Solving Git's Pain Points with Jujutsu (with Martin von Zweigbergk)

Developer Voices

Git might be the most ubiquitous tool in software development, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. What if we could keep Git compatibility while fixing its most frustrating aspects—painful merges, scary rebases, being stuck in conflict states, and the confusing staging area?

This week we're joined by Martin von Zweigbergk, creator of Jujutsu (JJ), a Git-compatible version control system that takes a fundamentally different approach. Starting from a simple idea—automatically snapshotting your working copy—Martin has built a tool that reimagines how we interact with version control. We explore the clever algebra behind Jujutsu's conflict handling that lets you store conflicts as commits and move freely through your repository even when things are broken. We discuss why there's no staging area, how the operation log gives you powerful undo/redo capabilities, and why rebasing becomes trivially easy when you can edit any commit in your history and have changes automatically propagate forward.

Whether you're a Git power user frustrated by interactive rebases, someone who's lost work to a botched merge, or just curious about how version control could work differently, this conversation offers fresh perspectives on a tool we all take for granted. And if you're working with large monorepos or game development assets, Martin's vision for the future of Jujutsu might be exactly what you've been waiting for.

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Jujutsu (JJ): https://github.com/martinvonz/jj

Jujutsu Documentation: https://martinvonz.github.io/jj/

Git: https://git-scm.com/

Mercurial: https://www.mercurial-scm.org/

Rust: https://www.rust-lang.org/

Watchman: https://facebook.github.io/watchman/

Google Piper: https://research.google/pubs/why-google-stores-billions-of-lines-of-code-in-a-single-repository/

Kris on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/krisajenkins.bsky.social

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Kris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krisjenkins/