I created a build definition using the TFS 2013 build process template "TfvcTemplate.12.xaml". I'm using the default retention policy, which is to keep the latest 10 builds. However, nothing gets deleted in my drop location and in my TFS history. Builds just keep on accumulating. Could anyone give me pointers on how to troubleshoot this?
Tks
Policies configuration
Build history
Related
We work with TFS 2015 and it works really great. We have two different build sets one for our production environment and one for our test environment. We also use CI. Our current workflow is that we "Queue build..." and then everything is done automatically.
What we would like to accomplish on our production build is one of the following:
On "Queue build..." the person has to acknowledge the build or
You have to somehow start the queue manually, so the queue build doesn't start automatically
Don't use builds for deployment. If you're on TFS 2015 RTM or Update 1, upgrade to TFS 2015 Update 2 (or, ideally, TFS 2017 Update 1). Starting in TFS 2015 Update 2, there is a Release hub that has exactly the kind of capabilities you're asking for. It allows you to define a release pipeline for the binaries generated by a build, where you can put optional approval requirements in place prior to a deployment occurring on a given environment.
We used to get notification from the tray of our windows machine for a finished build while using the xaml build definitions, it also had an option to reconcile workspace. The same functionality is not available for the vNext builds.
The BuildNotification App is available with VS 2015, but it seems that the reconcile workspace is not available with the vNext build. Is there some other app that can give a notification and do the reconcile operation?
We just moved to new builds (vNext) and are missing this feature as well.
Currently, we can do this manually via IDE (VS 2015):
Team Explorer -> Builds
Right click on latest build with you changes -> "Reconcile Workspace..."
The BuildNotificationApp is still a part of the VS 2015 and can be found here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\BuildNotificationApp.exe. However, this app only applied to XAML build.
For now, to workaround the missing feature, you can use a free build status tool Catlight . It also shows status of vNext builds in tray area.
As for reconcile workspace, there is no this build-in feature for vNext build. However, you can manually use tf reconcile command for your workspace. Such as below screenshot:
Update:
If you just want a simple app or vs extension to achieve it, there is no these things for now. You may have to customize your own extension to implement it.
Update2:
I have created a feature request in uservoice:
Reconcile Workspace for vNext Build
https://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/330519-team-services/suggestions/15979690-reconcile-workspace-for-vnext-build
You can use AnyStatus to monitor both vNext and XAML builds.
AnyStatus comes with a feature called Triggers which lets you run a program or a batch script in response to status changes. Using Triggers you can configure it to run "tf.exe reconcile" when the build status changes from Running to OK.
Disclaimer: I am the author of Any Status.
I'm recently working with TFS 2015. I've realized that Microsoft has introduced a new way to configure TFS build pipelines which I think it is very intuitive.
Anyone knows if there is a mechanism to export or save these build configuration?
I think that it would be very useful to have the configuration into the versión control.
Thus, a user could review the history about how the pipeline has been changed. Also it would be possible to clone the build pipeline into another TFS continuous integration server.
Thanks!
Into source control? No. But go look at the "History" view on any build definition, it will show you exactly what you want: A full revision history of the build definition.
I use Visual Studio 2015 and TFS 2012. In Team Explorer, it is possible to manage Builds and Build Definitions. Since VS2015, the section Build Definitions is named "XAML Build Definitions". I would like to put xaml build definitions in source control. Problem is I cannot find the build definition files on disk. Anyone knows where they are ?
Thanks
You can download build process template and add it into source control, but you can't version-control build definitions.
In the new build system coming with TFS 2015 you can see the full history of the changes to your build definition. The feature that is currently missing is the ability to undo or rollback to a previous revision. Check https://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/330519-team-services/suggestions/2037625-provide-a-way-to-version-control-build-definitions
Just in case anyone needs to access the XAML Build Definitions parameters. They are saved in the TFS database, table: [dbo].[tbl_BuildDefinition].
I would like to upload on my TFS 2015 some of the build tasks that are available here https://github.com/Microsoft/vso-agent-tasks.
I do have a problem with certain task as they do require a minimum agent version of 1.89.0. My build agents are 1.83.2 version.
Now, the question is, how do I update my agents for a given pool? If I do right click the agent pool on my TFS and choose update all agents option, nothing happens. I suppose because the latest version of my agent available on TFS is the 1.83.2.
Where can I find the latest version of it and how do I update it?
Note I'm working on premises TFS 2015 and not VSO.
Thanks
If you right-click the agent pool and choose "Update all agents", it will upgrade the agents to the version of the on-premise TFS server. For instance, if you initially installed some RC, and upgraded the server to RTM later, some agents might have lower version. Otherwise, as you mentioned, nothing will happen because all agents are up to date.
VSO has a different release model and updates/fixes to its agents are continuously delivered. That's why the version is constantly growing.
Technically it might be possible to grab the source code of the latest VSO agent tasks, and push it to the on-premise version of TFS 2015. However, it is considered an anti-pattern, and the behavior is undocumented and unsupported.
Let me quote build vNext developers from this discussion (see the bottom of the thread):
That is not a supported option. It is very likely that the agent we
have in VSO will not work with the on-prem server. You must use the
version of the agent that ships with your server.
And:
The behavior is undefined/untested. It may work, may not. The design
is for agents to get pulled forward via an auto update process
downloaded from your service. The auto update process may alter
configs/layout on disk, whatever. That future agent might call REST
apis that don't exist, etc... The primary focus for agents is on
forward compat so they can lazily get upgraded (via task minimum agent
demand, on restart or eventually a scheduled job).
Same answer as #Yan, but putting this here because the following error came from nowhere - so I think Microsoft updated the minimum requirements this week.
No agent found in pool Default which satisfies the specified demands:
msbuild
visualstudio
Agent.Version -gtVersion 1.95.0
For your own hosted agent just right click on the queue, or click the ... icon.
I had to restart the agent service after a few minutes as it didn't seem to want to by itself. Give it a chance to update properly before doing this.