commit: ab855ee92162f86873eb95d1b8feee5be3787ba8
parent 0a64a199dee22cf4137ac3164b931814deab67e5
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:05:12 +0100
I daily drive jujutsu
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+---
+title: I'm daily driving Jujutsu, and maybe you should too
+date: 2024-12-10
+---
+
+I'm not the first to write about how [Jujutsu][0] won me over. I've seen it off
+and on, and each time it came across my feed it was bumped a bit higher in my
+"list of things to look at eventually". It finally reached the top spot, I
+think, when I saw [Tony Finn's post][1] and made some time for it that week. I
+was skeptical; jj is one of many git-but-not-git tools currently and previously
+on my "list", and I have kept an open mind but ultimately have always been
+underwhelmed by such endeavours.
+
+[0]: https://martinvonz.github.io/jj/latest/
+[1]: https://tonyfinn.com/blog/jj/
+
+Jujutsu is a version control system. They aim to be independent at some point
+but for now it is a heady frontend on top of git (a big advantage -- all of your
+existing git repos and tools are trivially compatible with it). Like many other
+tools in this niche, the jj pitch begins from the thesis that git's user
+interface is bad. Every time I've heard this pitch, for jj or otherwise, my
+enthusiasm has rapidly waned. I really like git! I think that its internals are
+the platonic ideal version control system and its porcelain[^porcelain] makes a
+lot more sense if you grok its internals -- though indeed I would agree that the
+porcelain is far from perfect.
+
+[^porcelain]: The user-interface, as contrasted from the internals -- the "plumbing". Ha ha ha.
+
+Every not-git VCS I have evaluated over the past few years have soured me by
+answering the "git's user interface is bad" premise with "and therefore we
+should simplify it to the lowest common denominator", which is to say, "we are
+taking all of your toys away, power user, for the sake of the noob". I began to
+explore Jujutsu expecting to find more of the same. Where
+<abbr title="Jujutsu">jj</abbr> differs, however, from the other not-gits, is
+that it begins from "git's user interface is bad" and follows with "but you,
+power user, *your workflow is the correct way to use git*, and our raison d'être
+is to make it easier." Wow! Consider me flattered, and intrigued.
+
+As a git power user, I rely heavily on [git rebase] to edit my git history as I
+work, frequently squashing and splitting and editing commits as I work, and I
+used "stacked diffs" without branches [before it was cool][previously]. jj makes
+every part of my workflow easier and faster. Enough ink has been spilled
+presenting jj in depth, so instead I'll just share with you an anecdote of
+my "wow" moment with Jujutsu.
+
+[git rebase]: https://git-rebase.io
+[previously]: https://drewdevault.com/2020/04/06/My-weird-branchless-git-workflow.html
+
+One day I was working on a large-ish change. I had written a few commits over
+the course of the day towards this end. However, I noticed that I had overlooked
+something in a commit three or four commits earlier. So I touched up the
+relevant code and then ran `jj squash -i <commit ID>` to squash the changes into
+the earlier `<commit ID>`. This command fires up an interface similar to git add
+-p, which interactively presented me with hunks out of my working directory to
+choose from. I found the one I wanted, selected it, then dismissed the
+interactive thingy with a quick keystroke. And it was done!
+
+There are some hidden details in this story that I want to draw your attention
+to. When I edited this earlier commit, I was in the middle of working on
+something else and I *hadn't committed or even staged it*. I did not run git
+stash, nor git commit -m"WIP", nor git add, nor git checkout, nor git rebase, at
+any point. The only command I ran was jj squash.[^log] When it was done, I was
+returned immediately to where I left off, with a half-written, uncommitted
+change in my workdir. It took all of two seconds to complete this operation and
+pick up where I left off.
+
+[^log]: A white lie: I also ran jj log to remind myself of the change ID that I wanted to edit.
+
+The "wow" moment came when I realized that I had done this several times that
+day without finding it particularly remarkable. Jujutsu makes editing history
+absolutely effortless.
+
+Before I add any further breathless praise for jj, I will note three criticisms.
+
+First, jj lacks any first-class support for the [git send-email][gse] workflow
+that I depend on for almost all of the projects I work on. Second, jj lacks a
+"jj grep" command, and the [recommended workaround][workaround] is Not Good™. I
+work around both problems by using jj with a co-located git repo at all times,
+which causes jj and git to share the same repository in the same directory and
+allows for either git(1) or jj(1) to be used as the need demands.
+
+[gse]: https://git-send-email.io
+[workaround]: https://martinvonz.github.io/jj/latest/git-comparison/#command-equivalence-table
+
+I would have contributed patches to address these shortcomings if it were not
+for my third criticism, which addresses the elephant in the room: Jujutsu is a
+Google employee's "20% project", and thus all contributors are required to sign
+the Google <abrr title="contributor license agreement">CLA</abbr> to
+participate. I refuse to sign any such thing and [so should you][cla]. I have
+[raised the issue on GitHub][cla discussion] but it hasn't attracted any sort of
+official response. This stiffly limits my enthusiasm for the project and any
+kind of collaboration. I would be very excited to work on Jujutsu, and in
+particular explore some very interesting possibilities regarding integrations
+with SourceHut and email generally, if it weren't for this problem.
+
+[cla]: https://drewdevault.com/2023/07/04/Dont-sign-a-CLA-2.html
+[cla discussion]: https://github.com/martinvonz/jj/discussions/4849
+
+Nevertheless, I have adopted jj as my daily driver for private use, and if and
+when the need arises I will maintain [some personal patches][my tree] until the
+Google problem goes away. Feel free to email me your own patches if you want to
+share them around but don't want to sign the CLA, either.
+
+[my tree]: https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/jj
