name: symfony-ux-merge-up description: > Cascade-merge maintained Symfony UX branches from oldest to newest (e.g. 2.x to 3.x). Use when the user says "merge branches", "merge up", "cascade merge", "sync branches", or "update branches".
Symfony Branch Cascade Merge
Merges each maintained branch into the next one, from oldest to newest.
Progress checklist
- Step 0: Pre-flight checks
- Step 1: Fetch maintained branches and pull them
- Step 2: Cascade merge loop
Confirmation rule
Whenever the skill says "Wait for confirmation", treat anything other than an explicit affirmative as no: stop and ask the user how they want to proceed.
Step 0 — Pre-flight checks
git status --porcelain --untracked-files=no
If any output, stop:
"The working tree is not clean. Please commit or stash your changes first."
Step 1 — Fetch maintained branches and pull them
1a. Get the branch list
Unlike Symfony, Symfony UX has no https://symfony.com/releases.json endpoint.
Instead, the maintained branches are:
- 2.x
- 3.x
Store them as BRANCHES.
1b. Pull every branch
For each branch in BRANCHES:
git checkout <branch>
git pull --ff-only upstream <branch>
Using --ff-only ensures local branches haven't diverged from upstream. If the
pull fails, stop and report the error.
Step 2 — Cascade merge loop
For each consecutive pair (SOURCE, TARGET) in BRANCHES:
2a. Merge
git checkout <TARGET>
composer up
git merge <SOURCE>
Three outcomes are possible:
- Already up-to-date: print "✓
<TARGET>already up-to-date with<SOURCE>" and skip to the next pair. - Clean merge (no conflicts): git creates the merge commit automatically. Proceed directly to step 2c.
- Conflicts: proceed to step 2b.
2b. Resolve conflicts (only when git reports conflicts)
List conflicts:
git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U
Read each conflicted file, resolve it, then git add it. When all are resolved:
git commit --no-edit
Conflict resolution rules
| File pattern | Strategy |
|---|---|
CHANGELOG*.md |
Keep entries from both sides; newer branch entries on top |
Version constants, composer.json branch aliases |
Keep the TARGET branch value |
| Code files | Merge logically based on context; when unsure, ask the user |
Legacy tests across major versions
When merging from one major version to the next (e.g. 2.x → 3.x), remove test
methods marked with @group legacy or #[Group('legacy')]. The deprecations
they cover have been removed in the new major version, so the tests are no
longer relevant.
After resolving, show git diff HEAD~1 (first parent of the merge commit, i.e.
the previous TARGET state) and wait for the user to confirm the resolution looks
correct before proceeding.
2c. Run tests for affected components
Extract component, bridge, and bundle names from changed files:
git diff --name-only HEAD~1..HEAD
Paths look like src/<NAME>/.... Deduplicate,
then run tests for each:
(cd src/<NAME>; symfony php vendor/bin/phpunit)
Ignore files outside these directories (root configs, .github/, etc.): they
don't have component-level test suites.
If tests fail or report PHPUnit deprecations (the PHPUnit version may differ
between branches), first check whether the failure is pre-existing: run the same
test on the TARGET branch before the merge (git stash && git checkout HEAD~1
or check CI). Only fix failures introduced by the merge:
- Analyze and fix the code, including any PHPUnit deprecation notices.
- Commit the fix:
[<ComponentName>] Fix merge conflict resolution. - Re-run failing tests until green and deprecation-free.
Report any pre-existing failures to the user without attempting to fix them.
2d. Ask for confirmation before pushing
Show:
Merge: <SOURCE> → <TARGET>
Affected: <component list>
Tests: all passing
Commits since upstream/<TARGET>:
git log --oneline upstream/<TARGET>..<TARGET>
Ready to push? (yes / no)
Wait for confirmation. The user may make changes themselves before confirming.
2e. Push and continue
git push upstream <TARGET>
If the push fails, stop and report the error.
Print "✓ <SOURCE> → <TARGET> done." and continue to the next pair.
Final summary
All merges complete:
2.x → 3.x ✓
Gotchas
CHANGELOG.mdconflicts are the most common; entries must be kept from both sides, never dropped.- A merge can introduce test failures even without conflicts, because behavior from the older branch may be incompatible with newer code. Always run tests.
- Some components have slow test suites. Only run tests for components with changed files, not the entire project.
Error handling
- Never force-push or rewrite history.
- Never use
--no-verifyon commits. - Never auto-recover from a failed
git pushorgit pull. Stop and hand control back to the user.