commit: c3daa2c10b7ee813f989d21d89cb6072029e0e02
parent 9450f633dfa27a2995a49f05ab263e38251d6c22
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2024 21:29:01 +0100
I fucking hate Google employees, bootlicking rich cowardly fucks
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diff --git a/content/blog/2024-12-10-Daily-driving-jujutsu.md b/content/blog/2024-12-10-Daily-driving-jujutsu.md
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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 -t <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 <abbr 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
