[AccessD] version control

Hi Charlotte

Thanks. Yes we know this kind of guys - everything is bad or sh.t or trash.

My major concern about VSS, however, is that I don't have a license for it - that pretty much ends the pro et contra discussion.

/gustav

>>> cfoust at infostatsystems.com 22-04-2008 17:17 >>>
He has a few comments that match my experience, but most of his diatribe
does not.  I've worked with source safe for far longer than 5 years and
haven't run into all the horrors he describes.  From some of his
remarks, I would infer that the reason I haven't run into his issues is
because we use VSS as it was intended, as a version control system for
programmers.  Storing large binary file like MS Word documents in source
safe is not using it according to its purpose.  It is NOT a document
management system and anyone who uses it as such is getting exactly what
he deserves when it implodes.  The fact that you sort of CAN do
something doesn't mean you should do it or should rely upon VSS to
support it.

As has been pointed out in other posts, there are a number of versioning
apps out there.  Everyone should use the one(s) that meet their
particular needs rather than wasting a lot of time bashing the ones they
don't like.  Bah humbug!

Charlotte Foust

 

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com 
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 6:47 AM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com 
Subject: Re: [AccessD] version control

Hi all

Here are some comments on VSS which could give some second thoughts:

  http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/windev/sourcesafe.html 

Those interested in Subversion should study this link:

  http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/ 

and here is a VMware virtual appliance suited for an easy small-scale
start:

  http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/308 

Anyone running a setup like this?

/gustav


>>> fuller.artful at gmail.com 19-04-2008 20:03 >>>
Subversion is free and VSS is free too if you have already purchased
Office Developer or Visual Studio etc. If you have either of those, then
you already have VSS. If you're going the open-source route, then Google
Subversion and you'll get a download hit quickly enough.

Next thing is to decide where to place the version-control files. They
are going to take a lot of space, no doubt about that. As I mentioned, I
have since moved from thinking of these tools as source-code
repositories to document-repositories (meaning that I want each draft of
my next article for Red Gate and each instance of my various Access and
Ruby apps) available at all times from anywhere in civilization (e.g.
internet).

The company for which I worked that opened my eyes to VSS is called
Accenture, and it's a big outfit. Thousands of employees all over the
world.
Everything is stored in a VSS database in Chicago, if memory serves. The
physical location doesn't matter; only the access (to coin a phrase)
does.

Suppose that you don't have all that available space, and you're a
humble SOHO with a couple of notebooks and a desktop or two and maybe a
server.
Ensure that the server (or pretend-server, as economics dictate) has
Lots of space. That's square zero. Then start "recording" or
"installing" all your versions of product/document xyz123 into the VC
(generic appelation for Version Control) database. File everything --
Word docs, Access MDBs, backups of your SQL dbs, PPT slideshows...
everything.

We could spend days discussing which hierarchy you prefer, and I
surrender
immediately: yours is correct. If it works for you, that's all that's
important. I am not here to profess some better way. Do what you will.
However, what you must do is declare a home base for said VC database,
and make copies of same frequently and take them offsite so you are
covered even in the event of a NewOrleans storm. You must do that. So...

You have one old tired box that has lots of storage and few brains.
That's your storage baby.  Everybody should point to him for the latest
rev. of any document or project. That's your main squeeze. That baby is
best protected very well, with RAID or offsite or whatever, but that
baby is your baby.

Now we plug in remotely from some hotel in someplace and first thing we
do is install the latest version, not trusting our little memory stick
to actually contain the latest version. Every hour or so, while working
in said remote loc, we update the VC database.

This is not rocket science. It's quite trivial once you set up the
system to behave this way. You check something out, you work on it for a
while, then you check it back in. You made a few nightmarish changes
that were particularly ill-considered, you chuck them aside and request
this morning's version, before you got that brain-addled idea. It's
simple.

Takes you about an hour to set up, and then you can be as addled as I,
and without risking major income problems.

This is not complicated. I think that I have outlined the basic steps.
It does depend upon a box with a large amount of available storage. That
is for certain. Right-click My Documents then select Properties and see
what's there. In my case I do not store apps under My Documents, so I
have an additional directory or three to deal with, but it's not that
complicated.
Shove it all into the VC system of your choice and that's that. And
then, anytime you want to undo yesterday's mistakes, it's easy!

On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 12:16 PM, William Hindman <
wdhindman at dejpolsystems.com> wrote:

> ...me too!
>
> William