TFS 2017 Builds - Retain Indefinitely (Keep All)

Question

We moved to TFS 2017 (from TFS 2013 XAML builds) and the new build & release, but we mainly do windows apps. Q&A and some people are complaining about some functionality missing, for example, there is no way to specify to Keep All builds. I find it extremely strange this would not be possible. How can we do this?

I also looked into the Release part of it, but I don't see anything for Windows app. Besides, it seems that cannot keep releases indefinitely either...?

Answer 1

XAML and vNext are totally two different build system. The behavior is different for the new build system, there is no keep all option. You definitely couldn't use the old retention policy on XAML build for vNext.

If I mark a build or a release to be retained indefinitely, does the retention policy still apply?

No. Neither the definition's retention policy nor the maximum limits set by the administrator are applied when you mark an individual build or release to be retained indefinitely. It will remain until you stop retaining it indefinitely.

More detail about the policy please refer this tutorial: Build and release retention policies