FirebaseSessions Swift error with Xcode 12.5.1

Question

I've followed the following tutorial to add Firebase to our iOS App https://rnfirebase.io/#3-ios-setup, however I keep getting the following error

Cannot convert value of type 'UnsafeRawPointer' to expected argument type 'UnsafePointer<pb_byte_t>?' (aka 'Optional<UnsafePointer>')

This is my Pod file

require_relative '../node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-ios/native_modules'

platform :ios, min_ios_version_supported
prepare_react_native_project!

# If you are using a `react-native-flipper` your iOS build will fail when `NO_FLIPPER=1` is set.
# because `react-native-flipper` depends on (FlipperKit,...) that will be excluded
#
# To fix this you can also exclude `react-native-flipper` using a `react-native.config.js`
# ```js
# module.exports = {
#   dependencies: {
#     ...(process.env.NO_FLIPPER ? { 'react-native-flipper': { platforms: { ios: null } } } : {}),
# ```
flipper_config = ENV['NO_FLIPPER'] == "1" ? FlipperConfiguration.disabled : FlipperConfiguration.enabled

linkage = ENV['USE_FRAMEWORKS']
if linkage != nil
  Pod::UI.puts "Configuring Pod with #{linkage}ally linked Frameworks".green
  use_frameworks! :linkage => linkage.to_sym
end

target 'stllrmobile' do
  config = use_native_modules!

  use_frameworks! :linkage => :static
  #$RNFirebaseAsStaticFramework = true 

  # Flags change depending on the env values.
  flags = get_default_flags()

  use_react_native!(
    :path => config[:reactNativePath],
    # Hermes is now enabled by default. Disable by setting this flag to false.
    # Upcoming versions of React Native may rely on get_default_flags(), but
    # we make it explicit here to aid in the React Native upgrade process.
    :hermes_enabled => flags[:hermes_enabled],
    :fabric_enabled => flags[:fabric_enabled],
    # Enables Flipper.
    #
    # Note that if you have use_frameworks! enabled, Flipper will not work and
    # you should disable the next line.
    #:flipper_configuration => flipper_config,
    # An absolute path to your application root.
    :app_path => "#{Pod::Config.instance.installation_root}/.."
  )

  target 'stllrmobileTests' do
    inherit! :complete
    # Pods for testing
  end

  post_install do |installer|
    react_native_post_install(
      installer,
      # Set `mac_catalyst_enabled` to `true` in order to apply patches
      # necessary for Mac Catalyst builds
      :mac_catalyst_enabled => false
    )
    __apply_Xcode_12_5_M1_post_install_workaround(installer)
  end
end

And this is the code line generating the error in SessionStartEvent.swift

func encodeDecodeEvent() -> firebase_appquality_sessions_SessionEvent {
    let transportBytes = self.transportBytes()
    var proto = firebase_appquality_sessions_SessionEvent()
    var fields = firebase_appquality_sessions_SessionEvent_fields

    let bytes = (transportBytes as NSData).bytes
    var istream: pb_istream_t = pb_istream_from_buffer(bytes, transportBytes.count)

    if !pb_decode(&istream, &fields.0, &proto) {
      let errorMessage = FIRSESPBGetError(istream)
      if errorMessage.count > 0 {
        Logger.logError("Session Event failed to decode transportBytes: \(errorMessage)")
      }
    }
    return proto
  }

This is the line causing the error:

var istream: pb_istream_t = pb_istream_from_buffer(bytes, transportBytes.count)

Cannot convert value of type 'UnsafeRawPointer' to expected argument type 'UnsafePointer<pb_byte_t>?' (aka 'Optional<UnsafePointer>')

Answer 1

Firebase 9.x and 10.x require at least Xcode 13.3.1. See the release notes for additional detail.

Answer 2

I've upgraded from 10.3 to 10.6 and I'm hitting the same error as you with Unity build. Not sure how to fix it quite yet.

Edit: I have modified this function a bit, given that it looks like it's not supposedly used in actual production code. With this change the code compiles and seems to be running fine:

/// Encodes the proto in this SessionStartEvent to Data, and then decodes the Data back into
/// the proto object and returns the decoded proto. This is used for validating encoding works
/// and should not be used in production code.
func encodeDecodeEvent() -> firebase_appquality_sessions_SessionEvent {
  let transportBytes = self.transportBytes()
  var proto = firebase_appquality_sessions_SessionEvent()
  var fields = firebase_appquality_sessions_SessionEvent_fields

  let bytes = (transportBytes as NSData).bytes
  let bytes_pt: UnsafePointer<pb_byte_t> = bytes.assumingMemoryBound(to: pb_byte_t.self)
  var istream: pb_istream_t = pb_istream_from_buffer(bytes_pt, transportBytes.count)

  if !pb_decode(&istream, &fields.0, &proto) {
    let errorMessage = FIRSESPBGetError(istream)
    if errorMessage.count > 0 {
      Logger.logError("Session Event failed to decode transportBytes: \(errorMessage)")
    }
  }
  return proto
}

Please note I have no idea if this cast for bytes_pt here is correct, as I'm not familiar with Swift.