Mastering the Jujutsu Megamerge Workflow

As a dedicated Jujutsu user, I've become increasingly reliant on the 'megamerge' workflow, a method that's surprisingly under-discussed outside of a few power users. This approach is invaluable, especially in complex development environments or when handling numerous small pull requests. At its core, a megamerge is an octopus merge commit that serves as the child of every branch you care about, from bug fixes to feature branches and even private commits. This setup ensures that your work is always based on the combined sum of all your efforts, minimizing merge conflicts and easing task switching.

Merge commits, contrary to popular belief, aren't special cases; they're just regular commits with multiple parents. In the megamerge workflow, you rarely work directly off branch tips. Instead, you create a megamerge that includes everything you care about, without pushing the megamerge itself—only the branches it comprises.

The benefits are significant: you work on the complete sum of your work, reducing merge conflicts and easing context switching. Keeping branches up-to-date becomes simpler with a single rebase command. Starting a megamerge is straightforward: create a new commit with each branch you want as a parent, leaving it empty to signify work in progress.

To incorporate changes into your megamerge, use the squash command to integrate them into the right downstream commits. Jujutsu's absorb command automates much of this process, identifying where each line or hunk belongs and squashing them accordingly. For new commits, rebasing is key, and Jujutsu's aliases make this process seamless.

Keeping your megamerge up-to-date with other contributors' changes can be challenging, but with the right revset alias, you can rebase only the commits you control. This ensures that your work remains current without affecting branches you don't own.

Jujutsu megamerges allow you to work on multiple streams simultaneously, providing a comprehensive view of your work without the need to push the megamerge itself. While it may not suit everyone, this workflow can significantly enhance productivity by reducing the effort needed to switch tasks.