Third Shelf

With our build process we decided on a deployment folder structure that required us to create NTFS Junction Points. Junction Points are links to other folders, also known as soft links. Below is an example of how these links appear in Windows 7. It also shows our deployment folders for various build types:

All the folders with shortcut arrows are junction points or links to folders in the Published folder. For each build, the binaries are copied to a build numbered folder in the Published folder. Only when a build is successful; meaning that all code compiled and unit tests passed; do we update the junction point to the relevant build numbered folder in Published.

By using the code written by Jeff Brown in this article, I was able to create a custom build task that enabled us to the create and delete junction points with relative ease. Here is a link to the source code for an MsBuild task that will enable you to manage junction points with MsBuild.