`run-ios` wants my sudo password because it wont accept `pod` installed with bundler

[buschco]

Environment

info Fetching system and libraries information...
System:
 OS: macOS 15.5
 CPU: (14) arm64 Apple M4 Pro
 Memory: 1.52 GB / 48.00 GB
 Shell:
 version: "5.9"
 path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
 Node:
 version: 18.20.5
 path: ~/.nvm/versions/node/v18.20.5/bin/node
 Yarn:
 version: 1.22.22
 path: ~/.nvm/versions/node/v18.20.5/bin/yarn
 npm:
 version: 10.8.2
 path: ~/.nvm/versions/node/v18.20.5/bin/npm
 Watchman: Not Found
Managers:
 CocoaPods: Not Found
SDKs:
 iOS SDK:
 Platforms:
 - DriverKit 24.2
 - iOS 18.2
 - macOS 15.2
 - tvOS 18.2
 - visionOS 2.2
 - watchOS 11.2
 Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
 Android Studio: 2024.2 AI-242.23339.11.2421.12550806
 Xcode:
 version: 16.2/16C5032a
 path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
 Java:
 version: 21.0.3
 path: /Users/colin/.sdkman/candidates/java/current/bin/javac
 Ruby:
 version: 2.7.6
 path: /Users/colin/.rbenv/shims/ruby
npmPackages:
 "@react-native-community/cli":
 installed: 18.0.0
 wanted: 18.0.0
 react:
 installed: 19.0.0
 wanted: 19.0.0
 react-native:
 installed: 0.79.2
 wanted: 0.79.2
 react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
 "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
 hermesEnabled: true
 newArchEnabled: false
iOS:
 hermesEnabled: true
 newArchEnabled: false

Description

I think the program fails to fast. instead it should try bundle exec pod --version first since on other places it will also respect the bundle installed version.

Reproducible Demo

1. make sure no cocoapods is not installed globally: gem uninstall cocoapods
2. npx @react-native-community/cli@latest init MyApp
3. press n for cocoa pods question
4. cd MyApp
5. bundle install

Now bundle exec pod --version has an 0 exit code.

npx react-native run-ios --force-pods will either fail or globally install cocoapods again, but it does not need to since we can use bundle exec pod instead.

[buschco]

I submitted an PR (#2669) that should fix this issue by using the right pod command

[buschco]

If you only want to use the pod installed with bundler you can use this patch:

patches/@react-native-community+cli-config-apple+18.0.0.patch

diff --git a/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-config-apple/build/tools/installPods.js b/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-config-apple/build/tools/installPods.js
index fc52a47..217d71b 100644
--- a/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-config-apple/build/tools/installPods.js
+++ b/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-config-apple/build/tools/installPods.js
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ async function runPodInstall(loader, options) {
 async function runPodUpdate(loader) {
 try {
 loader.start(`Updating CocoaPods repositories ${_chalk().default.dim('(this may take a few minutes)')}`);
- await (0, _execa().default)('pod', ['repo', 'update']);
+ await (0, _execa().default)('bundle', ['exec', 'pod', 'repo', 'update']);
 } catch (error) {
 // "pod" command outputs errors to stdout (at least some of them)
 _cliTools().logger.log(error.stderr || error.stdout);
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ async function installPods(loader, options) {
 // Check if "pod" is available and usable. It happens that there are
 // multiple versions of "pod" command and even though it's there, it exits
 // with a failure
- await (0, _execa().default)('pod', ['--version']);
+ await (0, _execa().default)('bundle', ['exec', 'pod', '--version']);
 } catch (e) {
 loader.info();
 await installCocoaPods(loader);