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What is the process for upgrading the default tasks loaded by Microsoft in an on-premises TFS with no internet connectivity?

According to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/vsts/build-release/tasks/ there are several tasks now available and supported in TFS v2015-2018/VSTS that do not appear in my TFS 2017u2 installation (specifically the Download Secure File task).

The default tasks are not shown in the Manage Extension screens and the git repo (https://github.com/Microsoft/vsts-tasks) does not appear to have any instructions for how to package and install the latest versions in an existing TFS.

pwil301
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2 Answers2

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Download Secure File this task is not support by TFS2017 update2 for now.

enter image description here

In the right of the task, there is a column called Versions which stands for the supported TFS version and VSTS for now.

I use TFS on-premises and I don't see some of these features. Why not?

Some of these features are available only on VSTS and not yet available on-premises. Some features are available on-premises if you have upgraded to the latest version of TFS.

Source Link

The task you need is only available/build-in with VSTS by now.

However, this task is open sourced, you could find it here. You could also build it and package it as normal extension. Take a look at below steps for your reference:

  1. Globally install typescript and tfx-cli (to package VSTS extensions): npm install -g typescript tfx-cli
  2. From the suitable of the repo run npm install. This will pull down the necessary modules for the tasks and for the build tools.
  3. Run npm run build to compile the build tasks or build a specific task (recommended): node make.js build --task ShellScript
  4. Run npm run package -- --version <version> to create the .vsix extension packages (supports multiple environments) that includes the build tasks.

With the .vsix files, you are easy to directly upload the extension. Details about this area, you could refer here:

Besides, even you have published the extension to your TFS successfully, this task may not compatible with your present version, just Giulio said, you could create a test first. Certainly, you could also create your own extension as your demands.

Community
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PatrickLu-MSFT
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  • Thanks @PatrickLu-MSFT! I'm embarassed that I missed the right column showing compatibility. I only looked at the VS versions listed at the top of the page. Thank you especially for the instructions to build a single task. I'll plan on testing the capability with our on-prem TFS install and modifying the source if needed.I got lost trying to figure out how the dependencies were being routed in the libraries. e.g. the Download Secure Files task references common/securefiles-common and I didn't know if I needed to include that whole subtree in a custom task. – pwil301 Feb 21 '18 at 13:42
  • I got to point 4 in the list above, and the response in the console was: 5.6.0 I dont see any .VISX files in the folder. – evolmonster Feb 19 '20 at 17:08
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Look at the Contribute page: it is a bit cryptic if you are not familiar with Javascript tooling.

CAVEAT: there is no guarantee that an update Task works with your TFS version and rolling back a change is a non-trivial task. Use, at least, a separate Collection to test changes.

Giulio Vian
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