diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 99fdf11..7823b66 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -71,10 +71,10 @@
 Running the analyzer
 --------------------
 
-When editing Flutter code, it's important to check the code with the analyzer. There are two
-main ways to run it. In either case you will want to run `flutter update-packages --upgrade`
-first, or you will get version conflict issues or bogus error messages about core clases like
-Offset from `dart:ui`.
+When editing Flutter code, it's important to check the code with the
+analyzer. There are two main ways to run it. In either case you will
+want to run `flutter update-packages` first, or you will get bogus
+error messages about core classes like Offset from `dart:ui`.
 
 For a one-off, use `flutter analyze --flutter-repo`. This uses the `analysis_options_repo.yaml` file
 at the root of the repository for its configuration.
diff --git a/packages/flutter/pubspec.yaml b/packages/flutter/pubspec.yaml
index 8e1c3ca..300bf10 100644
--- a/packages/flutter/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/packages/flutter/pubspec.yaml
@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@
 homepage: http://flutter.io
 
 dependencies:
+  # To update these, use "flutter update-packages --force-upgrade".
   collection: 1.14.3
   http: 0.11.3+14
-  intl: 0.15.1
+  intl: 0.15.1 # TODO(ianh): remove this, see https://github.com/flutter/flutter/issues/12050
   meta: 1.1.1
   typed_data: 1.1.4
   vector_math: 2.0.5
diff --git a/packages/flutter_test/pubspec.yaml b/packages/flutter_test/pubspec.yaml
index 77aa7e1..e3c28d7 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_test/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/packages/flutter_test/pubspec.yaml
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 name: flutter_test
 version: 0.0.14-dev
 dependencies:
-  # The flutter tools depend on very specific internal implementation
-  # details of the 'test' package, which change between versions, so
-  # here we pin it precisely to avoid version skew across our
-  # packages. When changing this, also update the pubspec.yaml files
-  # for the flutter_tools and devicelab packages. All other packages
-  # should depend on this one to transitively get the pinned version.
+  # To update these, use "flutter update-packages --force-upgrade".
+
+  # We depend on very specific internal implementation details of the
+  # 'test' package, which change between versions, so when upgrading
+  # this, make sure the tests are still running correctly.
   test: 0.12.24+2
 
   # We use FakeAsync and other testing utilities.
diff --git a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/analyze_base.dart b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/analyze_base.dart
index 177a344..fc8c8b5 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/analyze_base.dart
+++ b/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/commands/analyze_base.dart
@@ -182,12 +182,15 @@
       message.writeln('Make sure you have run "pub upgrade" in all the directories mentioned above.');
       if (dependencies.hasConflictsAffectingFlutterRepo) {
         message.writeln(
-            'For packages in the flutter repository, try using '
-            '"flutter update-packages --upgrade" to do all of them at once.');
+          'For packages in the flutter repository, try using "flutter update-packages" to do all of them at once.\n'
+          'If you need to actually upgrade them, consider "flutter update-packages --force-upgrade". '
+          '(This will update your pubspec.yaml files as well, so you may wish to do this on a separate branch.)'
+        );
       }
       message.write(
-          'If this does not help, to track down the conflict you can use '
-          '"pub deps --style=list" and "pub upgrade --verbosity=solver" in the affected directories.');
+        'If this does not help, to track down the conflict you can use '
+        '"pub deps --style=list" and "pub upgrade --verbosity=solver" in the affected directories.'
+      );
       throwToolExit(message.toString());
     }
   }
diff --git a/packages/flutter_tools/pubspec.yaml b/packages/flutter_tools/pubspec.yaml
index 49c8d8e..6de6864 100644
--- a/packages/flutter_tools/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/packages/flutter_tools/pubspec.yaml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
   sdk: '>=1.19.0 <2.0.0'
 
 dependencies:
+  # To update these, use "flutter update-packages --force-upgrade".
   archive: 1.0.31
   args: 0.13.7
   cli_util: 0.1.2+1
@@ -34,16 +35,13 @@
   yaml: 2.1.12
 
   # We depend on very specific internal implementation details of the
-  # 'test' package, which change between versions, so here we pin it
-  # precisely. When changing this, also update the pubspec.yaml files
-  # for the flutter_test and devicelab packages. All other packages
-  # should depend on flutter_test to transitively get the pinned
-  # version.
+  # 'test' package, which change between versions, so when upgrading
+  # this, make sure the tests are still running correctly.
   test: 0.12.24+2
 
   # Version from the vended Dart SDK as defined in `dependency_overrides`.
-  analyzer: 0.31.0-alpha.0
-  front_end: 0.1.0-alpha.5
+  analyzer: any
+  front_end: any
 
 dev_dependencies:
   collection: 1.14.3