INFO: When -d Switch of Analyze Deletes Files

• Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0a
• Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, 32-bit, for Windows, version 5.0

SUMMARY

You can use the -d switch on Analyze.exe to delete unnecessary files from the database. This switch will not delete all unnecessary files, only those that meet a certain condition.

MORE INFORMATION

Under most circumstances, when you delete a file from a SourceSafe project it will delete the associated file pair from the SourceSafe database (usually the VSS\DATA directory.)

However, if a file is branched to another project and then deleted, SourceSafe does not delete the associated file pair from the database because it needs those files to maintain the history of the branched version.

Even when the branched version is subsequently deleted, its associated file pair is not deleted.

The only time the -d switch on Analyze will delete files from the SourceSafe database is when it detects a file that was involved in a branch at one point, and no branched versions of the file are now active (not deleted) in the project tree.

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q157984
   TITLE     : How SourceSafe Uses the DATA Directory

   ARTICLE-ID: Q139566
   TITLE     : ANALYZE5.EXE Utility for Visual SourceSafe