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I have a small team of 4 developers. We have been using VSS with a single unbranched repo (decision of predecessor).

We have been playing with TFS cloud in hopes of creating a better solution. There is much to like about TFS cloud including agile tools.

But the enforced build management would be an impediment to our small agile team. We do quick builds to test mini features.

From what we've seen, TFS cloud cannot be used without build management. As an alternative, I have been reading and searching for information on local TFS Server. Here I cannot find an answer to my most basic question: Can we use TFS for source control without using its build management?

I would like to continue to build directly from our "build" machine without queuing builds remotely.

John Saunders
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Dave Alperovich
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  • What made you think you had to use their build? – John Saunders Nov 30 '12 at 19:34
  • when we deployed to TFS cloud, we were stopped from building from our build server. Even worse, TFS Cloud ran its own builds on every checkin. – Dave Alperovich Nov 30 '12 at 19:53
  • When I read up on TFS Server, the prevalent documentation indicated TFS would manage all builds. As I couldn't find any information to the contrary, I got concerned. – Dave Alperovich Nov 30 '12 at 19:55
  • See [Visual Source Safe Upgrade Tool for Team Foundation Server](http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/867f310a-db30-4228-bbad-7b9af0089282) – John Saunders Nov 30 '12 at 23:23

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You don't have to use TFS Builds if you don't want. You can use TFS for just source control and use anything you want for Builds. For example, lots of people use TFS for source code repository and Team City, Cruise Control, Hudson, etc for their build servers.

Dylan Smith
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  • Thanks Dylan. I really want to get away from Visual Source Safe. Knowing this, I feel comfortable investing time adopting TFS whatever the hassle! – Dave Alperovich Nov 30 '12 at 19:57
  • do you know if the same is true of TFS cloud? So far we've had no success and all signs point to TFS Cloud enforcing Build Management. – Dave Alperovich Nov 30 '12 at 20:14
  • TFS Cloud (aka TF Service) works the same way. You can use cloud-based TFS Build Servers, you can install on-premise TFS Build Servers to use in conjunction with the code repository in the cloud, or you can use no TFS Build Server whatsoever if you wish. – Dylan Smith Nov 30 '12 at 21:03
  • Dylan, thanx much. as much of a pain as TFS Service is, I suspect its worth it. – Dave Alperovich Nov 30 '12 at 21:30