In TFS, should I label or create a branch for a production release?

Question

When making a deployment to production, should I mark my code with a label or create a branch for the code that's in production?

Answer 1

In TFS, I would have a Release branch with a label identifying the specific version being released to production.

Which would imply you have other branches may I suggest the following

• Three major branches: Main, Develop, & Release.
• One Hotfix branch for your current fire.
• 0 to N Major-Feature branches to contain the disruption of development.

Details

• Main Branch
  • Contains the latest stable builds
  • Tag/Label each release
• Develop Branch
  • Branched from the Main
  • Where most of the work is done
  • Merge back to Main before release
• Release Branch
  • Branched from one of the following:
    • The Develop branch
    • OR the Main branch (this may be better since it is "stable")
  • Bug fixes are done here
  • After fixes are tested and released,
    • merge to Develop branch
    • OR merge to Main branch and then forward integrate (FI - which is a merge from parent to child) to Develop
  • Tag/Label each release or bug fix
• Hotfix Branch
  • Branched from Main
  • Merged back into Main
  • Forward integrate merge to Develop
  • Used to allow Main to remain "stable"
• Major Feature Branches
  • Branched from Develop
  • Merged back into Develop
  • Used for major features that would possibly disrupt the regular development path

References:

• another stack overflow question: when-to-use-a-tag-label-and-when-to-branch especially Martin Woodward's answer
• Source Control How To by Eric Sink
• A successful Git branching model by Vincent Driessen
  • This contains a very good graphic of a branching model

Answer 2

Ideally, both.

You probably want to have a label so that you know exactly what you delivered for a specific release. However, you probably also want to create a branch so that you can perform minor bug fixing to what was released and create a new release.