React Native 0.57.7 - Android build failed at task :app:mergeReleaseResources

I’m getting an error when running the ./gradlew assembleRelease --stacktrace command in my React Native (v0.57.7) project’s android folder:

> Task :app:mergeReleaseResources FAILED
/Users/steff/Github/iazzu/app/android/app/build/generated/res/react/release/raw/package.json: Error: package is not a valid resource name (reserved Java keyword)


FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* What went wrong:
Execution failed for task ':app:mergeReleaseResources'.
> /Users/steff/Github/iazzu/app/android/app/build/generated/res/react/release/raw/package.json: Error: package is not a valid resource name (reserved Java keyword)

* Try:
Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output. Run with --scan to get full insights.

* Exception is:
org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskExecutionException: Execution failed for task ':app:mergeReleaseResources'.
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeActions(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:103)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.execute(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:73)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.OutputDirectoryCreatingTaskExecuter.execute(OutputDirectoryCreatingTaskExecuter.java:51)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipUpToDateTaskExecuter.execute(SkipUpToDateTaskExecuter.java:59)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ResolveTaskOutputCachingStateExecuter.execute(ResolveTaskOutputCachingStateExecuter.java:54)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ValidatingTaskExecuter.execute(ValidatingTaskExecuter.java:59)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipEmptySourceFilesTaskExecuter.execute(SkipEmptySourceFilesTaskExecuter.java:101)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.FinalizeInputFilePropertiesTaskExecuter.execute(FinalizeInputFilePropertiesTaskExecuter.java:44)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.CleanupStaleOutputsExecuter.execute(CleanupStaleOutputsExecuter.java:91)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ResolveTaskArtifactStateTaskExecuter.execute(ResolveTaskArtifactStateTaskExecuter.java:62)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipTaskWithNoActionsExecuter.execute(SkipTaskWithNoActionsExecuter.java:59)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipOnlyIfTaskExecuter.execute(SkipOnlyIfTaskExecuter.java:54)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteAtMostOnceTaskExecuter.execute(ExecuteAtMostOnceTaskExecuter.java:43)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.CatchExceptionTaskExecuter.execute(CatchExceptionTaskExecuter.java:34)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskGraphExecuter$EventFiringTaskWorker$1.run(DefaultTaskGraphExecuter.java:256)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:336)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:328)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:199)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:110)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskGraphExecuter$EventFiringTaskWorker.execute(DefaultTaskGraphExecuter.java:249)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskGraphExecuter$EventFiringTaskWorker.execute(DefaultTaskGraphExecuter.java:238)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker.processTask(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:123)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker.access$200(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:79)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker$1.execute(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:104)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker$1.execute(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:98)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskExecutionPlan.execute(DefaultTaskExecutionPlan.java:663)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskExecutionPlan.executeWithTask(DefaultTaskExecutionPlan.java:597)
        at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$TaskExecutorWorker.run(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:98)
        at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ExecutorPolicy$CatchAndRecordFailures.onExecute(ExecutorPolicy.java:63)
        at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ManagedExecutorImpl$1.run(ManagedExecutorImpl.java:46)
        at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ThreadFactoryImpl$ManagedThreadRunnable.run(ThreadFactoryImpl.java:55)
Caused by: com.android.build.gradle.tasks.ResourceException: /Users/steff/Github/iazzu/app/android/app/build/generated/res/react/release/raw/package.json: Error: package is not a valid resource name (reserved Java keyword)
        at com.android.build.gradle.tasks.MergeResources.doFullTaskAction(MergeResources.java:296)
        at com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.IncrementalTask.taskAction(IncrementalTask.java:106)
        at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.invoke(JavaMethod.java:73)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.IncrementalTaskAction.doExecute(IncrementalTaskAction.java:50)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.StandardTaskAction.execute(StandardTaskAction.java:39)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.StandardTaskAction.execute(StandardTaskAction.java:26)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter$1.run(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:124)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:336)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:328)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:199)
        at org.gradle.internal.progress.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:110)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeAction(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:113)
        at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeActions(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:95)
        ... 30 more
Caused by: /Users/steff/Github/iazzu/app/android/app/build/generated/res/react/release/raw/package.json: Error: package is not a valid resource name (reserved Java keyword)
        at com.android.ide.common.res2.MergingException.throwIfNonEmpty(MergingException.java:152)
        at com.android.ide.common.res2.DataSet.loadFromFiles(DataSet.java:260)
        at com.android.ide.common.res2.ResourceSet.loadFromFiles(ResourceSet.java:55)
        at com.android.build.gradle.tasks.MergeResources.doFullTaskAction(MergeResources.java:267)
        ... 42 more


* Get more help at https://help.gradle.org

Deprecated Gradle features were used in this build, making it incompatible with Gradle 5.0.
See https://docs.gradle.org/4.6/userguide/command_line_interface.html#sec:command_line_warnings

BUILD FAILED in 6s
144 actionable tasks: 4 executed, 140 up-to-date

When checking the folder android/build/generated/res/react/release/raw folder, the package.json file is being copied there along with all my other resources (mainly .json files).

What could I possibly do to prevent this weird thing from happening? Just to have said it, I’ve tried googling for hours now but can’t find a solution.

[Cattari]

Don’t import package.json inside your app. This will cause production build to include package.json into your bundle resources and it will cause Java error.

Strange, I haven’t seen that point in official React Native docs.

[jbcullis]

Don’t import package.json inside your app. This will cause production build to include package.json into your bundle resources and it will cause Java error.

Strange, I haven’t seen that point in official React Native docs.

Even more strange is we were successfully doing this in 57.8 but after upgrading to 60.0 got this error.