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TFS for versioning

I am part of a team that releases versions of our software 4-5 times a year to our customers. We retain previous 2-3 versions of our product, correcting any errors that we encounter in later versions. We are using TFS 2008 for version control and are trying to find the best way to support older versions.

We are currently creating a branch of our application each time we make a new version, but we are looking for a good way to update old versions. For example, we finish 9.5, but two weeks after we created the branch and are working on 10.0, we understand that error 9.5 has an error. We are currently making changes in version 10.0, and then open 9.5 to make changes again. Is there a way to automate this?

Thanks!

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3 answers

This is the main reason for branching and merging.

What I do in your situation is to make changes to 9.5, and then merge the changes into my main branch and then return to my 10.0 branch. The built-in merge tool works well for this.

If you go in the other direction, you run the risk of adding new 10.0 things to your 9.5 branch when all you need is a bug fix.

I will also review TBS Branching Guides for more information on branching and merging.

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If you create a branch of your main source, then you can correct the error in your main source and then merge, which will change to your branches 9.5 and 10.0. This part of the beauty of branching, namely, you can merge your changes from your main branch to the target branches.

When you select the merge option with TFS, it will show you where the current source is forked, and you can choose which branches you want to merge these changes with. You do not need to make changes to your branches 9.5 and 10.0 manually, which really leads to the breaking of the branching goal in the first place.

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No, there is no way to "automate" this, and you really do not want it. What if the patch really does not need to be applied to each version?

It seems to me that you are applying the corrections back (first correct in older versions, and then merge into a new one).

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