Using Git with Visual Source Safe 6.0

Question

Sorry for this horrid, horrid question.. but there's no way for me to not use VSS.

I would like to be able to use Git locally for branch development, etc. while using Visual Source Safe 6. My knowledge of all of the ins and outs of Git is limited at the moment, as I'm a recent convert.

Question:
What I would like to be able to do is work within a Git repository. I would like to do this and get all of the goodies that this will allow with branching, etc. At the end of my day, or at other needed moments I would like to be able to take whatever work I'm doing and place it into the master repository which I would then place into VSS.

Ideally, at the start of the work day I would get VSS latest version.. commit this to Git.. then work on an alternate branch, putting the changes back into master when I needed to commit to VSS.

Being that I am a relative git newbie, what might be the best way to accomplish this.. along with the best commands to issue/way to set this up.

*note: Source Safe needs the file checked out before changes can be made to it I think. Maybe there is some tool / script I can use to help automate this for pushing changes back into VSS ?

Answer 1

The setup you're considering should work fine. For git commands just check the tutorials.

The workflow I've used (not with VSS, but the concept is the same) is something like:

• Checkout from main (i.e. VSS)
• Keep one "trunk" branch that is in sync with VSS
  • will always be kept clean
• Develop in branches branched from "trunk"
• Updating from VSS:
  • switch to "trunk"
  • update with VSS
  • git commit the changes
  • rebase the branches that are branched from trunk
• To push changes to VSS:
  • push changes from the development branch to "trunk"
  • switch to "trunk"
  • VSS commit the changes