Migrate from TFVC to Git (FREE ALL)
Team Foundation Server (TFS), renamed Azure DevOps Server in 2019, is a set of tools developed by Microsoft which also includes Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC), a centralized version control system similar to Git.
In this document, we focus on the TFVC to Git migration.
TFVC vs Git
The main differences between TFVC and Git are:
- Git is distributed: While TFVC is centralized using a client-server architecture, Git is distributed. This translates to Git having a more flexible workflow since you work with a copy of the entire repository. This allows you to quickly switch branches or merge, for example, without needing to communicate with a remote server.
- Storage: Changes in a centralized version control system are per file (changeset), while in Git a committed file is stored in its entirety (snapshot). That means that it is very easy to revert or undo a whole change in Git.
For more information, see:
- Microsoft's comparison of Git and TFVC.
- The Wikipedia comparison of version control software.
Why migrate
Advantages of migrating to Git/GitLab:
- No licensing costs: Git is open source, while TFVC is proprietary.
- Shorter learning curve: Git has a big community and a vast number of tutorials to get you started (see our Git topic).
- Integration with modern tools: After migrating to Git and GitLab, you have an open source, end-to-end software development platform with built-in version control, issue tracking, code review, CI/CD, and more.
How to migrate
Migration options from TFVC to Git depend on your operating system.
- If you're migrating on Microsoft Windows, use the
git-tfstool. See Migrate TFS to Git for details. - If you're on a Unix-based system, follow the procedures described with this TFVC to Git migration tool.