Lately I’ve been answering a lot of questions around backwards compatibility and upgradability of the various components in Visual Studio Team System. I sat down and put together a compatbility matrix with links to the various caveats and workarounds.
I don’t guarantee that this is 100% correct at the moment - but I think it’s a pretty good start and hopefully it will evolve over time as more blog posts appear.
| Products | VS 2005 | VS 2008 | TFS 2005 | TFS 2008 | Build 2005 | Build 2008 | TE 2005 | TE 2008 | Web Access | Power Tools | VS Addins |
| VS 2005 | - | Yes. Note #1 | Yes | Yes. Note #2, #3 | Yes. V8.0 SLN files build. | Yes. Note #2, #3 | Yes | Yes. Note #1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VS 2008 | - | - | Yes. Note #4, #5 | Yes | Yes. Note #5, #6 | Yes | Yes. Note #1 | Yes | No. Note #7 | Partial. Note #8, #9 | Partial. Note #8 |
| TFS 2005 | - | - | - | N/A | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| TFS 2008 | - | - | - | - | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes. Note #7 | N/A | N/A |
| Build 2005 | - | - | - | - | - | N/A | Yes | Yes. Note #5 | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Build 2008 | - | - | - | - | - | - | Yes. Note #2, #3 | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| TE 2005 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Yes. Note #1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TE 2008 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | No. Note #7 | Partial. Note #8, #9 | Partial. Note #8 |
| Web Access | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | N/A | N/A |
| Power Tools | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | N/A |
| VS Addins | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Notes
| Note #1 | You can install VS2005 and VS2008 side-by-side on the same machine. (See Aaron’s blog post below) |
| Note #2 | For an VS2005 client to start a build on an Orcas server, the build definition needs to be stored at $/<TeamProject>/TeamBuildTypes/<name> |
| Note #3 | VS2005 will be able to start a build, but it can’t queue a build, see the list of builds in the queue, see the list of build agents, etc. |
| Note #4 | A VS2008 client will not be able to create a new build definition on a TFS2005 server. Workaround: You could branch an existing build type in $/<TeamProject>/TeamBuildTypes/<name> |
| Note #5 | When starting a build, a VS2008 client will not be able to change any parameters in the dialog for a TFS2005 Server. |
| Note #6 | A Team Build 2005 server does not understand a VS2008 Solution File. Workaround: Changing the version number inside the SLN to Version 9.0. You will also need to copy the MSBuild directory V8.0 directory to V9.0. This could be done dynamically with a MSBuild task (See workaround below) |
| Note #7 | Team System Web Access (TSWA) relies on the TFS2005 Object Model. You must have Team Explorer 2005 installed on the server that has TSWA installed |
| Note #8 | The current TFS Power Tools (inc. Checkin Policy Pack) are compiled against the TFS2005 Object Model. VS2008 doesn’t support loading both object models within the same process, therefore any Power Tools or addins that get loaded in VS either need to be recompiled against the TFS 2008 object model or policy needs to be used to redirect references from the TFS 2005 assemblies to the TFS 2008 assemblies. (See Ed Hintz’s blog post below) |
| Note #9 | Non-VS add-in Power Tools (everything except the Process Template Editor, checkin policy pack and Annotate/TreeDiff) will work fine as long as the TFS 2005 Team Explorer is also installed. |
References
- Aaron Stebner - Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 Side-by-Side
- Brian Harry - Update on Team Foundation Server Roadmap (Compatibilty)
- Buck Hodges - Team Build Compatibility between 2005 and 2008
- TFS Now - Building .NET 3.5 Applications with Team Build 2005
- Ed Hintz - How to get the TFS Power Tool Check-in Policies for VS2005 to work with VS2008 (Orcas)
3 Comments
Grant, I just installed VS 2008 Team System in our environment and tried to connect it to our previous TFS 2005 server. It looks like the Team Explorer partially works, but when I try and map the workspaces or even view the projects under the Source Control Explorer window, the system freezes up. Any suggestions? I’ve created an empty project using Source Control Explorer in VS 2005 and am just trying to map it in my new 2008 project so that I can test how the source control capabilities will work with these two versions. Thanks in advance for your help.
I have vs2005 and te2005 and tfs2005 set up working correctly. I installed vs2008 and am unable to see team explorer in the visual studio. I unistalled TE2005 and installed it, still I dont see TE in visual studio. Does TE2005 work with VS2008 (TFS2005)? If yes, how can I make it work.
So, Team Explorer 2005 integrates only with VS2005 and Team Explorer 2008 integrates only with VS2008. I wish this was added to some docuementation or anyone firgured that earlier. Can you please update your matrix or add this to your Notes.
Thanks,
Pandu
4 Trackbacks
[...] to Grant Holliday’s blog for this fantastic post containing a VSTS 2005/2008 Compatibility [...]
[...] I’m using the brand new Visual Studio 2008 Team System with an existing Team Foundation Server 2005 setup, and I noticed that when I try to create a build definition, it won’t let me. I did some searching around and apparently VS2008 can’t create new build definitions if you’re using TFS 2005. The reference that I found was at Grant Holliday’s blog regarding the VSTS 2005 / 2008 Compatibility Matrix. [...]
[...] Grant Holiday 先生整理出一份 VSTS 2005 / 2008 Compatibility Matrix，雖然作者不敢保證 100% [...]
[...] Grant Holiday 先生整理出一份 VSTS 2005 / 2008 Compatibility Matrix，雖然作者不敢保證 100% [...]