TFS copy build output to source control

2
votes

I have been working with a TFS project that supports copying build output to source control. If I open the build definition, this is under "Build Defaults". There is an option to copy build output to a source control folder.

I have just installed TFS Server 2013 (with update 2) and I want to use this feature with a new Team Project. However, if I create new build in VS 2012 or VS 2013 on the new server, I am not given the option to copy build output to source control. What gives?

I am not looking for a workaround, I want to know what to change so that my server acts like the first one I described. Thanks!

Screenshots of what I'm talking about: http://imgur.com/a/mhDNQ

3
visual-studio-2012tfsvisual-studio-2013tfsbuild
This begs the question, "why?" Build artifacts really shouldn't be source controlled. – Daniel Mann
Are you choosing the right template? – Just TFS
I'm intrigued, can you add a screen shot of the original please. – Just TFS
@DanielMann I know that. I'm trying to mimic the original project. – user3776518
If you know you shouldn't, and you don't have a reason to do it, then why are you doing it? – Daniel Mann

3 Answers

1
votes

This was a feature that was temporarily present in TFS, but I believe has since been removed. If I recall it was put in there specifically to support the cloud-hosted elastic build servers which didn't have access to network shares to drop the builds in.

Most people recommend against putting your build outputs into TFS. The best approach is to publish them to a NuGet feed.

In any case if you want to put your build outputs into TFS (or a NuGet feed) you'll have to modify the build workflow to do that yourself.

0
votes

Open a new build definition > process.

Under template select new and you should be able to choose project and folder. Find your original template and link it. Your option should appear.

0
votes

In TFS 2013 this has changed to be "store drops in TFS". When you select this option the drop I'd stored in a new inversioned store that you can access.

While you can easily get the files out as indecision or zips the built in tools like release management do not support it yet. I would recommend that you use this option but publish your assets to a nugget repository.

If your TFS is available online (VSO or https) then you can use MyGet to dynamically load the nugget packages that you are publish and make them available on a feed.

http://docs.myget.org/docs/how-to/use-tfs-online-git-with-myget-build-services