Visual SourceSafe integration possible?

Discussion in 'Mac Apps and Mac App Store' started by Thirteenva, Jun 7, 2004.

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  1. Thirteenva, Jun 7, 2004

    Thirteenva macrumors 6502a

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    #1
    The company I work for uses Visual SourceSafe source control for the asp.net web applications we build. As the front end developer I must integrate with source safe to retrieve files to my macs. Does anyone know of a client for mac vss integration? I've searched for over a year and have not found one.

    I know metrowerks had one for OS 9 but discontinued it. If this app runs in the classic environment, can i still acquire it somehow? Is it abandon-ware and can someone legally share it with me? (I have never come across it, not even on the P2P's)

    Since there is no virtual PC available for the G5 yet, my strategy at work has been to remote to the server where I use the source safe client to check files in and out. It becomes cumbersome however. Even more so when i work from home and I must go from my powerbook into the G5 at work with VNC, then use the MS RDC client from the G5 to the server. I'm using three machines just to check out a couple files...

    Dreamweaver for windows has had VSS support for all versions dating back to the "Ultra Dev" days but the mac version has never received it. It's rather unfortunate.

    Please don't recommend cvs. The decision to use SourceSafe was made long ago and it's an argument I lost then(as the only mac guy out of 4 developers) and I'm not willing to have it again. VSS integrates seamlessly with visual studio and they're not going to dump it.
     
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  2. Thirteenva, Jun 8, 2004

    Thirteenva thread starter macrumors 6502a

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    #2
    I know this is something thats fairly obscure but i was hoping somone would have some insight.
     
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  3. bousozoku, Jun 8, 2004

    bousozoku Moderator emeritus

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    #3
    I've kept track of such things and I've seen clients for practically everything else but VSS.

    Have you tried contacting Metrowerks to see if they have a referral for a VSS client?
     
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  4. pmd, Jun 8, 2004

    pmd macrumors member

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    #4
    Hmm, my first thought was SourceOffsite from www.sourcegear.com, but they don't do a Mac client. :-(

    Looks like I'm going to have to ignore your request... ;-)

    I've been using and supporting resource control systems for years, and VSS is truly, truly awful. Anything is better - anything. If the fact that it integrates with dev studio is your developers' key reason for using it, then, with all respect, they need their heads looked at.

    Perforce has a plugin for dev studio, though I've not got experience of that. They have a Mac client. Accurev also has a dev studio plugin, but their Mac client is unsupported (though they tell me it works well enough). Then there's Subversion, which is better than cvs, and also has a .Net plugin (http://ankhsvn.tigris.org/)

    So, every major RCS (apart from ClearCase perhaps) has a Mac client, and Dev studio/.net integration. Yet your developers are using the worst possible RCS for a completely dumb reason. I suggest you put on your asbestos underwear and approach them again :) I wrote a document explaining the advantages of my chosen RCS (Accurev) over VSS (which we were using for code, and still are for data for unfortunate reasons), and sent it to management. We switched a few months later (35+ seats) and haven't looked back.
     
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  5. Thirteenva, Jun 8, 2004

    Thirteenva thread starter macrumors 6502a

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    #5
    Got a reply on a newsgroup from a rep that they are not aware of anyone else that makes a VSS client. So metrowerks is useless. I'm still trying to find out if their vss 6 client runs in classic and trying to "locate" it somewhere <cough>p2p's</cough> but no one seems to have it.
     
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  6. Thirteenva, Jun 8, 2004

    Thirteenva thread starter macrumors 6502a

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    #6
    Your points are well made and noted. However it's unlikely we'll switch for any time to come. We have a couple reasons for using vss, the only one that pertains to this conversation is that with our limited time/money/resources VSS was the quickest easiest and most cost effective option. The company i work for is very small, and it works well for us(unless you're the only mac guy in the company).

    So again, while you're points are well taken they're wasted on my situation. I'm sure my company will choose to re-examine it's decision at a much later date but for now we will not. Quite frankly it's not worth my time to ask, their time to listen or either of our limited time and resources to research. In a company as small as ours, production is our primary focus.
     
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  7. bousozoku, Jun 8, 2004

    bousozoku Moderator emeritus

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    #7
    Sure, but they would have had to sell at least one copy and that wasn't likely. Also, it's most likely that they were using a Microsoft-created library to access the data but then, they were close to Microsoft for a little while. Microsoft probably licences to Macromedia a similar library.
     
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  8. iShater, Jun 8, 2004

    iShater macrumors 604

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    #8
    Not meaning to hijack the thread, but speaking of ClearCase, is there a Mac client? I'm deploying CC at work and I would be curious to know if I can use it on my iBook.
     
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  9. 3-22, Jun 8, 2004

    3-22 macrumors regular

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    #9
    VSS sucks maybe, just maybe Microsoft might update it one day. I'm just suprised they let one developer use a Mac.
     
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  10. Thirteenva, Jun 8, 2004

    Thirteenva thread starter macrumors 6502a

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    #10
    Development is not my primary focus, I am a graphic designer/web developer(I'm not a software developer but writing code is something I'm well versed in). My contribution on the development side has become less code intensive as we have other full time developers, but i still do front end development/integration on various asp.net web applications (thus my need for source safe).

    As for the reason they let me be the "token" mac guy, I came to this small company as a mac user, and even agreed to use my own computer and software(I was fully equipped as i had been previously freelancing/contracting) when I was first employed. When the time came to buy me a computer they knew I was a mac guy and was highly efficient on one, so it was a no brainer. Due to my various contributions as a graphic designer, flash developer, web developer, marketer, and IT they offered me a G5. Highly surprising considering my bosses are very much into Windows.

    So the short answer to your question... they don't let one developer use a mac, they let one employee use a mac.
     
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  11. oldMac, Jun 8, 2004

    oldMac macrumors 6502a

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    #11
    SourceOffSite Unix / Mac clients

    SourceGear, the maker of SourceOffSite has several Unix ports and a discussion group where they include discussion on compiling for MacOSX.

    I love SourceOffSite for Windows and think that SourceGear is missing a big niche opportunity by not providing a Mac client.

    So, jump on into their forums and tell them what you think!

    http://support.sourcegear.com/viewforum.php?f=23
     
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  12. bgt, Jun 8, 2004

    bgt macrumors newbie

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    #12
    Here's a snip of an email I received a few months ago from technical support at SourceGear in response to the same question:

    "Yes, we plan to release a Unix client later this year that would be supported on Mac OSX.

    In the meantime, we have an "unofficial" build that was provided to us by an SOS user who compiled a Mac Client from the source code of the SOS 3.5 Unix client."

    The binaries they provided did work for me on Panther. Contact them, they will hook you up.

    --bgt
     
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  13. Thirteenva, Jun 9, 2004

    Thirteenva thread starter macrumors 6502a

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    #13
    So far i have received no answer from them. Do you still have that mac binary they gave you?
     
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  14. oldMac, Jun 15, 2004

    oldMac macrumors 6502a

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    #14
    VSS from SourceGear Update

    SourceGear has updated their suppor forums on their site saying that they will be releasing a MacOS X client later this year as version 4.1 of the SourceOffSite client!

    Let's cross our fingers.
     
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  15. shadowhero, Apr 25, 2005

    shadowhero macrumors newbie

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    #15
    SourceAnyWhere

    Hi all, I find SourceAnyWhere from DynamSoft is very ideal. It is a VSS remote access tool similar with SourceOffSite in the market, but I personally prefer SourceAnyWhere. Searching by google, I've got a very detailed comparison among three similar products in the market at http://www.bettervssremoting.com

    We are now evaluating SourceAnyWhere, and impressed by its very fast and reliable performance. It enables us to access our remote VSS database from Mac, Linux and any other platforms at very amazing speed, which meets our need of cross-platform development enviroment.

    All in all, SourceAnyWhere is ideal for our company indeed.
     
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