I’m not an expert on Solidworks, but our MEs use Solidworks here at work and I know that Solidworks includes its own version control system. The MEs here do not use Subversion because of this. A quick Google check shows Solidworks Workgroup PDM is the Solidworks way to do what you want (I’m sure there will be a software upgrade cost, but it sounds like it will pay for itself many times over…). I would highly suggest contacting a Solidworks rep and have them walk you through the Solidworks way of doing things (so that you can at least make an informed decision).
From the Solidworks Workgroup PDM propaganda: Easy to set up and use, SolidWorks® Workgroup PDM automatically captures file revision histories automatically and allows you and other members of your prod- uct design team to instantly access desired files, determine who has worked on them, and see exactly when changes were made. By accelerating time-to-market, SolidWorks Workgroup PDM helps your design team minimize errors and duplicated efforts.. SolidWorks Workgroup PDM provides an effective approach to securing files through vaulting – a simple, yet highly reliable and safe system for storing shared project files. Vaulting allows members of your design team to share files systematically, checking them in and out of the Vault one at a time to avoid the possibility of a team member accidentally overwriting a file or spending time working on the wrong file revision. Good Luck, JT Miller From: Eric Ahlstrom [mailto:eric.ahlst...@borsight.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2016 12:53 PM To: users@subversion.apache.org Subject: SVN compatibility question To whom it may concern, Sorry, I'm not a software developer so this message is not following the protocol for reporting bugs. Our company primarily deals with aircraft electronics integration. Software is a small part of our operations and our people have used Tortoise SVN successfully for years in that area. Our hardware department uses a popular CAD package called SolidWorks. Normally, this package allows us to build and document assemblies with parts automatically populating BOM's and reporting to multiple assemblies. In a standard file system, we can rename files, move them from one directory to another, restructure common part files, etc. all while SolidWorks maintains the links between these files and their associations. In an effort to maintain version control and prevent multiple users from editing the same file at the same time, we migrated all of our CAD files to Tortoise SVN. Now our assemblies routinely crash, hardware loses its associations randomly, BOM's collapse and have to be rebuilt, and renaming/reorganizing files requires incredibly complex work arounds. Essentially, a CAD user has to know every file association in advance of a move, open every association, and copy/rename/edit/delete dozens of files in specific combination and order. Often, 100 hour assemblies are corrupted and have to be remade from scratch. We are running 1.6.16.21511 and any attempts to upgrade to a newer version have crashed everything. Obviously, this version is out of date and at some point will no longer be available for new users. Please do not say we simply need to upgrade. We need some input from a party that understands how SolidWorks manipulates files. It seems that SolidWorks is fundamentally incompatible with SVN. If possible, could the SVN community tell us if this is the case? Does anyone know of another organization using SVN for SolidWorks PDM (product data management)? Thank you, Eric Ahlstrom R&D Manager Borsight Inc. 3525 Airport Road, Ogden, UT 84405 Mobile: (775) 302-6762 Fax: (801) 409-1487 eric.ahlst...@borsight.com<mailto:eric.ahlst...@borsight.com> http://www.Borsight.com<http://www.borsight.com/> This e-mail is proprietary, privileged or otherwise protected by law. The information is solely intended for the named addressee (or a person responsible for delivering it to the addressee). If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you are not authorized to read, print, retain, copy or disseminate this message or any part of it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and delete it from your computer.
