Deployment of code which uses the Microsoft Team Foundation Server APIs

Question

What are the bare minimum requirements to deploy an exe that uses TFS APIs ?

I have a machine with a small C:(12GB with only 1GB left). I cannot install VSStudiio 2008 SP1 + Team Explorer + VSStudio SP1 SDK on that machine since SP1 requires C:\ (So does .NET 3.5 SP1). Any workarounds ??? Presently I get an exception: System.InvalidProgramException: Common Language Runtime detected an invalid program. at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client.TeamFoundationServer.get_HasAuthenticated()

It similar to issue: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/178619/invalidprogramexception-in-team-foundation-server-sample

Answer 1

There is no officially licensed redistributable package for the TFS API. So the minimum package is Team Explorer. I'd recommend VS SP1 as well to make sure you get all the bug fixes. Don't be scared -- the VS SP1 package looks huge and takes forever, but it will only patch whatever products are already present.

In general there are no per-machine licensing restrictions.* However, you need to ensure that all users who will access the service you've written have a valid CAL. (or you're using TFS Workgroup Edition, which does not require CALs)

In theory, you could experiment with copying just the assemblies you need and manually adding them to the GAC. But this is unsupported and technically violates the EULA.

BTW, you should be able to install any of the above to whatever directory / drive you like. Once you install a given VS product (say, Professional) then additional products (eg Suite, Team Explorer, etc) will insist on going to the same folder -- but that initial install should be configurable.

*not 100% true -- read the TFS 2008 licensing guide for complete details