Easier Upgrades
Article Summary
React Native upgrades used to be a nightmare of merge conflicts and lost changes. The React Native team just changed that with a clever Git-based solution.
The React Native team introduced react-native-git-upgrade, a new tool that automates the painful process of upgrading React Native versions. Instead of manually resolving conflicts or losing local changes, the tool leverages Git's 3-way merge algorithm to handle upgrades intelligently.
Key Takeaways
- Uses Git patches to automatically merge template changes with your custom code
- Preserves Android and iOS build files, eliminating manual react-native link steps
- Works as global package so any React Native version can upgrade to latest
- Creates temporary Git repo without interfering with your existing VCS setup
Critical Insight
React Native upgrades now use Git's merge algorithm to automatically resolve conflicts and preserve your customizations, turning a dreaded multi-hour task into a single command.
