Unable to find a specification for "React-Codegen" - ios

Question

I'm trying to upgrade an inherited project from React Native 0.64 to 0.68. I'm encountering a number of Cocoapod related errors, particularly around React-Codegen which no longer exists as a podspec in the react-native npm package.
The strange thing is I can't any reference online to others having this problem with this particular podspec. This usually means there is something else wrong for which this is a "red herring".
Below is a subset of my Podfile. I'm wondering whether setup has changed such that I no longer need all of these pod dependencies to be explicitly declared? Anyone have any ideas?
pod 'React', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-Core', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-CoreModules', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/React/CoreModules', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-Core/DevSupport', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-perflogger', :path => "../node_modules/react-native/ReactCommon/reactperflogger", :modular_headers => false # dep for DevSupport
pod 'React-RCTActionSheet', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/Libraries/ActionSheetIOS', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-RCTAnimation', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/Libraries/NativeAnimation', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-RCTBlob', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/Libraries/Blob', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-RCTImage', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/Libraries/Image', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-RCTLinking', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/Libraries/LinkingIOS', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-RCTNetwork', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/Libraries/Network', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-RCTSettings', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/Libraries/Settings', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-RCTText', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/Libraries/Text', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-RCTVibration', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/Libraries/Vibration', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-Core/RCTWebSocket', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/', :modular_headers => false
pod 'React-ART', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/Libraries/ART', :modular_headers => false # No longer a pod
pod 'React-cxxreact', :path => '../node_modules/react-native/ReactCommon/cxxreact', :modular_headers => false

Answer 1

Add the below statement at the top of your application's Podfile:
require_relative '../node_modules/react-native/scripts/react_native_pods'
The file which we are requiring in the above step defines a method called use_react_native! which we need in the next step.
Now call the method use_react_native! just before your application's target name in the Podfile as below:
use_react_native!
target 'Example' do
...
end
Finally, run the command pod install at the root of your application
$ pod install

Answer 2

I got it!
apparently react create a script that contains all the standard pods needs for your build
so what I did so far was doing a react-native init to generate the default podfile which was so much different from the old one
here it is
require_relative '../node_modules/react-native/scripts/react_native_pods'
require_relative '../node_modules/#react-native-community/cli-platform-ios/native_modules'
platform :ios, '11.0'
install! 'cocoapods', :deterministic_uuids => false
target 'onboardingF2fApp' do
config = use_native_modules!
# Pods for onboardingF2fApp
pod 'GooglePlaces', '3.1.0'
pod 'GooglePlacePicker'
pod 'GoogleMaps'
# Flags change depending on the env values.
flags = get_default_flags()
use_react_native!(
:path => config[:reactNativePath],
# to enable hermes on iOS, change `false` to `true` and then install pods
:hermes_enabled => flags[:hermes_enabled],
:fabric_enabled => flags[:fabric_enabled],
# An absolute path to your application root.
:app_path => "#{Pod::Config.instance.installation_root}/.."
)
end
post_install do |installer|
react_native_post_install(installer)
__apply_Xcode_12_5_M1_post_install_workaround(installer)
end
target 'onboardingF2fAppTests' do
inherit! :search_paths
# Pods for testing
end
end
basicaly this script replaces all of the pods in your post
require_relative '../node_modules/react-native/scripts/react_native_pods'

Answer 3

Add this two lines on top of Podfile.
require_relative '../node_modules/react-native/scripts/react_native_pods'
require_relative '../node_modules/#react-native-community/cli-platform-ios/native_modules'
Then remove all RCT related pod.
'pod install' & just build project.
This scripts/react_native_pods.rb do all RCT stuff we need.
You can try with a new project with react-native init to see the template Podfile. Its totally diferent than before. I tried on 0.69.5