Branching and Merging
Consider some challenges team members typically face when they work on a software project that is staffed by more than five or ten people:
The group has a few (or maybe several) different feature teams, each working on a set of functionality that is reasonably discrete. But each team also depends on functionality built by other teams. You need to isolate the risk of the changes introduced by the work done in each of these teams, and yet eventually, you need to merge all their efforts together into one product.
The test team needs a stable version of the code to test, and yet simultaneously, the developers need to continue moving forward with new features that will occasionally destabilize the product.
The software has two previous versions and one current version in progress. Even though most of the development effort is invested in the current version, the previous versions must still be supported with occasional releases of service packs, critical fixes and security patches, and other changes.
In This Section
This section describes the branching and merging tools provided by Team Foundation version control to enable you to meet these and other challenges faced by groups of people who collaborate on a software project.
Branch Folders and Files
Explains the procedure used to create branches by using Team Foundation version control.Branch Strategically
Your team can create and use branches in version control to optimize your application development strategy.Merge Folders and Files
Explains the procedure used to merge branches by using Team Foundation version control.View Where and When Changesets Have Been Merged
Explains how to view and work with actionable diagrams that illustrate where and when merges have occurred.View the Branch Hierarchy of a Team Project
Explains how to view and work with an interactive diagram that illustrates the branch hierarchy of your team project.Associate a File Type with a Merge Tool
Describes the steps used to specify the file type extensions associated with merging.
Reference
Team Foundation Version Control Command-Line Reference
Related Sections
Comparing Folders and Files
Explains how to compare or diff files, folders, and shelvesets.Resolving Folder Differences and File Conflicts
Lists topics about how to resolve merges, check in procedures, and get retrieve conflicts.
See Also
Tasks
View Version Control File and Folder Properties