TFS: Labels vs Changesets

laconicdev picture laconicdev · Jun 5, 2009 · Viewed 45k times · Source

I am trying to come up with best practices regarding use of TFS source control. Right now, anytime we do a build, we label the files that are checked into the TFS with the version number. Is this approach better or worse than simply checking the files in and having the version number in the comments? Can you then use the changeset to go back if necessary or the labels are still more versatile?

Thanks!

Answer

Alex picture Alex · Jun 5, 2009

They have two different purposes, ChangeSets are when the files have actually changed and you wish to keep a permanent record of that change. Labels mark a certain version of the files so that you can easily go back to that point. Unless your build actually changes files under source control and you wish to record these changes. You should be labeling.

Also, labeling is much less resource intensive. And you can have multiple labels on the same version of a file.