Team Development with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server

get the benefit of the stabilization changes you made prior to release. After a final release
build has been created, you can merge the changes from the Release branch back into
your Development and Main (integration) branches.
Additional Resources
• For an introduction to branching and merging, see “Branching and Merging Primer”
at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa730834(VS.80).aspx
• For more information about branching, see “How to: Branch Files and Folders” at
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181425(VS.80).aspx
• For more information about merging, see “How to: Merge Files and Folders” at
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181428(VS.80).aspx
• For additional descriptions of how to branch and merge in Visual Studio 2005, see
“Branching and Merging Team Foundation Source Control” at
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181423(VS.80).aspx
How to Use Branching to Maintain a Previous Release
Use maintenance branches to support previously released builds. This is very similar to
branching for release, but at this point the branch is maintained over time in order to
support the release.
The following is an example of what your branch structure might look like after you have
released your application and maintain a branch to support the release:
• Main – Integration Branch
o Source
o Other Asset Folders
• Releases – Container for release branches
o Release 1 – Maintenance Branch
• Source
• Other Asset Folders
Keep the following recommendations in mind when working with a maintenance branch:
• When to branch – After you have released, support the release with a branch in
the Releases folder.
• When not to branch – If you will never need to maintain the release, you can use
a label to mark the old released build and continue work in the main branch.
• Permissions on branch – Assign read/write permissions to developers working
on hot fixes, and read-only permissions to everyone else.
• Build frequency in branch – The builds are performed on-demand.
• Testing focus in branch – Sign off on release.
You should use maintenance branches to support an older version of your application.
You might choose to merge these changes into your Main (integration) branch, or leave
them specific to the maintenance branch.