Road to 0.73.0

[kelset]

Release coordination for React Native 0.73

Notice

• Current release candidate: 0.73.0-rc.6
• Have an issue with current release candidate? File an issue and we will triage.
• Have a pick request for this release? Does it fall under our pick request qualifications? If so please create a PR against the release branch and comment with the PR link
• If you are release testing, copy and fill a test checklist.
• Are you testing nightlies? Please report in the dedicated discussion here: 🌜 Nightlies feedback #49

0.73 Release Crew 👋🏻

• Luna Wei (Meta) @lunaleaps
• Alex Hunt (Meta) @huntie
• Marek Fort (Shopify) @fortmarek
• Thibault Malbranche (Brigad) @Titozzz
• Hur Ali (Callstack) @hurali97

Target dates

We're aiming to ship 0.73 around these key dates.

• The 0.73 branch cut has happened
• Target ship date: 23 October

During the ~1 month RC phase, we will accept hotfixes only. Commits on main after this date will be made towards the following release.

Key changes in this release

This list includes significant changes (flagged by the Release Crew) in React Native 0.73 which have been committed to main ahead of the branch cut. The full set of changes will be represented in the release changelog.

Breaking changes

• [General] Raise minimum Node.js requirement to 18.x Breaking - Bump minimum Node version from 16 to 18 facebook/react-native#37709
• [General] TypeScript 5.0 upgrade Bump TypeScript in template from 4.8.4 to 5.0.4 facebook/react-native#36862
• [Android] Major bump of Fresco to 3.0.0 Fresco to 3.0.0 facebook/react-native#38275
• [Android] Bump to AGP 8.0 [Android] Upcoming changes for libraries in React Native 0.73 react-native-community/discussions-and-proposals#671
  • breaking changes for libraries -> https://developer.android.com/build/releases/gradle-plugin#namespace-dsl
  • AGP to 8.0.2 facebook/react-native#37019
    • example: https://github.com/expo/expo/pull/22609/files#diff-ef1f15fe3a85e91b5b14cecbe065dd88e055f86f9b54c66fbdfd2c40ce95aa4b
• [iOS] Metro will no longer be automatically started when running builds via Xcode (Remove run Metro hook from Xcode build, remove launchPackager scripts facebook/react-native#38242)
• [iOS] Raise minimum iOS version to 13.4 Move min ios version to 13.4 for OSS facebook/react-native#36795

Infra

• Introduction of rn-tester-e2e add RNTester-E2E: tests for iOS and Android via Appium, WDIO and Jest facebook/react-native#36267

For Release Crew

Release Checklist

• [Changelog PR][changelog-pr]
• Start a draft doc of blog post for release
  [blog] Add 0.73 announcement post facebook/react-native-website#3931
• Follow up on release dependencies
• Update changelog and merge all changelogs for RCs into 0.73 heading
  Add changelog for 0.73.0 [skip ci] facebook/react-native#41741
• Ship blog post
• Prepare typescript DT repo PR
• Make PR to react-native-website with the new version cut (see docs)
  [docs] Cut version 0.73.0 facebook/react-native-website#3940
• Try to make upgrade helper more readable kotlin -> java

0.73.0-rc.4

Picked

facebook/react-native@v0.73.0-rc.3...0.73-stable

Pending

0.73.0-rc.3 (released)

Picked

facebook/react-native@v0.73.0-rc.2...0.73-stable

0.73.0-rc.2 (released)

Pick list

• facebook/react-native@5dedf27 for fixing fast refresh indicator
• facebook/react-native@9fee990, cleanup of release infra
• [iOS] Deprecate RCTGetMultiplierForContentSizeCategory facebook/react-native#39785, Deprecate RCTGetMultiplierForContentSizeCategory
• facebook/react-native@b27fab7, Remove setRuntimeConfigProvider calls from the Template
• facebook/react-native@ce39931, new version of ActiveSupport
• facebook/react-native@1d74b38, fix: view flips on RTL with new transform origin changes in Paper arch

Hermes Picks (optional, may wait until later)

• facebook/hermes@329430e, Truncate legacy extension keys from default locale on iOS/Mac
• facebook/hermes@64daca6, Fix Intl to clear needDefault flag correctly

Retrospective Topics

[NickGerleman]

A couple changes maybe worth highlighting:

1. Support for transformOrigin (major external contribution!)
2. RTL support for horizontal FlatList (with some limitations like maintainVisibleContentPosition messing things up)
3. Breaking change that custom component views, etc, now must be compiled using C++20 (I thought I got this into the changelog but maybe not).

[NickGerleman]

edit: horizontal RTL FlatList is a little bugged in iOS legacy architecture. This may or may not get fixed before release.

[NickGerleman]

Possible blocker, it looks facebook/react-native#38626 regressed RTL on old architecture on iOS between 0.72 and 0.73. At least the ScrollView used by RNTester seems to be horizontally flipped (not sure if it has an explicit transform set or not).

Before	After

[Titozzz]

That's why we didn't announce it yet ... It's coming https://github.com/react-native-community/rn-diff-purge/actions/runs/6407897619/job/17395696780

[lunaleaps]

Added to pick list

[lunaleaps]

Added to pick list

[neildhar]

Some recent Intl fixes in Hermes are worth picking:

facebook/hermes@329430e
facebook/hermes@64daca6

[lunaleaps]

I'm wondering if we could maybe pick these later as we need to run a Hermes release to get these changes in. Also in case there are more Hermes picks incoming. I've added them as optional picks for now. Maybe later in the RC we can do a Hermes release.

[neildhar]

They aren't urgent, but they are legitimate bugs that would be great to fix in 0.73. We can certainly pull them in later in the RC process.

[UNIDY2002]

Well, I managed to solve this and cannot reproduce the problem now... Thanks anyway!

[cipolleschi]

About

[iOS] Generate and publish dSYMs for debugging - facebook/react-native#38176

The issue is solved.
We are publishing the dSYM for both Hermes debug and Hermes release on Maven.
There is no use case for day-to-day use: dSYM are required only to symbolicate the stack traces of crashes when the team needs to investigate the crash, so we don't have anything in the code that can download and consume the dSYM automatically.

My suggestion is to add a link to the dSYM in the GitHub release, to provide an easy access to those archives when the user needs them.

The url is a stable one and it depends on the version. For 0.73.0-RC.1, for example, we have:

• Debug dSYMs: https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/facebook/react/react-native-artifacts/0.73.0-rc.1/react-native-artifacts-0.73.0-rc.1-hermes-framework-dSYM-debug.tar.gz
• Release dSYMs: https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/facebook/react/react-native-artifacts/0.73.0-rc.1/react-native-artifacts-0.73.0-rc.1-hermes-framework-dSYM-release.tar.gz

As you can see, the pattern is:

https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/facebook/react/react-native-artifacts/<version>/react-native-artifacts-<version>-hermes-framework-dSYM-<build_type>.tar.gz

[lunaleaps]

Great thanks for the explanation! And thank you for updating the release notes with the links! I'll put it on my todo to update the instructions for release crew to do so (unless you've already done so).

[cipolleschi]

No, I haven't. That should be a PR against the Website, but the release template is used in multiple pages, and I haven't had time to work on that.

[ravindraguptacapgemini]

@cipolleschi how to use these DSYMs file to launch app in debug mode, currently the metro bundler does not start at all with 0.73.0-rc.4.

[UNIDY2002]

react-native-webview seems to be incompatible with the new react-native.

Steps to reproduce:

• Create a fresh react-native@0.73.0-rc.1 project and install react-native-webview
• Replace App.tsx with an example WebView component
• Launch application and see error: xxx/node_modules/react-native-webview/lib/RNCWebViewNativeComponent.js: Could not find component config for native component

Might be useful information:

• react-native-webview/lib/RNCWebViewNativeComponent.js lacks type annotations, and may be causing codegen to panic.
  • react-native-webview does have a TypeScript version of the file, but it is located in react-native-webview/src/.
• This error seems to be related to a recent upgrade of @react-native/babel-preset, and reverting facebook/react-native@59e6b11 can mitigate the problem.

[lafest]

@UNIDY2002 @dmytrorykun

In my project, I resolved this issue with above comment. (importing WebView from src instead of lib)
but, if I delete patch, this issue still occurs in react-native@0.73.0-rc.3.
Is there any plan for resolving this issue without patch file?

[kesha-antonov]

@lafest

Could you please share which patch file you use?

[UNIDY2002]

@lafest Yes. I was otherwise occupied recently, so I forgot about this. I will work on this on webview's side for the next few days.

[UNIDY2002]

@lafest @kesha-antonov See this:

• (fix): add field "react-native" to package.json react-native-webview/react-native-webview#3209

[gabrieldonadel]

any updates on this?

[lunaleaps]

added to list

[lunaleaps]

in the list for rc2 -- will do the picks today

[huntie]

Was shipped in 0.73.0-rc.2.

[lunaleaps]

Reported issue with rc1 and Xcode 15: facebook/react-native#39826

[cipolleschi]

Replied, I think it is their local configuration or something went wrong when they upgraded. Our podspec versions are correct and apps run properly.

[lunaleaps]

Can you clarify why we need this pick in 0.73?

[gabrieldonadel]

The problem is that Expo CLI relies on functions and classes that are not exported in the index.js file, e.g. Importing the InspectorProxy class from @react-native/dev-middleware/dist/inspector-proxy/InspectorProxy and we would need this commit to upgrade to 0.73

[gabrieldonadel]

Some additional context here facebook/react-native#41370 (comment)

[lunaleaps]

✅ picked and released in 0.73.5 for @react-native/dev-middleware

[tido64]

If you're doing rc.6, can you also pick these two? They're ready PRs against the 0.73 branch.

[tido64]

cc @huntie 👆

[huntie]

Picked ✅

[mfazekas]

Both react-native-screens #1972 and react-native-safe-area-context [#454](https://github.com/th3rdwave/react-native-safe-area-context/pull/454/files requires trivial, but non backward compatible changes in their c++ code to build on fabric with rn0.73.

I was wondering if there is any C++ preprocessor macro (#if REACT_NATIVE_MAJOR > 73) can be used to made the changes build on both 0.72 and 0.73-rc* as that would enable them to release versions that supports rn0.73.rc* making it much easier to test rn0.73-rc-s for all.

[lunaleaps]

cc @cipolleschi do you know who can help with this?

[cipolleschi]

We don't expose any setting with the RN version as of today. Not that we can't add it, but I don't think that this is a good way to handle this.

I think that a better way would be to specify the proper dependency in your package.json:

• the current released version should specify that it depends on react-native 0.72.x
• the updated version should specify that it depends on react-native 0.73.x

yarn add should then be able to fetch the right version of the library, depending on the current version of React Native, releasing you from the burden of keeping up with multiple versions at the same time.

What do you think about this? Do you see any downside?

I'm pretty sure that the maintainers are already working on a 0.73-compatible version of their library.

[mfazekas]

I think the only downside is that those changes in fabric only C++. My understanding is that most libraries are happy with providing fabric only with latest RN release, while still supporting many prev releases with old arch.

So declaring 0.73 means that those libs will no longer be useable with 0.72 in old arch.

Overall it's not a huge issue just inconvenient while the 0.73 is in the rc phase. I guess the libraries should release prerelease versions, until 0.73 released.

[mikehardy]

yarn add should then be able to fetch the right version of the library, depending on the current version of React Native, releasing you from the burden of keeping up with multiple versions at the same time.

But doesn't that imply a "release" from the burden commitment that many libraries make to support a few versions of past react-native, coincident with the react-native support policy of "current version and 2 prior versions"? If there is a bug discovered in react-native-hypothetical-module after it starts depending on rn73+ only, but it affects rn71, this implies a lot of branch + release management on the module's part to get that fix backported and released vs having the ability to compile correctly depending on react-native target at their option

[lunaleaps]

✅ picked

[huntie]

Merged ✅

[lunaleaps]

We are looking into this regression and will either fix-forward or revert as necessary. Thanks for flagging!

[NickGerleman]

Fix was picked.

[huntie]

Picked ✅

[NickGerleman]

Would be worth updating the linting and types used by react-native-website. In the past it has caught cases of API and typing changes (or typing defects). https://github.com/facebook/react-native-website/pull/3647/files

[huntie]

Picked ✅

[huntie]

Picked ✅

[huntie]

Picked ✅

[tomekzaw]

Please pick this: facebook/react-native#41657

This PR fixes a crash in JFabricUIManager::getBinding that started to appear in 0.73.0-rc.5 for unknown reasons. This crash makes it impossible to use react-native-reanimated on Fabric on Android in RN 0.73.

[huntie]

Thanks! We aim to ship this in 0.73.1 — which should be a fast follow (1 week) after the main release.

[wschurman]

Please pick: facebook/react-native#41678

This PR fixes reloading the react instance on android. Issue with more info: facebook/react-native#41677

[huntie]

Thanks! We aim to ship this in 0.73.1 — which should be a fast follow (1 week) after the main release.

[wschurman]

Sounds good. I also think that this fixes normal reloading (via menu or CLI shortcut) and fast reloading, which do seem to be broken in the current RC for me (without this PR).

[huntie]

Alright, we're picking this change individually for a final RC. Thanks again! ❤️

[byCedric]

Please pick: facebook/react-native#41152 / facebook/react-native@0806ad7

This is a small change, but it should fix the most reported issue (on Expo's user feedback) related to debugging.

[huntie]

We aim to ship this in 0.73.1. And for this debugging integration, we'll do our best to resolve integration issues you've flagged (expo/expo#25649) for that same release.

[vonovak]

I'm experiencing a crash of Text component on Android, where setLetterSpacing is being called on a null reference here even if no letter spacing is provided as a prop. I reproed this on an Android 7 emulator and it seems fairly serious to me.

The issue is that setLetterSpacing is called by android.widget.TextView before mTextAttributes is initialized here.

The crash is fixed here or maybe in some previous commit already, I didn't go up the history more.

Screenshot of the stack calls

we all love code screenshots, don't we

[cortinico]

Yup this is quite critical and needs to be addressed
The original PR is here:

• fix: Text cut off issues when adjusting text size and font weight in system settings facebook/react-native#39581
  It got reverted and the revert didn't make the release branch (we should pick it instead).

There is also a follow-up PR here:

• Fix/text cutoff when scaling facebook/react-native#39711

[huntie]

Picked ✅ (36057dac59f7827b622639dc6250fe1e0472710e)