document autolinking setup for libraries with example app but no yarn workspaces

This is a continuation of https://github.com/react-native-community/cli/issues/1100. While I’m able to build the react-native-community/datetimepicker example project, autolinking of native modules does not work on android (didn’t try ios yet) 😩

EDIT: I’m not sure if it’s because of custom project.android.sourceDir, might be unrelated

It’s possible I’m doing something wrong (configuring the cli wrong). Using RN 0.62.2 and cli 4.8.0. My react-native-config.js

const root = process.cwd();

module.exports = {
  dependencies: {
    datetimepicker: {
      root,
    },
  },
  project: {
    android: {
      sourceDir: './example/android',
    },
  },
};

why autolinking does not work? It’s because the datetimepicker dependency of the example project is not found by

https://github.com/react-native-community/cli/blob/c4b49b46909a58329ce1a7d3c07bd9327bd48ee7/packages/platform-android/native_modules.gradle#L225

it’s because the output of react-native config is different based on where it’s executed from:

running `react-native config` from repo root

vojta@Vojta-MacBook-Pro datetimepicker (fix/ios-module-rn-62)*$ pwd
/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker
vojta@Vojta-MacBook-Pro datetimepicker (fix/ios-module-rn-62)*$ node -e "console.log(require('react-native/cli').bin);"
/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli/build/bin.js
vojta@Vojta-MacBook-Pro datetimepicker (fix/ios-module-rn-62)*$ /Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli/build/bin.js config
{
  "root": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker",
  "reactNativePath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/node_modules/react-native",
  "dependencies": {
    "datetimepicker": {
      "root": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker",
      "name": "datetimepicker",
      "platforms": {
        "ios": {
          "sourceDir": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/ios",
          "folder": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker",
          "pbxprojPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/ios/RNDateTimePicker.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj",
          "podfile": null,
          "podspecPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/RNDateTimePicker.podspec",
          "projectPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/ios/RNDateTimePicker.xcodeproj",
          "projectName": "RNDateTimePicker.xcodeproj",
          "libraryFolder": "Libraries",
          "sharedLibraries": [],
          "plist": [],
          "scriptPhases": []
        },
        "android": {
          "sourceDir": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/android",
          "folder": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker",
          "packageImportPath": "import com.reactcommunity.rndatetimepicker.RNDateTimePickerPackage;",
          "packageInstance": "new RNDateTimePickerPackage()"
        }
      },
      "assets": [],
      "hooks": {},
      "params": []
    }
  },
  "commands": [
   ...
      ],
      "options": [
        ...
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "log-android",
      "description": "starts logkitty"
    },
    {
      "name": "run-android",
      "description": "builds your app and starts it on a connected Android emulator or device",
      "options": [
        ...
      ]
    }
  ],
  "assets": [],
  "platforms": {
    "ios": {},
    "android": {}
  },
  "project": {
    "ios": {
      "sourceDir": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/ios",
      "folder": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker",
      "pbxprojPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/ios/RNDateTimePicker.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj",
      "podfile": null,
      "podspecPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/RNDateTimePicker.podspec",
      "projectPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/ios/RNDateTimePicker.xcodeproj",
      "projectName": "RNDateTimePicker.xcodeproj",
      "libraryFolder": "Libraries",
      "sharedLibraries": [],
      "plist": [],
      "scriptPhases": []
    },
    "android": {
      "sourceDir": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android",
      "isFlat": true,
      "folder": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker",
      "stringsPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml",
      "manifestPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml",
      "buildGradlePath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/build.gradle",
      "settingsGradlePath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/settings.gradle",
      "assetsPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/app/src/main/assets",
      "mainFilePath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/MainApplication.java",
      "packageName": "com.example",
      "packageFolder": "com/example",
      "appName": "app"
    }
  }
}

running `react-native config` from /example

vojta@Vojta-MacBook-Pro android (fix/ios-module-rn-62)*$ pwd
/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android
vojta@Vojta-MacBook-Pro android (fix/ios-module-rn-62)*$ node -e "console.log(require('react-native/cli').bin);"
/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli/build/bin.js
vojta@Vojta-MacBook-Pro android (fix/ios-module-rn-62)*$ /Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli/build/bin.js config
{
  "root": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker",
  "reactNativePath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/node_modules/react-native",
  "dependencies": {},
  "commands": [
    {
      "name": "log-ios",
      "description": "starts iOS device syslog tail"
    },
    {
      "name": "run-ios",
      "description": "builds your app and starts it on iOS simulator",
      "examples": [
      ...
      ],
      "options": [
        ...
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "log-android",
      "description": "starts logkitty"
    },
    {
      "name": "run-android",
      "description": "builds your app and starts it on a connected Android emulator or device",
      "options": [
        ...
      ]
    }
  ],
  "assets": [],
  "platforms": {
    "ios": {},
    "android": {}
  },
  "project": {
    "ios": {
      "sourceDir": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/ios",
      "folder": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker",
      "pbxprojPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/ios/RNDateTimePicker.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj",
      "podfile": null,
      "podspecPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/RNDateTimePicker.podspec",
      "projectPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/ios/RNDateTimePicker.xcodeproj",
      "projectName": "RNDateTimePicker.xcodeproj",
      "libraryFolder": "Libraries",
      "sharedLibraries": [],
      "plist": [],
      "scriptPhases": []
    },
    "android": {
      "sourceDir": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android",
      "isFlat": true,
      "folder": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker",
      "stringsPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml",
      "manifestPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml",
      "buildGradlePath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/build.gradle",
      "settingsGradlePath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/settings.gradle",
      "assetsPath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/app/src/main/assets",
      "mainFilePath": "/Users/vojta/dev/_own/datetimepicker/example/android/app/src/main/java/com/example/MainApplication.java",
      "packageName": "com.example",
      "packageFolder": "com/example",
      "appName": "app"
    }
  }
}

At this point, I’m not sure if this is a bug or a feature. 😄 How do I make this work? What is the right way to link a library with its example project? Thank you!

[thymikee]

Great. It would be lovely to document this better. I’ll rephrase the issue and leave it open so we don’t forget. Thanks for the cooperation!

[github-actions[bot]]

There hasn’t been any activity on this issue in the past 3 months, so it has been marked as stale and it will be closed automatically if no further activity occurs in the next 7 days.