[alias_neo]

> the answer to that problem in this approach is to do multiple step upgrades, rather than skipping

That's what I said

> That deprecated usage (of the thing being deprecated) should be replaced (in your code, with the thing that replaced it, in the language/library) before it (the deprecated thing in the language/library) is removed (from the language/library);

The example in OP was that they were upgrading major versions after-the-fact, so they've missed the transition period (say, 2 major versions, after which deprecations are removed).

In my experience it has often not been beneficial to try and upgrade through multiple versions after the fact, when instead a big-bang update provides opportunities to improve the overall structure and quality of the code, because those things that were deprecated were done for a reason, and the thing being upgraded may have improved significantly in structure, usage, performance, etc in that time.