Migrate from TFS to VSS [closed]

Question

I installed Team Foundation Server and migrated my code a year ago from VSS. It was a big mistake. Between workspaces, read-only flags, solution bindings and bad merge tools, I think I should have just stuck with VSS.

So, how do I migrate back to VSS from TFS?

Answer 1

VSS is the worst Version Control tool out there, please don't go back there. If TFS is really not your thing (and that's fair enough) then you should consider Subversion, or a DVCS such as Mercurial or git. If you like the simplicity of VSS then Sourcegear's "Vault" might be worth investigating. I've never used it in anger but it's very similar to VSS in layout and function, but it won't corrupt your code and die on it's arse if your repository goes over 2GB in size.

Another thing to note is that VSS is now out of mainstream support and wont be getting any more bug fixes or versions, from MS's point of view it's a dead product.

If you give some more detail then maybe someone can help you overcome the problems rather than going through the pain of migrating to another VCS?

For example the merge tools in TFS are a bit ropey but they can be replaced by just about any other tool on the market, I use SourceGear Diffmerge but there are plenty of others you can use.

I've never really had a problem with workspaces or solution bindings so without more information I can't really offer any help. As for Read Only flags, I assume you mean when you edit files outside of Visual Studio? If that's the case then the TFS power tools can be used to install Explorer integration which will let you do the most common version control tasks without having to wait for Visual Studio to warm up.

I think TFS is a much better Version Control tool than VSS but that's a pretty low bar to be honest. Of course YMMV :-) just please try to avoid VSS at all costs!

Answer 2

Disconnect from Source Control for TFS, and then add then re-add to VSS, though surely you can come up with a much better solution than VSS? Subversion, Git, Mercurial, Veracity?