[ios] Compilation error when using useFrameworks = static and RN 0.81

[douglowder]

Description

If I set useFrameworks=static in an Expo SDK 54 preview project (using RN 0.81), iOS will not build, with the following error:

› Compiling teststatic Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp
› Compiling teststatic Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp
› Compiling teststatic Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp

❌  (ios/build/generated/ios/react/renderer/components/rnscreens/Props.cpp:12:10)

  10 | 
  11 | #include <react/renderer/components/rnscreens/Props.h>
> 12 | #include <react/renderer/components/image/conversions.h>
     |          ^ 'react/renderer/components/image/conversions.h' file not found
  13 | #include <react/renderer/core/PropsParserContext.h>
  14 | #include <react/renderer/core/propsConversions.h>
  15 | 

› Compiling teststatic Pods/ReactCodegen » EventEmitters.cpp

Steps to reproduce

Repro at https://github.com/douglowder/TestStatic

1. Create a new project with yarn create expo-app TestStatic --template default@next
2. Change into the project directory and do npx expo install expo-build-properties@next
3. Modify the expo-build-properties plugin to enable static frameworks (see above repo)
4. npx expo prebuild -p ios
5. yarn ios

Snack or a link to a repository

https://github.com/douglowder/TestStatic

Screens version

4.14.0

React Native version

0.81.0

Platforms

iOS

JavaScript runtime

Hermes

Workflow

Expo managed workflow

Architecture

Fabric (New Architecture)

Build type

Debug mode

Device

iOS simulator

Device model

No response

Acknowledgements

Yes

[douglowder]

More info: I did another repro today, same as before, but this time, I set the Expo config to build RN from source (do not use precompiled RNCore artifacts). When I do that, react-native-screens seems to compile correctly, but I start getting expo-modules-core errors.

So I think there are multiple bugs:

• react-native-screens may have an issue when building with precompiled RNCore and useFrameworks=static. I'll check with the RN core team to see if they support that combination.
• expo-modules-core seems to have a compile issue with useFrameworks=static and building RN from source. I'll share that with the expo-modules-core engineers here.

[cipolleschi]

Can you prepare a repro without Expo? It will be very hard for us to debug that with expo.

[chrfalch]

I'm looking into this to see if we can find what's going on. @douglowder @cipolleschi

[thulstrup]

I encountered the same issue while testing with Expo SDK 54 beta, but it also happened with react-native-svg. So it might not be specific to react-native-screens?

› Compiling @captego/app Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp
› Compiling @captego/app Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp
› Compiling @captego/app Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp

❌  (ios/build/generated/ios/react/renderer/components/rnscreens/Props.cpp:12:10)

  10 |
  11 | #include <react/renderer/components/rnscreens/Props.h>
> 12 | #include <react/renderer/components/image/conversions.h>
     |          ^ 'react/renderer/components/image/conversions.h' file not found
  13 | #include <react/renderer/core/PropsParserContext.h>
  14 | #include <react/renderer/core/propsConversions.h>
  15 |

› Compiling @captego/app Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp
› Compiling @captego/app Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp
› Compiling @captego/app Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp

❌  (ios/build/generated/ios/react/renderer/components/rnsvg/Props.cpp:13:10)

  11 | #include <react/renderer/components/rnsvg/Props.h>
  12 | #include <folly/dynamic.h>
> 13 | #include <react/renderer/components/image/conversions.h>
     |          ^ 'react/renderer/components/image/conversions.h' file not found
  14 | #include <react/renderer/core/PropsParserContext.h>
  15 | #include <react/renderer/core/propsConversions.h>
  16 |

› Compiling @captego/app Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp
› Compiling @captego/app Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp
› Compiling @captego/app Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp

[TheHypnoo]

I'm having the same problem trying to test SDK 54. Any ideas?

[captainteodor]

Having the same issue with SDK 54

[chrfalch]

We're working on this one :)

[captainteodor]

I'm trying an workaround to find and patch all Props.cpp files to use the correct header. I need to remove the problematic image/conversions.h include that doesn't exist in RN 0.81 it seems for both react-native-svg and react-native-screens

[captainteodor]

The patch worked but now I'm hitting a different React Native 0.81 issue with the castValue function not being found:

Compiling zesty Pods/ReactCodegen » Props.cpp

❌  (ios/Pods/Headers/Public/React-Fabric/react/renderer/core/RawValue.h:116:14)

  114 |     if (std::holds_alternative<folly::dynamic>(value_)) {
  115 |       auto& dynamic = std::get<folly::dynamic>(value_);
> 116 |       return castValue(dynamic, (T*)nullptr);
      |              ^ no matching function for call to 'castValue'
  117 |     } else {
  118 |       const auto& [runtime, value] = std::get<JsiValuePair>(value_);
  119 |       return castValue(runtime, value, (T*)nullptr);


❌  (ios/Pods/Headers/Public/React-Fabric/react/renderer/core/RawValue.h:119:14)

  117 |     } else {
  118 |       const auto& [runtime, value] = std::get<JsiValuePair>(value_);
> 119 |       return castValue(runtime, value, (T*)nullptr);
      |              ^ no matching function for call to 'castValue'
  120 |     }
  121 |   }
  122 | 

[chrfalch]

@captainteodor What does your patch (or what are you changing) to get this to work?

[captainteodor]

@chrfalch When React Native 0.81 generates code for certain libraries (e.g. react-native-svg), it creates C++ files that try to include a header file that doesn't exist:
#include <react/renderer/components/image/conversions.h> // ❌ This file doesn't exist!

I replace it with the correct header file:
#include <react/renderer/graphics/Color.h> // ✅ This file actually exists

1. To patch this I used perl to find and replace in all Props.cpp files

  perl -i -pe 's|#include <react/renderer/components/image/conversions.h>|// #include <react/renderer/components/image/conversions.h> // 
  Removed for RN 0.81\n#include <react/renderer/graphics/Color.h>|g' "$file"

2. Added to the Xcode project to run during every build:

# Runs both patch scripts if they exist
if [ -f "$SRCROOT/../scripts/patch-rn081-codegen.sh" ]; then
  bash "$SRCROOT/../scripts/patch-rn081-codegen.sh"
fi

Now I'm trying to do the same for RawValue

[captainteodor]

Oh noo! I fixed the Raw Value but now conversions.h itself has errors because it's missing the Size type definition. This is a cascade of missing includes.

[chrfalch]

Oh noo! I fixed the Raw Value but now conversions.h itself has errors because it's missing the Size type definition. This is a cascade of missing includes.

Yes, that's the problem we're trying to solve when using USE_FRAMEWORKS.