Missing .xcodeproj for iOS projects

[rumax]

Description

During upgrade the project from react-native 0.60.* to react-native c it was observer that react native does not have *.xcodeproj files anymore. That make it impossible to use the latest and greatest react native in project that uses Carthage. There is also nothing about it in docs. For example, https://reactnative.dev/docs/integration-with-existing-apps says that CocoaPods are needed, but that is not an option for existing projects that uses Carthage. Same for https://reactnative.dev/docs/upgrading.html, it does not cover this case.

As a result migration to the latest react native is blocked:

React Native version:

System:
 OS: macOS 10.15.6
 CPU: (12) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8850H CPU @ 2.60GHz
 Memory: 6.23 GB / 16.00 GB
 Shell: 3.2.57 - /bin/bash
 Binaries:
 Node: 12.16.1 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/bin/node
 Yarn: 1.22.4 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/bin/yarn
 npm: 6.13.4 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v12.16.1/bin/npm
 Watchman: 4.9.0 - /usr/local/bin/watchman
 Managers:
 CocoaPods: 1.9.3 - /usr/local/bin/pod
 SDKs:
 iOS SDK:
 Platforms: iOS 13.2, DriverKit 19.0, macOS 10.15, tvOS 13.2, watchOS 6.1
 Android SDK:
 API Levels: 26, 27, 28, 29
 Build Tools: 27.0.3, 28.0.3, 29.0.2, 29.0.3, 30.0.2
 System Images: android-29 | Google APIs Intel x86 Atom, android-30 | Google APIs Intel x86 Atom
 Android NDK: Not Found
 IDEs:
 Android Studio: 4.0 AI-193.6911.18.40.6626763
 Xcode: 11.3.1/11C505 - /usr/bin/xcodebuild
 Languages:
 Java: 1.8.0_242 - /usr/bin/javac
 Python: 2.7.16 - /usr/bin/python
 npmPackages:
 @react-native-community/cli: Not Found
 react: 16.13.1 => 16.13.1 
 react-native: 0.63.3 => 0.63.3 
 npmGlobalPackages:
 *react-native*: Not Found

Steps To Reproduce

Provide a detailed list of steps that reproduce the issue.

1. Use existing project with Carthage
2. Try to integrate react native to this project

Or

1. Use existing react native project with Carthage with RN version <= 0.60.*
2. Try to upgrade react native to this project

Expected Results

• .xcodeproj files are part of the react native
• deprecate iOS .xcodeproj #25583 pull request is reverted
• it is still possible to use project without CocoaPods

Snack, code example, screenshot, or link to a repository:

Not needed

Additional information

According to official RN documentation linking-libraries-ios

If the library has native code, there must be an .xcodeproj file inside its folder. Drag this file to your project on Xcode (usually under the Libraries group on Xcode);

it is also clearly stated that there must be an .xcodeproj and this is how iOS development happens.

[sanderfrenken]

To elaborate a bit, by removing the .xcodeproj files manual linking of react-native has become AFAIK close to impossible. The only way I can think of now is by creating references from all the react-native sources in node_modules in the consuming project. This however is a cumbersome job and in addition very error prone (think of missed files, or adding sources that are only needed for testing to the actual build target).

By disabling manual linking, the only way for any project to use react-native seems to be by using CocoaPods.
IMO, this is not a solution that fits all.

There are many existing projects that rely heavily on Carthage for example, or SPM.

By forcing CocoaPods, one can only decide to either use both CocoaPods and the other dependency manager (welcome trouble, this is definitely not advisable nor maintainable) in the same project, or migrate the complete project to CocoaPods. But the latter is not even always possible, as for example some specific dependencies might not be available using CocoaPods.

I am very curious if there is another way of using the latest react-native in a project while not using CocoaPods.

[suwu150]

I also hope to be able to provide a solution, without the help of any third-party management, to directly deal with project dependencies. I encountered a situation where cocoapods cannot be used in the project, and I need to deal with it urgently.

The react-native version I currently use is 0.62.0, if I can't find a solution, I can only fall back to version 0.59.10
@sanderfrenken

[rectified95]

Thanks for describing your pains points with the upgrade to latest. Still, this is not strictly a new functionality regression. Please recreate this issue in the upgrade-support repo, as indicated by the issue templates:
https://github.com/react-native-community/upgrade-support

[rumax]

@rectified95 Can you please elaborate more why do you think it is upgrade issue? Because it is not: the same issue you will get in a new/existing project which does not support pods.

According to official RN documentation linking-libraries-ios

Did you also read this comment? This is official documentation and it clearly says: If the library has native code, there must be an .xcodeproj file inside its folder., so that issue is still valid as long as this documentation exists.

Moreover it is an issue for native project without cocoapods which could benefit from integrating RN into it, but you just killed that possibility by closing the issue and ignoring support.

[suwu150]

react-native-community/upgrade-support#102

[rectified95]

My impression was that you were trying to leverage patterns that used to work in a previous release and use them in a newer version of RN - that's what made me classify the issue as an upgrade problem.

Do note that there are around 800 open issues, and in order to keep it manageable, proper redirection to eg. the Proposals/Upgrade repo helps achieve that. Also, note that I suggested opening the issue in another repo, rather than saying it was going to be ignored - thanks for creating it there.

I'm reopening this issue, and tagging it for further investigation, and will let my colleagues decide which of the 2 issues to track this with.

[rumax]

react-native-community/upgrade-support#102

That's only part of the problem, but do not try to looks at it only from the upgrade side (which is a pain for a lot of projects of course). Looking at React v17.0 release, there is a good statement:

It also makes it easier to embed React into apps built with other technologies.

So in web they take care about other technologies and make it possible to embed the app. Why it is different in React native?

You can also look at it from another point of view: it is not a secret that there are at least 2 dependency management on iOS: Carthage and Pods. By forcing new project to use Pods maybe is not so bad (except that there are some downsides of that solution which is not a scope of the discussion), but for existing projects it is definitely not. Just think about a case: Some company has native iOS and native Android application, you as a developer, lead, architect or a consultancy company decide that the company can benefit from React Native and want to migrate their projects to RN. Of course you can rewrite everything at once, which will require a lot of resources and time. Or you can do a POC to convince that React Native is a right tool for that and will work to cover all business needs and do the work gradually. For that you can start with integration with Existing Apps, which of course requires Install CocoaPods step and which is not require/can be skipped for Carthage projects, if you have .xcodeproj files. That's why if you have a big project with Carthage, you will fail with React Native. And that's why my proposal was to:

#25583 pull request is reverted

which can easily fix that problem. Or find a better solution together and make React Native compatible with other technologies, just like React does.

[suwu150]

https://reactnative.dev/docs/integration-with-existing-apps#3-install-cocoapods
the document has the following description:

Hope to improve the document, convenient for developers to use.