iOS build fails since 0.37.0 without `use_frameworks!` on RN <= 0.83: import of module 'glog.glog.log_severity' appears within namespace 'google' — could not build module 'NitroModules'

[mfazekas]

How were you trying to build the app?

Any bare React Native app on RN <= 0.83 with CocoaPods static libraries (the default, no use_frameworks!) fails to build for iOS since react-native-nitro-modules 0.37.0 (still broken in 0.37.1). No nitro library is needed - nitro's own Swift files are enough to trigger it.

Repro:

1. npx @react-native-community/cli init TestApp --version 0.80.3
2. npm install react-native-nitro-modules@0.37.1
3. cd ios && pod install && xcodebuild -workspace TestApp.xcworkspace -scheme TestApp -sdk iphonesimulator build

The first failing step is SwiftEmitModule normal arm64 Emitting module for NitroModules. A faster targeted check is building just the pod target: xcodebuild -project Pods/Pods.xcodeproj -target NitroModules -sdk iphonesimulator -configuration Debug build (fails identically).

0.36.5 builds fine in the same app; 0.37.0 and 0.37.1 fail.

Root cause: 0.37.0 (#1517 and friends) added ReactProp.hpp, ViewComponentDescriptor.hpp and ViewPropsHolderState.hpp to public_header_files, so they are part of the CocoaPods-generated NitroModules clang modulemap (the podspec sets DEFINES_MODULE => YES). When Swift imports NitroModules, clang compiles every umbrella header as part of the module; those three headers include <react/renderer/*> headers which reach <glog/logging.h>. React Native <= 0.83 builds glog from source with DEFINES_MODULE => YES, and glog's logging.h does #include "glog/log_severity.h" from inside namespace google - fine textually, but a hard clang error once it becomes a module import. React Native 0.84+ ships a hand-written textual-headers glog modulemap exactly to avoid this (see scripts/ios-configure-glog.sh in RN 0.84), which is why newer RN versions - and the nitro example app - don't see it. #1521 fixed the sibling use_frameworks!/cxxreact variant only; the renderer includes are still in the modulemap.

Swift never uses these C++ view types (only nitrogen-generated C++ includes them, textually), so they don't need to be in the Swift-facing modulemap at all.

I'm opening two PRs: one that pins this in CI (builds the NitroModules pod inside a bare RN 0.80.3 app, red on main), and one with a fix (hide the three renderer-including headers from the NitroModules module via __building_module(), keeping them fully includable from C++ - verified to turn the repro green, A/B/A tested).

As a control experiment: stripping glog's -fmodule-map-file flag from the generated pod xcconfigs (making glog a textual include again) also makes 0.37.x build - confirming the modulemap interaction is the whole problem.

Full build logs

SwiftEmitModule normal arm64 Emitting module for NitroModules (in target 'NitroModules' from project 'Pods')

~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/glog/glog/logging.h:512:1: error: import of module 'glog.glog.log_severity' appears within namespace 'google'
#include "glog/log_severity.h"
^
~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/glog/glog/logging.h:509:1: note: namespace 'google' begins here
namespace google {
^
<module-includes>:1:9: note: in file included from <module-includes>:1:
#import "NitroModules-umbrella.h"
        ^
~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/NitroModules/NitroModules-umbrella.h:32:9: note: in file included from ~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/NitroModules/NitroModules-umbrella.h:32:
#import "ReactProp.hpp"
        ^
~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/NitroModules/ReactProp.hpp:15:10: note: in file included from ~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/NitroModules/ReactProp.hpp:15:
#include <react/renderer/core/RawProps.h>
         ^
~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/React-Fabric/react/renderer/core/RawProps.h:16:10: note: in file included from ~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/React-Fabric/react/renderer/core/RawProps.h:16:
#include <react/renderer/core/PropsParserContext.h>
         ^
~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/React-Fabric/react/renderer/core/PropsParserContext.h:13:10: note: in file included from ~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/React-Fabric/react/renderer/core/PropsParserContext.h:13:
#include <react/utils/ContextContainer.h>
         ^
~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/React-utils/react/utils/ContextContainer.h:18:10: note: in file included from ~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/React-utils/react/utils/ContextContainer.h:18:
#include <react/debug/react_native_assert.h>
         ^
~/TestApp/ios/Pods/Headers/Public/React-debug/react/debug/react_native_assert.h:54:10: error: could not build module 'glog'
#include <glog/logging.h>
         ^
<unknown>:0: error: could not build Objective-C module 'NitroModules'

** BUILD FAILED **

After the NitroModules pod target fails, the same three errors repeat in every pod whose Swift code imports NitroModules.

Project dependencies

"dependencies": {
  "react": "19.1.0",
  "react-native": "0.80.3",
  "react-native-nitro-modules": "0.37.1"
}

Nitro Modules Version

0.37.1 (also 0.37.0; 0.36.5 is fine)

Nitrogen Version

not used (no nitro library needed to reproduce)

Target platforms

iOS

Operating system

MacOS

Can you build the Nitro Modules Example app?

Yes, I can successfully build the Example app here

(The example can't reproduce this: it runs React Native 0.85, whose glog ships the textual-headers modulemap. I verified the example also builds fine with RCT_USE_RN_DEP=0 / RCT_USE_PREBUILT_RNCORE=0, i.e. glog built from source, on RN 0.85. The break requires RN <= 0.83.)

Additional information

• I am using Expo
• I am using nitrogen
• I have read and followed the Troubleshooting Guide
• I created a reproduction PR to reproduce this issue here in the nitro repo. (See Contributing for more information)
• I searched for similar issues in this repository and found none.

Environment: Xcode 26.5/26.6, CocoaPods 1.16.2, iOS simulator arm64. Related: #1520 (the use_frameworks! + cxxreact sibling), #1521 (its fix - does not cover this), #1517 (where the headers became public).