Upgrade of React-Native and Dependencies for Gradle 8 and Kotlin 1.8.0 Compatibility

[SanthoshKumarSrikanthaMurali]

Problem Statement

We encountered a significant integration issue with the Intercom Android SDK due to discrepancies in the Gradle and Kotlin versions used across different components of our react-native project. Specifically, the Intercom Android SDK had been updated to utilise Gradle 8 and Kotlin 1.9.0. In contrast, our react-native project was still operating on older versions (Gradle 3.4.2 for the library project and Gradle 7 for the Sandbox app). This version mismatch prevented the Sandbox application from compiling, thereby hindering our customers' ability to test and integrate react-native SDK effectively.

Implemented Solution

To address these compatibility issues and ensure a smooth integration process for our customers, a comprehensive upgrade of our react-native environment and its dependencies. The updates are as follows:

• React-Native Version Upgrade: Updated to React-Native version 0.73.4, ensuring full compatibility with the latest Gradle and Kotlin versions.

• Gradle Scripts and Dependencies Update: Modified Gradle scripts and updated dependencies to align with Gradle 8 and Kotlin 1.8.0 requirements. These changes included the elimination of redundant and deprecated code, as well as updates to import statements to match the new library versions.

• Simplification of Build Variants: Removed previously existing build variants, such as the fossDebug variant. Going forward, the project will only support debug and release variants, streamlining the build process.

Steps to run the project

// From `intercom-react-native` directory
yarn install
cd example
yarn install
yarn start

Once the Metro bundler is running, you can launch the application on Android by pressing "a" or on iOS by pressing "i".

Note: If the build fails in your existing project setup, try deleting the node_modules folder from intercom-react-native and example directories and re-run the above steps.

To facilitate a seamless transition to the updated project setup, we need to update the scripts and documentation to include the above commands for setting up and running the project.