Buck Hodges
Azure DevOps (formerly VSTS and Team Foundation Server)
Latest posts
TFS 2008 beta 2: How to add a Network Service account to the Build Services group
We changed the build agent setup such that the default presented in the setup GUI is to use Network Service as the build service account. One big advantage of doing this is that the Network Service account doesn't have a password that expires, removing one annoying administrative issue. Once you install the build agent, you need to add the service account to the Build Services security group for the team project where the build definition resides. That's all explained in the installation guide and other documentation. In beta 2, however, the Network Service account for a computer cannot be added to ...
Vote for your favorite version control system to migrate to TFS
Matt Mitrik, program managers for the TFS migration and synchronization toolkit, wants to know which version control systems are most important for them to focus on. Go here and vote now. What migration tools are you looking for? I've heard plenty of requests for tools to migrate data from competitor products to TFS, and I'm trying to find out which tools have the highest demand. If you need a tool to integrate Subversion and TFS, for example, please reply to this post and let us know. Or better yet, create a new item in the issue tracker so that others can vote on the tools they want to see developed. ...
Team System Web Access (formerly TeamPlain) power tools release is now available!
[UPDATE 7/31/2007] I've updated the link with the main MSDN page for TSWA. There's also an FAQ now. We have just released Team System Web Access power tool for TFS 2005! You can download it now. Team System Web Access (formerly known as TeamPlain) is a Web interface to Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server. Feature Overview Authentication Modes We hope you enjoy this release and let us know what you think!Technorati tags: tfs, tfs 2005, team foundation, web access, team system web access
Team Build Compatibility between 2005 and 2008
The following question came up today, and I thought it would be useful to post. One thing I didn't mention was what happens in the upgrade process when you move from a 2005 server to a 2008 server. The 2008 server stores in the database some properties that were previously stored either in the tfsbuild.proj (build agent computer, build directory) and workspacemapping.xml (build workspace template). As part of the upgrade process, we read those files and create build definitions for each tfsbuild.proj, build agents with the computer and build directory specified, and workspace templates on the build d...
TFS 2008: How to check in without triggering a build when using continuous integration
If part of your build process is to check in a file, such as an updated version file, you wouldn't want that checkin to kick off another build. You'd be stuck in an infinite loop. To prevent that problem, simply put the string ***NO_CI*** in the checkin comment. The code that examines a changeset to determine whether to kick off a new build will skip any changeset with that string in the comment. [Update 07/02/2008] If you are making a checkin as part of the build process, you can use $(NoCICheckinComment). That property is set at run time when the build agent starts msbuild. I had...
Team Foundation Server 2008 Beta 2: Summary of links to Team Build information
Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2, including Team Foundation Server 2008, is now available for download. As mentioned in Soma's post, Beta 2, unlike beta 1, includes the "go live" provision in the license, meaning that you can use it in production. We've been using TFS 2008 beta 2 on our main internal dogfood server now for the last two months (well, it's close to being the same as beta 2 -- it's actually an very early snapshot). You can check out the stats in Brian's post. When Beta 1 was released, I put together a list of links about the Team Build features in Orcas. If you are l...
Adding Team System Web Access to the mix
A year ago I became the dev lead for Team Build. As of this month, I'm now also the dev lead for Team System Web Access (TSWA), which is the name of the group that resulted from our earlier acquisition of devBiz Solutions, makers of TeamPlain Web Access. Hakan, Ahmet, and Serkan have joined our team in North Carolina, relocating from Turkey. Hakan is the program manager for TSWA, and Ahmet and Serkan are developers on TSWA. It'll take a while for me to catch up to Ahmet and Serkan. :-) It's great to have them on the team, and I look forward to this team delivering some great features...
How to build without having the timestamp change on every file in the build’s workspace
A question came up a couple of times recently about an issue with the timestamps on the files involved in a build always being the current time. The issue is that folks have customized their deployment process to deploy only files where the timestamps are newer. Folks then ask for an option to have get set the timestamp to the timestamp when the file was checked rather than when it was downloaded. I don't think that's the best answer in this case (and if you aren't doing a clean build, it's not an answer at all, since that will lead to botched builds). The biggest culprit here is likely th...
Visual Studio Team System Chat – August 1, 2007
The next MSDN chat is next Wednesday. I'm going to try to be on the first one. Join members of the Visual Studio Team System product group to discuss features available in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, Team Editions for Architects, Developers, Database Pros, and Testers. There will be two sessions: Join the chat on Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 from 10:00am - 11:00am Pacific Time. Add to Calendar | Additional Time Zones -or- Join the chat on Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 from 4:00pm - 5:00pm Pacific Time. Add to Calendar | Additional Time Zones