Managing Flutter Versions

Before you begin, make sure you have Flutter installed on your system. You can verify this by running:

If Flutter is not installed, you can download it from flutter.dev and follow the setup instructions for your platform (Windows, macOS, or Linux).

Before upgrading or downgrading, checking your current Flutter version is helpful.

To check the current version of Flutter installed:

This command will display the installed Flutter version, the Dart SDK version and other system details.

If you use a different Flutter channel (such as beta or dev) and want to upgrade to the latest stable release, you should switch to the stable channel. You can check which channel you're currently using by running:

To switch to the stable channel, run:

Once you are on the stable channel, you can upgrade Flutter by running the following command:

This will update Flutter to the latest version available on the selected channel.

If you need to use a previous version of Flutter, you can downgrade using the flutter command.

To see the commit history of available versions, run:

This will take you to the last version you were using before upgrading. However, you can manually specify a specific version if you want to downgrade.

You can specify a particular version by finding its commit hash from the Flutter GitHub repository. After finding the hash of the desired version, run:

After checking out to the specific commit, run:

This command ensures that all Flutter dependencies are properly set up.

Let’s say you want to downgrade to a specific Flutter version (for example, Flutter 2.5.3). You can do this by checking out its commit hash:

Then run flutter doctor to set everything up.

An alternative and easier way to manage multiple versions of Flutter is by using the Flutter Version Management tool (fvm). This allows you to easily switch between versions without manually changing branches or committing hashes.

To install fvm, run the following command:

To install a specific Flutter version, you can use the fvm command:

This will install Flutter 2.5.3 (or any version you specify).

To use a specific version of Flutter for your project, run:

Now, whenever you run a Flutter command in this project directory, it will use version 2.5.3.

If you want to run any Flutter command using the version managed by fvm, simply prepend fvm to the command:

This ensures you're using the correct Flutter version for your project.

Upgrading or downgrading Flutter is relatively straightforward with the flutter command or by using tools like fvm for version management. Depending on your project needs, you can switch between stable releases or even specific versions, ensuring that your development environment matches your project’s requirements.

By understanding how to manage your Flutter versions, you'll be well-equipped to handle compatibility issues, test new features, or maintain legacy applications with ease.