How to force a TFS build number?

James Greene

Throughout my time on Cobalt, I have infrequently encountered a TFS build error saying "The build number '{YourBuild}_{x.y.z}' already exists for build definition". Does anyone know how to work around this by forcing a particular build number in TFS?

James Greene

Thanks to some helpful documentation from the CM team, it is actually very easy to work around this issue for yourself. When queuing a new build, simply add the following MSBuild Parameters (with an example build number of "1.2.3"):

/p:CustomBuildNumber=1.2.3;ForceStartNumber=true

Remembering this (or saving a link to it) can save time for both your development team and CM when this issue pops up!


Source: [CM Wiki page on "Build Numbering"][1], under the section entitled '"Forcing" a build number'


[1]: http://tfsnpt.int.thomson.com/Sites/Cobalt TFS Central/Team Wiki/Wiki Pages/Build Numbering.aspx