Compare PureCM
VSS is a basic version control tool from Microsoft, which is mainly used by smaller shops. The tool is designed to control file-based revisions, but does not provide sufficient support for task-based and parallel development. See how PureCM compares to VSS:
| Subversion | Visual Source Safe | PureCM |
|
|---|---|---|---|
Project Visibility |
Folder view
No link between branches or labels
Different clients needed
Command line interface
No tracking of ongoing file changes
Changelists to separate tasks in a workspace
|
Folder view
No link between branches or labels
Windows only GUI
No command line interface
No tracking of ongoing file changes
Individual file-based checkins only
|
Streams and folder view
Stream hierarchy view
Cross-platform GUI with task-specific views
Command line interface
Live file change tracking
"My changesets" to separate tasks in a workspace
|
Parallel Development |
Changesets and atomic commits
No support for checkpointing
Braches are cheap file and folder copies, but not supporting live merge tracking
Merging via workspace only
No visual folder diff
Limited refactoring support
|
Individual file checkins, no atomic commits
No support for checkpointing
Branches are physical file and folder copies, bloating the repository
Merging of individual file changes only
No visual folder diff
No refactoring support
|
Changesets and atomic commits
Shelving to checkpoint unfinished changes
Stream inheritance, enabling live merge tracking based on merge paths
Merging via workspace or directly on the server using Quick Merge
Visual stream/folder diff
Full refactoring support
|
Distributed Development |
Server connection via TCP/IP or HTTPD
No revisioning capability without server connection
Proxy Server available via Apache HTTPD (WebDAV) server
|
Windows folder share
No revisioning capability without server connection
No repository replication for distributed teams
|
Server connection via TCP/IP
Full support for local offline revisions, diffing, and rollbacks
Proxy Server available for distributed teams, offering LAN-speed repository access for read, diff and fetch operations
|
Issue Integration |
Only 3rd party integration with manual issue <-> changeset relationship
Java API for 3rd party integration
|
No integration of issue management
No APIs
|
Bi-directional issue integration, supporting issue merging
.NET and Java APIs for 3rd party integration
|
Security |
Manual setup of authentication needed
User/password
No support for access control lists
|
Active directory authentication
User/password
No support for access control lists and inheritance
|
Active directory authentication
User/password
Access control lists (ACL) for any hierarchy level
down to individual files, including inheritance
|
Platform Support |
Windows
Linux, Unix's Mac OS X |
Windows
|
Windows
Linux, Solaris Mac OS X |





PureCM