Generic export/import functionality

[imp]

I was toying with the backend framework and wanted to run some tests with the synthetic fairly large repo. I thought that I might have a reference set of changes that I can reproducibly load into the repo, but it looks like there is no functionality like that at the moment (of course there is a chance I just didn't look hard enough, I would love to stand corrected).

So I thought it might be beneficial to have generic export functionality paired with the import.
What I mean by that is that I want to take an existing jj repo and export its content into some generic representation, not necessarily tied to the actual backend used by that repo. And than be able to load (import) those changes into another repo, which may or may not have the same type of the backend.

I can think of a few interesting use cases where such functionality may be useful, first of all of course that can be used in various tests to quickly reproduce/generate various scenarios.
Also this might be useful for migrating repos between different backends.

Is that something that could be interesting for the wider audience?

[icorbrey]

So essentially a native version of `git patch`?

…

On Wed, Jul 30, 2025, 8:31 AM Cyril Plisko ***@***.***> wrote: I was toying with the backend framework and wanted to run some tests with the synthetic fairly large repo. I thought that I might have a reference set of changes that I can reproducibly load into the repo, but it looks like there is no functionality like that at the moment (of course there is a chance I just didn't look hard enough, I would love to stand corrected). So I thought it might be beneficial to have generic export functionality paired with the import. What I mean by that is that I want to take an existing jj repo and export its content into some generic representation, not necessarily tied to the actual backend used by that repo. And than be able to load (import) those changes into another repo, which may or may not have the same type of the backend. I can think of a few interesting use cases where such functionality may be useful, first of all of course that can be used in various tests to quickly reproduce/generate various scenarios. Also this might be useful for migrating repos between different backends. Is that something that could be interesting for the wider audience? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#7130>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AEUE7TFJL6CUEKG4JWMWYN33LC3JRAVCNFSM6AAAAACCWY7JZ2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43ERDJONRXK43TNFXW4OZYGY2TKNRZGQ> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[joyously]

It seems like it would be related to Native remote for centralized VCS interop.
Other VCSs have fast-import and fast-export that are used to convert between them. I have taken a repo from SVN to Git to Darcs and Pijul. It might be that Git is the common denominator, though.

[PhilipMetzger]

Issue 2700 is related since that proposes a general patch importing/exporting functionality.

[imp]

#2700 ? That looks unrelated

[PhilipMetzger]

sorry I meant #2702