Consider using caret range for react-native peer dependency

[ludwig-pro]

Summary

The react-native peer dependency in published react-native-macos packages uses an exact version (e.g., "react-native": "0.79.6") instead of a caret range (e.g., "react-native": "^0.79.0"). This causes installation failures with newer patch versions.

Problem

When following the Getting Started guide, users get:

npx @react-native-community/cli init myProject --version 0.79
cd myProject
npx react-native-macos-init
# Error: Command failed: npm install --save --silent "react-native-macos@^0.79.0-0"

Why This Happens

1. npx @react-native-community/cli init --version 0.79 installs the latest 0.79.x version (currently 0.79.7)
2. react-native-macos@0.79.1 declares "peerDependencies": { "react-native": "0.79.6" } (exact version)
3. npm 7+ enforces strict peer dependency checking and refuses to install

Suggested Solution

Use a caret range for the react-native peer dependency when creating releases:

{
  "peerDependencies": {
    "react-native": "^0.79.0"
  }
}

Benefits

• Accepts all patch versions (0.79.0, 0.79.1, ..., 0.79.7, etc.)
• Follows semver convention (patch versions are backward-compatible)
• Avoids installation failures when users have newer patches
• No need for --legacy-peer-deps workaround

Current Workaround

PR #2785 adds --legacy-peer-deps to the CLI as an immediate fix.

Related

• PR fix(macos-init): add --legacy-peer-deps to npm install command #2785 - fix(macos-init): add --legacy-peer-deps to npm install command
• The peer dependency is added during the release process (not in main branch)
• yarn.config.cjs enforces that a peer dependency exists on release branches

[Saadnajmi]

Hey! Does this PR help? #2858
It should release with the next 0.81 patch release, I can comment here when that releases.