible... so I'd like to give a chance to TFS.

As my team (including me) is not mature in managing branching, I must keep things as easy as possible, so any advise is welcome.

Answer 1

In TFS 2013 you have the choice of 2 types of source control repositories: traditional TFS (TFVC) or Git. You can use a fully-featured Git repository hosted in TFS that gives you all the other goodness that comes with TFS. You can use any git client tools that you prefer to connect and work with the TFS-Git repository (including Microsofts new git tooling inside VS - but that's still a work in progress). Then you can do any git workflow you like, such as git-flow.

More info on Git in TFS here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bharry/archive/2013/01/30/git-init-vs.aspx

Alternatively, if you stick with TFSVC, you need to educate yourself on branching workflows that are supported (TFVC is more restrictive than Git on what workflows are supported, but you can definitely achieve something like git-flow). The best source of knowledge for this is probably the ALM Rangers Branching Guidance: http://vsarbranchingguide.codeplex.com/

Note: The tool you linked only helps with creating the initial branch structure. The day to day work is done using the out of the box source control and branch/merge tooling in Visual Studio.