jbampton opened a new issue, #12271:
URL: https://github.com/apache/cloudstack/issues/12271

   
   ### 🤖 Dependabot's Role Summary
   
   Dependabot is an automation tool focused on **version management**. Its core 
functions are:
   
   * **Monitoring:** Checking dependency manifest files (e.g., `package.json`, 
`pom.xml`) for updates and vulnerabilities.
   * **Pull Request (PR) Creation:** Automatically opening a PR with the *only* 
change being the updated version number in the manifest/lock files.
   * **Information:** Populating the PR description with useful data like 
**changelogs** and **release notes** to guide the developer.
   
   ### 🛠️ Automating Code Fixes (The Missing Step)
   
   As you noted, Dependabot **does not refactor code** to handle breaking 
changes. This is where external automation is crucial, integrating into your 
typical CI/CD workflow :
   
   1. **Automated Testing (The Primary Fix):** The most essential step. Your 
CI/CD pipeline should automatically run a robust suite of tests (unit, 
integration, end-to-end) against the new dependency version in the Dependabot 
PR.
   * **Tests Pass:** The update is likely safe. PR can be merged, optionally 
with an auto-merge strategy for minor/patch versions.
   * **Tests Fail:** This signals a **breaking change** that requires **manual 
intervention** to refactor your application code.
   
   
   2. **External Refactoring Tools:** For specific, common migrations, 
specialized tools (e.g., framework-specific CLI tools) can be integrated into 
the workflow to automatically apply fixes *before* the tests run. This is 
currently not a universal solution.
   
   ### ✅ Recommended Workflow Diagram
   
   This is the standard, most effective automated workflow:
   
   1. **Configuration:** You enable Dependabot in your repository's 
`.github/dependabot.yml`.
   2. **PR Creation:** Dependabot detects an update and opens a PR with the new 
version.
   3. **CI/CD Trigger:** Opening the PR automatically triggers your CI/CD 
pipeline.
   4. **Testing:** The pipeline builds the code with the new dependency and 
runs your test suite.
   5. **Outcome:**
   * **Success:** Automated checks/tests pass. The PR is merged (manually or 
via auto-merge).
   * **Failure:** Automated checks/tests fail. A developer reviews the PR, 
manually refactors the application code to fix the breaking change, and pushes 
the fix to the Dependabot branch. The pipeline reruns until successful.
   
   


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