Why do I have to move the main bookmark explicitly before pushing to a remote?

[halloleo]

I am reading through the jj for everyone tutorial. Working locally seems easy:

Developing stuff -- Committing with jj -- Developing stuff -- Committing with jj-- ...

But when it comes to pushing committed stuff to my remote, it seems like I need to do (after committing) two additional steps:

(Developing stuff -- Committing with jj) -- Moving main bookmark with jj-- pushing bookmark to remote with jj -- (Developing stuff -- Committing with jj) -- Moving main bookmark with jj -- pushing bookmark to remote with jj

Is this correct? And is there a way to combine these two safely? (I think when I push my changes I usually want to push the latest committed stuff and nothing older.)

Or do I miss something here? -- Thanks for any pointers!

PS: I saw #6832, but I am not sure whether that is about the same issue. They talk about pushing for a PR, but my concern is just normal pushing to my remote.

[jennings]

jj optimizes for a code review workflow:

• Create some commits and push them for review
• Amend those commits to address feedback
• Land those commits in the trunk, usually by pushing a button in GitHub/Gerrit/etc.

In this workflow, it's rare to need to move a bookmark after creating it. Usually, if you open a pull request, you don't need to add a new atomic change (a commit) in response to feedback. Instead, you amend the commits you already created and push updated versions of them.

If you are working alone and pushing directly to the main branch, then you'll need to explicitly move a bookmark (main) more often than expected.

On the other hand, because you don't need to create local bookmarks just to keep commits visible, you will possibly juggle bookmarks less often overall.

[halloleo]

jj optimizes for a code review workflow

Very insightful, @jennings!

On the other hand, because you don't need to create local bookmarks just to keep commits visible, you will possibly juggle bookmarks less often overall.

I don't really understand this.

When I am working on my own project (and that's what I use jj at the moment for) I'm keeping in the remote a quasi-backup. So I usually commit to the main branch - and consequently I do have to move the main bookmark before pushing my commit, right?

[jennings]

If you just commit linearly and don't have different work in progress then maybe you won't see a benefit.

I often work on multiple things at once, and I go down paths that don't pan out, so I make a lot of branches before I'm ready to push, and it's nice not having to create bookmarks (branch names).

[joyously]

There is a -c flag to auto-generate a bookmark for the push, and even a config knob to set the prefix to use.

[halloleo]

I see! Thanks!

I just checked: jj git push -c @- will do the trick, right?

I will need to try what the remote git repo then looks like: Is the comiit from the latest push than visible in the normal main branch? Will git clone <repo-url> then include my latest jj git push -c @-`?

[halloleo]

I just tried it: git clone <repo-url> will not include my latest changes. I have to do:

git clone -b <the-autogenerated-bookmark><repo-url>

I think this is not what I want... I guess moving the main bookmark fits better.

Have people put

jj bookmark move main --to @-
jj git push

together into a little script which is usual way to store their work? Any danger in this?

[joyously]

Read Find the closest bookmark in history to advance it forward to see various versions of the tug alias.

[jennings]

The -c flag is only useful if you want to push a new bookmark.

You're trying to update the main bookmark, so this isn't applicable to your situation.

[halloleo]

@joyously Thanks for the link: A good read and an interesting idea. And great to know about the aliases configs!

@jennings Yep, i realised this. I guess I have to use the bookmark move command; the tug alias will make it easier! :)