fix: explicitly declare Photos framework on packages that import PHAsset/PHAssetResource

Author: russellwheatley

okf-bundle/ios-spm-native-imports.md

@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ for f in $(grep -rl "@import Firebase" packages/*/ios 2>/dev/null); do
 done
 ```
 
-A clean run should print nothing once `RNFBAuthModule.mm` above is fixed.
+A clean run should print nothing.
 
 **Check 2 — pure-Swift-core SPM products imported directly from a `.mm` file** (the deeper failure mode above — no `#elif` wording fixes this, only the helper-class delegation does):
 
@@ -213,7 +213,22 @@ for f in $(grep -rl "FirebaseStorage\|FirebaseRemoteConfig\|FirebaseDatabase\|Fi
 done
 ```
 
-A clean run should print nothing; every `.mm` file for these five packages (the four above, plus Auth per [above](#firebaseauths-hidden-pure-swift-core)) should only import its package's `*Helper.h` (plus `RNFBDatabaseQueue.h`/`RNFBDatabaseConstants.h` for database), never Firebase headers. Auth is not yet fixed, so this check will currently flag `RNFBAuthModule.mm`.
+A clean run should print nothing; every `.mm` file for these five packages (the four above, plus Auth per [above](#firebaseauths-hidden-pure-swift-core)) should only import its package's `*Helper.h` (plus `RNFBDatabaseQueue.h`/`RNFBDatabaseConstants.h` for database), never Firebase headers.
+
+## Unrelated linker bug found along the way — missing `Photos.framework` declaration
+
+**Not part of the SPM dual-import bug class above** — recorded here because it was found while validating the Auth fix and blocked the same `yarn tests:ios:build` command. Once every native-import fix above was in place, the debug SPM build progressed past compilation into linking and failed with:
+
+```
+Undefined symbols for architecture arm64:
+  "_OBJC_CLASS_$_PHAsset", referenced from:
+       in RNFBUtilsModule.o
+ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture arm64
+```
+
+**Root cause:** `packages/app/ios/RNFBApp/RNFBUtilsModule.{h,mm}` and `packages/storage/ios/RNFBStorage/RNFBStorageCommon.{h,m}` both `#import <Photos/Photos.h>` and use `PHAsset`/`PHAssetResource`, but neither `RNFBApp.podspec` nor `RNFBStorage.podspec` ever declared `s.frameworks = 'Photos'` (confirmed absent on `main` too — this is not an SPM regression). That was never a problem for CocoaPods-only static-library builds, where the final app-level link resolves all pods' symbols together in one pass. But this repo's `Podfile` uses `use_frameworks!` with dynamic linkage, so each pod compiles to its own standalone dynamic framework (`clang++ -dynamiclib ...`) that must resolve **all** of its own undefined symbols at its own link step -- it can't defer to the app target. CocoaPods populates each pod's `OTHER_LDFLAGS` (`-framework X` per framework) directly from the podspec's declared `s.frameworks`/dependency graph, not from scanning source for `#import`/Clang-module autolink info, so an undeclared system framework silently has no `-framework` flag no matter how the header is imported.
+
+**Fix:** declared `s.ios.frameworks = 'Photos'` / `s.osx.frameworks = 'Photos'` (iOS + macOS only -- PhotoKit doesn't exist on tvOS, even though these files currently have no tvOS guard either; that's a pre-existing, separate gap left untouched here) in both podspecs, matching the existing `s.frameworks = 'AdSupport'` convention already used in `RNFBAnalytics.podspec`. Verified the regenerated `RNFBApp.debug.xcconfig`/`RNFBStorage.debug.xcconfig` `OTHER_LDFLAGS` now include `-framework "Photos"`, and `yarn tests:ios:build` succeeds end-to-end.
 
 ## Related
 

packages/app/RNFBApp.podspec

@@ -38,6 +38,16 @@ Pod::Spec.new do |s|
     "DEFINES_MODULE" => "YES",
   }
 
+  # RNFBUtilsModule.mm uses PHAsset (Photos.framework) to resolve local asset paths.
+  # Not declaring this explicitly used to work by luck (CocoaPods normally relies on
+  # this declaration -- not Clang autolinking -- to populate OTHER_LDFLAGS), but with
+  # use_frameworks! each pod is a standalone dynamic framework that must resolve its
+  # own symbols at its own link step, so the missing declaration now surfaces as
+  # "Undefined symbols ... _OBJC_CLASS_$_PHAsset". iOS/macOS only -- PhotoKit doesn't
+  # exist on tvOS.
+  s.ios.frameworks = 'Photos'
+  s.osx.frameworks = 'Photos'
+
   # React Native dependencies
   if defined?(install_modules_dependencies()) != nil
     install_modules_dependencies(s);

packages/storage/RNFBStorage.podspec

@@ -51,6 +51,13 @@ Pod::Spec.new do |s|
     'HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS' => '"$(PODS_TARGET_SRCROOT)/ios/generated/RNFBStorageTurboModules" "$(PODS_TARGET_SRCROOT)/ios/generated"'
   }
 
+  # RNFBStorageCommon.m uses PHAsset/PHAssetResource (Photos.framework) for local
+  # asset uploads. See RNFBApp.podspec for why this must be declared explicitly
+  # rather than relying on Clang autolinking. iOS/macOS only -- PhotoKit doesn't
+  # exist on tvOS.
+  s.ios.frameworks = 'Photos'
+  s.osx.frameworks = 'Photos'
+
   if defined?($RNFirebaseAsStaticFramework)
     Pod::UI.puts "#{s.name}: Using overridden static_framework value of '#{$RNFirebaseAsStaticFramework}'"
     s.static_framework = $RNFirebaseAsStaticFramework

tests/ios/Podfile.lock

@@ -2314,7 +2314,7 @@ SPEC CHECKSUMS:
   RNCAsyncStorage: 481acf401089f312189e100815088ea5dafc583c
   RNDeviceInfo: d79872e11c8e9c4de0d65b0ee6e0cee719f37fea
   RNFBAnalytics: 3b213b559edf8f62270af58c799b517f9abd1d6a
-  RNFBApp: 79f96d33adc789e867ecfd561c57304e0e8cf86d
+  RNFBApp: dd448276ce0a9ef8f3bcb1a66cc588cd24197da0
   RNFBAppCheck: c943ba51cac50bfdbe1aa5fab3b1b97c4ac8200e
   RNFBAppDistribution: f155c1bd3fa4d2ecd4930757101e854f8cdc0c50
   RNFBAuth: 74683b7280b7ce1cf2365cb836e8f63fdef3a192
@@ -2328,7 +2328,7 @@ SPEC CHECKSUMS:
   RNFBML: 01095dc4aca9b6bd3806242db465059f8c3273a4
   RNFBPerf: a622416435e2a81408edb6d7352cc44cdc1cca23
   RNFBRemoteConfig: ab933ea83779fbb4b9de2f9789f8587e85ce8a76
-  RNFBStorage: 266e86ae539ece1b69387dd1dcf743e822682ae2
+  RNFBStorage: 90ae11c722b8c29d1d9ddf6ca26aaea61f287c2c
   SocketRocket: d4aabe649be1e368d1318fdf28a022d714d65748
   Yoga: 66a9fd80007d5d5fce19d1676ce17b4d5e16e9b1