Post by ralphOn Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:11:36 +0100, Dee Earley
Post by Dee EarleyPersonally, I use Mercurial and swear by it after the POS that is
SourceSafe :)
I would likely have let that last comment go if you hadn't used the
grossly unwarranted term "POS" - after all different strokes for
different folks - and the OP is obviously in dire need of a
SCM/SCCS of some kind - thus anything would be an improvement.<g>
Yes, it was a bit strong, my apologies.
Post by ralphVSS 6 has one ultimate feature that makes it superior to all other
SCM's, it is fully and seamlessly integrated with VB6. It understands
the VBIDE's management of source files and allows the developer to
manage his projects directly from the toolbar or from the menu, or
automatically. (As well as externally like other SCM tools.) With all
other tools the developer must exercise a level of additional
management and discipline.
I have to admit that I rarely used the integration as I found it a pita
when files were not checked out, and the explorer was a bit more usable
for most of the things I used.
This has carried on into mercurial (for which there is also a plugin
iirc, but never used it)
Post by ralphVSS's major wart is it was originally designed to be a 'local' file
based storage. It is not a 'server'. This means it was subject to
client failures as the clients are reading and writing directly to
storage. However, the store is remarkably redundant in how it manages
its keys and indexes. Little short of a massive hardware failure can
make its store totally unrecoverable.
I have had individual entries/files become unusable a few times in the
past. Nothing short of forgetting about it and readding the file got it
usable again. Unfortunately, this also crippled the project IDE plugin
at the time.
Post by ralph[In this you'll find it quite comparable to a file-based database
solution vs. a database server, eg. Jet and SQL Server.]
(Yeah, I've also had pains with Access :p)
Post by ralphIt the User keeps the following in mind, VSS can be used for years
with out any problems.
1) Avoid chewing on the same Project store from the VBIDE and
externally at the same time.
2) Always perform a weekly cleanup on the store using the utilities
provided.
3) Never perform incremental backups on the store, always use full
back-ups.
I do not recommend VSS 6 for projects other than for VS 6, nor for any
large distributed enterprise or 'remote' environment. There has been a
great deal of improvements in other SCM/SCCS's that make them a better
option, but for VB in a 'local' environment there is nothing better.
I still prefer Mercurial (I only have experience of mercurial and VSS)
here as it allows for very easy branching for testing of ideas, as well
as releases.
The few times I've had to do this in VSS have always left me scratching
my head over the exact sequence of calls, the different folders and left
me having to do some manual adjustment of project paths, both in the
user ss.ini and the mssccprg.scc files.
I've also got used to the queues functionality which means I can test a
few changes, create a patch and back them out if I need to go back to
the "latest" version.
Post by ralphAs the OP has expressed a desire to use convenient add-ons, likes a
degree of transparency, is working in a 'local' environment, and wants
to keep it simple and 'cheap' - VSS is far from a "POS" and in fact
the prefect solution for him.
If they get on the with integration then fine :)
In short, I've had far too many problems/niggles with VSS, even on its
own that makes me never want to use it again :|
(My comments above are purely my opinion based on the experiance I've
had with both and are not legally binding, to be applied to my employer,
next doors dog or anyone else, etc)
--
Dee Earley (***@icode.co.uk)
i-Catcher Development Team
http://www.icode.co.uk/icatcher/
iCode Systems
(Replies direct to my email address will be ignored.
Please reply to the group.)