HYGEN Blog

Microsoft TFS VS Subversion (SVN)

January 17th, 2011 | by admin |

TFS VS SVN

The purpose of this document is aid choosing a source control management system (SCM). Two source control / version control systems will be compared and evaluated – Microsoft TFS and Subversion (SVN). A decision matrix is a widely used method for making unbiased decisions especially when choosing software products or systems.

This evaluation is intended for managers and requires intermediate technical knowledge.

Criterion

Explanation of the various criteria by which the source control solution should be judged.

1. Visual Studio Integration
   Most back-end development at [XXX] is done within Microsoft Visual Studio (VS), hence tight integration with VS is very important.
2. Other Integration
   For any development or files stored / edited outside of Visual Studio, integration is important so that these other files can be managed by source control. Examples include, web designers using Dreamweaver and PhotoShop.
3. Features
   Of 10 major features studied, TFS met all 10 and SVN 8 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_revision_control_software#Features). This decision matrix’s purpose if purely to compare source control features, so no other features are to be taken into account.
4. Popularity
   Popularity is important because the wider the adoption and usage of a technology the more likely and easy it becomes when working with 3rd parties. Subversion is currently the most popular version control system and as such more likely to be supported and used by any 3rd parties.
5. X Platform
   Aside from Visual Studio (on Windows) which is used by developers many files that require source control are created and edited on other systems, especially Apple Macs. Cross platform support is best achieved with SVN which runs on Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac as opposed to TFS which only runs on Windows.
6. Support & Updates
   Considering both paid and free support options, including community forums, commercial support packages, product version updates etc.
7. Costs
   Subversion is free as in “free beer” and TFS is $500 a user. Updates and support also have associated costs with TFS although there is a level of support online from community users.

Options

A) Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS)

Team Foundation Server (commonly abbreviated to TFS) is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects. It is available either as stand-alone software, or as the server side back end platform for Visual Studio Team System (VSTS).

B) Subversion (SVN)

Apache Subversion (often abbreviated SVN, after the command name svn) is a software versioning and a revision control system founded and sponsored in 2000 by CollabNet Inc. Developers use Subversion to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages, and documentation. Its goal is to be a mostly-compatible successor to the widely used Concurrent Versions System (CVS).

Results

TFS VS SVN Results