expo: [SDK 48] Bare workflow, android release w/ product flavors - "The embedded manifest is invalid or could not be read"

@leymytel the fix is now in the SDK 48 maintenance branch. Will post again once a new expo-updates point release has been published.

@Johan-dutoit your solution is correct! Except that it will break the build if flavor variants are NOT used, as there will be duplicate copy tasks – but that is easy to fix. Thanks for providing this! 😄

I think the following patch against SDK 48 should work, @tylercote @ken0x0a @sin2 :

diff --git a/node_modules/expo-updates/scripts/create-manifest-android.gradle b/node_modules/expo-updates/scripts/create-manifest-android.gradle
index 81138a9..30b4d3f 100644
--- a/node_modules/expo-updates/scripts/create-manifest-android.gradle
+++ b/node_modules/expo-updates/scripts/create-manifest-android.gradle
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ def setupClosure = {
         name: "copy${targetName}ExpoManifest",
         type: Copy) {
       description = "expo-updates: Copy manifest into ${targetName}."
+      duplicatesStrategy = DuplicatesStrategy.INCLUDE
 
       into ("${appProject.buildDir}/intermediates")
       into ("assets/${targetPath}") {
@@ -90,6 +91,11 @@ def setupClosure = {
         from(assetsDir)
       }
 
+      // Workaround for Android Gradle Plugin 7.5+ asset directory (including flavor variants)
+      into ("assets/${variant.name}") {
+        from(assetsDir)
+      }
+
       // mergeAssets must run first, as it clears the intermediates directory
       dependsOn(variant.mergeAssetsProvider.get())
       dependsOn(currentBundleTask)

@Kudo

No idea if this is the right thing to do (or what the ramifications are)… but the following patch stopped my crashing

diff --git a/node_modules/expo-updates/scripts/create-manifest-android.gradle b/node_modules/expo-updates/scripts/create-manifest-android.gradle
index 81138a9..b5896e4 100644
--- a/node_modules/expo-updates/scripts/create-manifest-android.gradle
+++ b/node_modules/expo-updates/scripts/create-manifest-android.gradle
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ def setupClosure = {
       }
 
       // Workaround for Android Gradle Plugin 7.1+ asset directory
-      into ("assets/${variant.name}/merge${targetName}Assets") {
+      into ("assets/${variant.name}") {
         from(assetsDir)
       }

Fixed in expo-updates@0.16.4

for sdk 48, that might be related to https://github.com/expo/expo/blob/11c0cbb32e6867b1e2103353493c452d240c4e98/packages/expo-updates/scripts/create-manifest-android.gradle#LL65C21-L65C22

You can avoid this error by put project.ext.react back to “android/app/build.gradle”

project.ext.react = [
  bundleInDev: true,
  bundleInYourFlavourInPascalCase: true,
]

for sdk 48, that might be related to https://github.com/expo/expo/blob/11c0cbb32e6867b1e2103353493c452d240c4e98/packages/expo-updates/scripts/create-manifest-android.gradle#LL65C21-L65C22

You can avoid this error by put project.ext.react back to “android/app/build.gradle”

project.ext.react = [
  bundleInDev: true,
  bundleInYourFlavourInPascalCase: true,
]

@ken0x0a This unfortunately did not fix the crash in my case.

Can confirm that the patch above works for me.

Thanks @Johan-dutoit this is extremely helpful 👍

@douglowder yeah, I saw that.

I might misinformed. I’m using buildType and not flavor. Without bundleInDev,

...
Task :expo-updates:copyDevExpoManifest SKIPPED
...

will happen right? Or, is there another reason for this skip?

As I followed the code, I found that code is the one I was looking for, and The embedded manifest is invalid or could not be read. was fixed in my case.

Interesting

Ok to make things simpler, I reproduced the issue a different way.

• Execute the following:

yarn create expo-app bare-workflow-48 --template blank-typescript
cd bare-workflow-48
eas init
eas update:configure

• Modify app.json to add request headers for updates:

{
  "expo": {
.
.
.
    "updates": {
      "requestHeaders": {
        "expo-channel-name": "main"
      },
      "url": "https://u.expo.dev/_project_id_"
    }
  }
}

• Execute npx expo prebuild and select the default package name and bundle identifier (in my case, it was com.douglowderexpo.bareworkflow48)
• Build and run the Android app

cd android
./gradlew :app:installRelease

App will start as expected.

• Now edit android/app/build.gradle as follows to add some variants:

    flavorDimensions "default"
    productFlavors {
        local {
            applicationId "com.douglowderexpo.bareworkflow48.local"
        }   
        development {
            applicationId "com.douglowderexpo.bareworkflow48.dev"
        }   
        production {
            applicationId "com.douglowderexpo.bareworkflow48"
        }   
    }   

• Try building and installing one of the variants:

cd android
./gradlew :app:installDevelopmentRelease

It will cause the missing manifest crash described in this issue.

I suspect that the build flavors need additional lines in the build files to properly create and package the updates manifest.

@douglowder @bebe84

I am now seeing the crash that you mention @bebe84, as I had previously forgotten to update the native code as mentioned here. Upon updating the native code, it is returning to crashing on launch. I have updated the repro in my original issue to indicate this.