Version control software for MS Access

[Jim Franklin]

Hi,

I have a number of Access databases shared across several different machines
(couple of desktops, laptop etc.) I would like to implement some version
control software to make sure I am never making changes to more than one
copy of a db at a time. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I have used Visual SourceSafe and found it to be somewhat unreliable
(especially using the Access Add-on). I also don't need the ability to
excercise version control at the individual access objects level, just the
file itself.

Can anyone tell me what is the best software to use?

Many thanks,

Jim

 

[Klatuu]

Don't know of any other than VSS. You can just add the mdb file to VSS
rather than use it at the object level. That way you check in or out the
entire mdb.

 

[david]

SVN is a better version of VCS. It has a complex and unhelpful
branching and merging system, but it is cross-platform, and faster
than VSS, which is very old.

Apart from the Access Add-on, which you rightly condemn, did you
have any problems with VSS?

(david)

 

[Jim Franklin]

Hi David,

I don't recall having problems with VSS until we used the Access Add-on.
Then big problems!

I have never used SVN, although heard good things about it. Is it easy to
use and would you recommend it over VSS for simple file version control?

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it,

Jim

 

[david]

use and would you recommend it over VSS for simple file version control?

I don't really think there is much to choose between them for simple
file version control.

In Windows, it is common to use the Tortoise client for Subversion.

Tortoise and Subversion are free. VSS is old, and SVN is cross-platform,
so neither really feels like a modern Windows application. SVN is
better than PVCS: they are particularly proud of the fact it does
folder-based versioning, which VSS already did 15 years ago.

It's more like, would you rather use a Win 3.11 application, or a Linux
application? (I exaggerate).

Tortoise and Subversion are free, so if that's a consideration, I would
choose Tortoise/SVN.

SVN does Internet/WAN for free: VSS needs a third party add-in,
if you can still find it.


We never had any problems using VSS. I guess I still think VSS is easier
to use for keeping track of multiple files and interlocking projects, but
I don't think that will make much difference for simple mdb's.

(david)

 

[Jim Franklin]

Thanks David - I appreciate all the advice. A client has a copy of VSS which
he doesn't use and has offered me for next to nothing, so am going to go
with that.