Is there any way to hotfix the 260 character limit for the drop folders?

Question

Hello,

We've hit the 260 character limits of the drop folders in TFS 2010. I understand that it is because of legacy .NET base classes on which the process is based, but it can really get annoying and difficult to manage.

Is there any way this could be solved with a hotfix, or we need to wait for a next .NET and TFS version?

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Ce qui fonctionne ne peut qu'arrêter de fonctionner...

Answer 1

dcee,

Take a look at this post from Martin Woodward:
Publishing Builds to a Deep Drop Location
it is for TFS 2008 but if you want you can take the same approach and override the Default Build Definition Template and use RoboCopy for example to copy the files to the UNC location.

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Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help. --- Success, Damir

Answer 2

Yes, I've found this workaround, but it's still a workaround that implies modifying every build projects file and adding this, and if the directory moves, the manipulation will have to be made for every project file again.

When it's in the build configuration, it goes into the SQL database and modying that path gets really easy.

It just seems weird that this has not yet been adressed in TFS 2010 / .NET 4.0.

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Ce qui fonctionne ne peut qu'arrêter de fonctionner...

Answer 3

dcee,

If you use a single, centrally located build definition where you have implemented the handling of the long path in the Drop location you can reuse that Build Definition for all your builds in any Team Project (within the Project Collection).

What I meant by modifying the Build Definition is that you remove the standard workflow activity where the build output is being copied to the drop location and implement your own workflow activity with help of Robocopy. That single Build Definition you can then reuse overall.

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Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help. --- Success, Damir

Answer 4

Yes, it's a good workaround. But I'm still wondering if this is a problem that will stay or if it is patchable. I mean, we're in 2012 and I need to watch for my folder path length to my drop folders...

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Ce qui fonctionne ne peut qu'arrêter de fonctionner...

Answer 5

Hi Dcee

Thanks for your post.

This character limit is by default in TFS 2010, please refer to this document: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms245472.aspx.

As far as I know, there’s no any office hotfixes to resolve that limit. I suggest setting  your drop location path less than 259 characters.

For this scenario, you can submit it as a suggestion to User Voice site at: http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio. Microsoft engineers will evaluate them seriously.

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John Qiao [MSFT]
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