After upgrading my app from RN 0.42 to RN 0.59.10 this issue came up, unable to build my project.
FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.
* What went wrong:
A problem occurred configuring project ':app'.
> groovy.lang.MissingPropertyException: Could not get unknown property 'manifestOutputFile' for task ':app:processDebugManifest' of type com.android.build.gradle.tasks.ProcessApplicationManifest.
Build.gradle
  apply plugin: 'com.bugsnag.android.gradle'
apply plugin: "com.android.application"
import com.android.build.OutputFile
/**
 * The react.gradle file registers a task for each build variant (e.g. bundleDebugJsAndAssets
 * and bundleReleaseJsAndAssets).
 * These basically call `react-native bundle` with the correct arguments during the Android build
 * cycle. By default, bundleDebugJsAndAssets is skipped, as in debug/dev mode we prefer to load the
 * bundle directly from the development server. Below you can see all the possible configurations
 * and their defaults. If you decide to add a configuration block, make sure to add it before the
 * `apply from: "../../node_modules/react-native/react.gradle"` line.
 *
 * project.ext.react = [
 *   // the name of the generated asset file containing your JS bundle
 *   bundleAssetName: "index.android.bundle",
 *
 *   // the entry file for bundle generation
 *   entryFile: "index.android.js",
 *
 *   // whether to bundle JS and assets in debug mode
 *   bundleInDebug: false,
 *
 *   // whether to bundle JS and assets in release mode
 *   bundleInRelease: true,
 *
 *   // whether to bundle JS and assets in another build variant (if configured).
 *   // See http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide#TOC-Build-Variants
 *   // The configuration property can be in the following formats
 *   //         'bundleIn${productFlavor}${buildType}'
 *   //         'bundleIn${buildType}'
 *   // bundleInFreeDebug: true,
 *   // bundleInPaidRelease: true,
 *   // bundleInBeta: true,
 *
 *   // whether to disable dev mode in custom build variants (by default only disabled in release)
 *   // for example: to disable dev mode in the staging build type (if configured)
 *   devDisabledInStaging: true,
 *   // The configuration property can be in the following formats
 *   //         'devDisabledIn${productFlavor}${buildType}'
 *   //         'devDisabledIn${buildType}'
 *
 *   // the root of your project, i.e. where "package.json" lives
 *   root: "../../",
 *
 *   // where to put the JS bundle asset in debug mode
 *   jsBundleDirDebug: "$buildDir/intermediates/assets/debug",
 *
 *   // where to put the JS bundle asset in release mode
 *   jsBundleDirRelease: "$buildDir/intermediates/assets/release",
 *
 *   // where to put drawable resources / React Native assets, e.g. the ones you use via
 *   // require('./image.png')), in debug mode
 *   resourcesDirDebug: "$buildDir/intermediates/res/merged/debug",
 *
 *   // where to put drawable resources / React Native assets, e.g. the ones you use via
 *   // require('./image.png')), in release mode
 *   resourcesDirRelease: "$buildDir/intermediates/res/merged/release",
 *
 *   // by default the gradle tasks are skipped if none of the JS files or assets change; this means
 *   // that we don't look at files in android/ or ios/ to determine whether the tasks are up to
 *   // date; if you have any other folders that you want to ignore for performance reasons (gradle
 *   // indexes the entire tree), add them here. Alternatively, if you have JS files in android/
 *   // for example, you might want to remove it from here.
 *   inputExcludes: ["android/**", "ios/**"],
 *
 *   // override which node gets called and with what additional arguments
 *   nodeExecutableAndArgs: ["node"],
 *
 *   // supply additional arguments to the packager
 *   extraPackagerArgs: []
 * ]
 */
 project.ext.react = [
    entryFile: "index.js"
]
apply from: "../../node_modules/react-native/react.gradle"
/**
 * Set this to true to create two separate APKs instead of one:
 *   - An APK that only works on ARM devices
 *   - An APK that only works on x86 devices
 * The advantage is the size of the APK is reduced by about 4MB.
 * Upload all the APKs to the Play Store and people will download
 * the correct one based on the CPU architecture of their device.
 */
def enableSeparateBuildPerCPUArchitecture = false
/**
 * Run Proguard to shrink the Java bytecode in release builds.
 */
def enableProguardInReleaseBuilds = false
def keystorePropertiesFile = rootProject.file("upload-keystore.properties")
def keystoreProperties = new Properties()
keystoreProperties.load(new FileInputStream(keystorePropertiesFile))
android {
    compileSdkVersion rootProject.ext.compileSdkVersion
    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.XXX.XXX"
        minSdkVersion rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
        targetSdkVersion rootProject.ext.targetSdkVersion
        versionName "1.1.2"
        versionCode 11
        multiDexEnabled true
        ndk.abiFilters 'armeabi-v7a', 'arm64-v8a', 'x86', 'x86_64'
    }
    signingConfigs {
        release {
            keyAlias keystoreProperties['keyAlias']
            keyPassword keystoreProperties['keyPassword']
            storeFile file(keystoreProperties['storeFile'])
            storePassword keystoreProperties['storePassword']
        }
    }
    splits {
        abi {
            reset()
            enable enableSeparateBuildPerCPUArchitecture
            universalApk false  // If true, also generate a universal APK
            include "armeabi-v7a", "x86", "arm64-v8a", "x86_64"
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled enableProguardInReleaseBuilds
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android.txt"), "proguard-rules.pro"
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
        }
    }
    // applicationVariants are e.g. debug, release
    // applicationVariants.all { variant ->
    //     variant.outputs.each { output ->
    //         // For each separate APK per architecture, set a unique version code as described here:
    //         // http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide/apk-splits
    //         include "armeabi-v7a", "x86", "arm64-v8a", "x86_64"            
    //         def abi = output.getFilter(OutputFile.ABI)
    //         if (abi != null) {  // null for the universal-debug, universal-release variants
    //             output.versionCodeOverride =
    //                     versionCodes.get(abi) * 1048576 + defaultConfig.versionCode
    //         }
    //     }
    // }
}
dependencies {
    implementation project(':react-native-payments')
    implementation project(':react-native-webview')
    implementation project(':react-native-video')
    implementation project(':@react-native-community_async-storage')
    implementation project(':@react-native-community_netinfo')
    implementation project(':react-native-snackbar')
    implementation project(':realm')
    implementation project(':react-native-gesture-handler')
    implementation project(':rn-fetch-blob')
    implementation project(':bugsnag-react-native')
    implementation project(':react-native-sound')
    implementation 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0'
    implementation project(':react-native-fs')
    implementation project(':react-native-autoheight-webview')
    implementation project(':react-native-firebase-analytics')
    implementation project(':react-native-aws-cognito')
    implementation project(':react-native-aws-s3')
    implementation project(':react-native-splash-screen')
    implementation project(':react-native-orientation')
    implementation project(':react-native-vector-icons')
    implementation project(':react-native-sketch-view')
    implementation project(':react-native-image-picker')
    implementation fileTree(dir: "libs", include: ["*.jar"])
    implementation "com.android.support:appcompat-v7:${rootProject.ext.supportLibVersion}"
    implementation "com.facebook.react:react-native:+"  // From node_modules
}
// Run this once to be able to run the application with BUCK
// puts all compile dependencies into folder libs for BUCK to use
task copyDownloadableDepsToLibs(type: Copy) {
    from configurations.compile
    into 'libs'
}
apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'
app/build.gradle
// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.
buildscript {
    ext {
        buildToolsVersion = "28.0.3"
        minSdkVersion = 16
        compileSdkVersion = 28
        targetSdkVersion = 28
        supportLibVersion = "28.0.0"
    }
    repositories {
        google()
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath("com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.4.0")
        classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:3.1.0'
        classpath 'com.bugsnag:bugsnag-android-gradle-plugin:2.4.2'
        // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
        // in the individual module build.gradle files
    }
}
allprojects {
    repositories {
        mavenLocal()
        // maven { url 'https://maven.google.com' } 
        google()
        jcenter()
        maven {
            // All of React Native (JS, Obj-C sources, Android binaries) is installed from npm
            url "$rootDir/../node_modules/react-native/android"
        }
    }
}
Any help is appreciated
Thanks in advance..
solution:
gradle assemble -info gave me the hint that the Manifests have different SDK Versions and cannot be merged.
I needed to edit my Manifests and build.gradle file and everything worked again.
To be clear you need to edit the uses-sdk in the AndroidManifest.xml
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="14" android:targetSdkVersion="16" />
and the android section, particularly minSdkVersion and targetSdkVersion in the build.gradle file
android {
    compileSdkVersion 17
    buildToolsVersion "17.0.0"
    defaultConfig {
        minSdkVersion 14
        targetSdkVersion 16
    }
}
In case anyone is facing the same issue using a Native android project, cross-check your build.gradle (app module) file.
In my case I had misedited and it contained unsual characters
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