SSARC

SSARC.EXE and SSrestor.exe together constitute the VSS Archive utility. This combination:

Allows a user to archive files, projects, or old versions from a VSS database, and restore them at a later date if necessary.
Allows wide area VSS installations to move files and projects among databases.
The ability to move information from one database to another is crucially important, especially for the largest users of VSS, which are the most likely to need to use more than one database.

Syntax

SSARC [-d] [-v] [-s] [-c] [-o] [-i-] [-y] [-x] <archive file to create> <files/projects to archive>

The following table describes command-line options available with this command.

Option	Description
[-d]	Deletes the archived items from the database.
[-d-]	-d- controls whether VSS actually deletes anything from the database. If this parameter is not used, the default is to ask.
[-v]	Specifies a version number to archive (standard VSS parameter).
[-s]	Specifies a path to SRCSAFE.INI and the data directory.
[-c]	Comment (standard VSS parameter).
[-o]	Redirects output (standard VSS parameter).
[-i-]	No input (standard VSS parameter).
[-y]	Username, Password (standard VSS parameter).
[-x]	Archive only deleted items in the files and projects specified in the files/projects to Archive parameter. (Deleted items are still stored in the VSS database unless the Destroy Permanently option was selected when performing the Delete operation.) Note that this parameter is not required on a subsequent restore.

Note VSS asks only once before it deletes the files, each time you run SSARC.EXE.

The –v option specifies a version, in standard VSS format (number, date or label). This is an important parameter. If not used, you archive off entire files or projects. When used, you archive off all versions up to and including the one specified here. Note that the archive utility is generally inclusive. That is, if you type –v9 you create an archive file that contains version 9.0 and everything before it. The delete pass is also inclusive; that is, version 9.0 is actually deleted unless it is a label. If that version is a label, the label is stored in the archive file, but is not deleted. If –v is specified, you never delete the current version, even if the specification is
–vd9/9/99. If you are using a label, and the label has a space in it, you must enquote the entire option (for example, “-vThisOne”).

The –s option allows the user to specify the path to SRCSAFE.INI and/or the Data path. The full syntax looks like the following:

-sc: \VSS, OldDB

The item before the comma is the full path to SRCSAFE.INI, and the item after the comma, if present, is the string in parentheses in a Data_Path setting. If there is no comma, the user is specifying a SRCSAFE.INI path but no data string. If the first character after the –s is a comma, the user is specifying a data string but no SRCSAFE.INI path.

Note Most users do not need this option. The SRCSAFE.INI file and SSARC.EXE are properly positioned during VSS installation.

The –c option is the standard VSS comment option. The comment is inserted into the VSS history, if the items are deleted from the database as part of the “archived” record. The comment is also inserted into the archive file itself, if there is one.

The –o and -i- options are standard VSS options.

As with SSRestor.exe, the –y option lets you specify the administrator’s password. For example:

-yAdmin, Bunny