INFO: Visual SourceSafe Project Oriented Version Control (124530)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows 5.0
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows 6.0
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 16-bit, for Windows 4.0
- Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 32-bit, for Windows 4.0
This article was previously published under Q124530 SUMMARY
SourceSafe is a project-oriented version control system. It does not
write your code for you, but takes care of the maintenance and tracking
responsibilities, freeing you to concentrate on programming.
MORE INFORMATION
Using SourceSafe, you can enhance your development productivity by enabling
you to coordinate team programming efforts, track file and project
histories, share code, and provide a single data source across multiple
platforms.
Team Coordination
In SourceSafe, users check out files when they want to make modifications
to them. All other users can see who has a file checked out and when it was
checked out. When the developer is finished modifying a program, he or she
can update SourceSafe to make the changes viewable to everyone.
File and Project Histories
Version control is the ability to obtain current and recent versions of
files. SourceSafe uses Reverse Delta technology to store only the latest
version of a file, with the information to re-create older versions of the
file when needed.
SourceSafe also tracks the history of the project, allowing you to label a
project when you have reached a certain level of development (for example,
version 3.05.234). Later on, you can refer back to the files in the project
as they existed at the time you labeled the project.
Shared Code
You can share a file or files between several projects. Unlike having the
same file in several directories on a hard drive, sharing files in
SourceSafe places them equally in all projects. Any changes made in one
project will be reflected in all projects where the file is shared.
Multi-Platform Support
SourceSafe can share a common data location across many platforms. It is
currently available for the Windows, Windows NT, MS-DOS, Unix, and
Macintosh platforms. It will also keep track of both short and long
filenames, using the appropriate name for the file system you are currently
using. Visual SourceSafe 4.0 is available for the Windows, Windows NT,
Windows 95 and MS-DOS platforms. Visual SourceSafe version 5.0 and 6.0 are
32-bit only, running on Windows NT and Windows 95.
REFERENCES
There are many additional features in SourceSafe. The Microsoft SourceSafe
Concepts and Configuration Manual gives an overview of these and other
features in greater detail.
For additional information on Visual SourceSafe features, please see the
following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
157718 VSS 5.0 Readme: Sec. 3, New Features in Visual SourceSafe
Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 12/11/2001 |
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Keywords: | kbinfo KB124530 |
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