Version Compatibility for Team Foundation Build
Before you install or upgrade Team Foundation Build, Team Foundation Server, or Team Explorer, you should review the compatibility issues between different versions of these components. For example, you cannot use a version of Team Foundation Build that is older or newer than the version of Team Foundation Server that you are using. In addition, some features of Team Foundation Build are not available or behave differently if you use a version that is older or newer than the version of Team Explorer that is running on your client computer.
Versions of Team Foundation Build and Team Foundation Server
For an application-tier server to communicate with a build computer, the version of Team Foundation Server that is running on the server must match the version of Team Foundation Build that is running on the build computer.
If you are running the Visual Studio Team System 2008 version of Team Foundation Server on the application-tier server, you cannot run the Visual Studio 2005 Team System version of Team Foundation Build on the build computer.
If you are running the Visual Studio 2005 Team System version of Team Foundation Server on the application-tier server, you cannot run the Visual Studio Team System 2008 version of Team Foundation Build on the build computer.
Using an Older Version of Team Explorer with a Newer Version of Team Foundation Server
If your client computer is running the Visual Studio 2005 Team System version of Team Explorer, it can connect to a server that is running the Visual Studio Team System 2008 version of Team Foundation Server. With this configuration, you can use the Visual Studio Team System 2008 version of Team Foundation Build, but you should consider the following limitations:
You can use the Visual Studio 2005 Team System version of Team Explorer to start a build, view a list of completed builds, view the build report for a build, change the build quality, and create a build type.
If you create a build type, the Visual Studio Team System 2008 version of Team Foundation Server automatically imports the type into the list of build definitions in source control. You can then view the type in the Visual Studio Team System 2008 version of Team Explorer.
You cannot use the Visual Studio 2005 Team System version of Team Explorer to queue a build, view the list of builds in the queue, view the list of build agents, or manage the build agents.
The Visual Studio 2005 Team System version of Team Explorer uses the information in the TFSBuild.proj file to start a build. This file is located in the $/<TeamProject>/TeamBuildTypes/<BuildTypeName> folder. The Visual Studio Team System 2008 version of the TFSBuild.proj file includes the same properties as the Visual Studio 2005 Team System version so that you can use the older version of Team Explorer to start a build. However, the newer version of the file also has comments that indicate which properties are obsolete for build definitions.
If you update properties in the TFSBuild.proj file that is stored in the Visual Studio Team System 2008 version of Team Foundation Server, your changes are not updated in the Visual Studio 2005 Team System database.
You can use TFSBuild.exe to start, stop, and delete builds.
Using a Newer Version of Team Explorer with an Older Version of Team Foundation Server
If your client computer is running the Visual Studio Team System 2008 version of Team Explorer, it can connect to a server that is running the Visual Studio 2005 Team System version of Team Foundation Server. With this configuration, you can use the Visual Studio 2005 Team System version of Team Foundation Build with the following limitations:
You cannot create a build definition.
The list of build definitions appears in the $/<TeamProject>/TeamBuildTypes folder in the Builds node in Team Explorer.
You cannot queue a build, manage build agents, or view the list of builds in a queue.
You cannot filter builds in Build Explorer.
When you start a build, you cannot specify any options in the Queue Build dialog box.
You cannot use the user interface for Team Explorer to stop a build, delete a build, or manage build qualities.
You can use TFSBuild.exe to start, stop, and delete builds.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Set up and Install Team Foundation Build
How to: Create and Manage Build Agents
How to: Create a Build Definition
How to: Edit a Build Definition
How to: Create or Remove Build Qualities
How to: Delete a Build Definition
Concepts
Understanding Team Foundation Build Configuration Files