fix(cocoapods): address review on dependency-only facades

Review feedback on the prebuilt-deps facades:

- rndeps_facades.rb: soften the "graph-equivalent" comment — facades match the
  source pod's spec/subspec shape but route every derived subspec's dep to
  ReactNativeDependencies, so intra-pod subspec deps (RCT-Folly/Fabric ->
  RCT-Folly/Default) are not reproduced (harmless; the deps are declared
  explicitly in react_native_pods.rb).
- rndeps_facades.rb: add `require_relative './helpers'` so Helpers::Constants is
  self-contained against require ordering (the defined? guard stays as backstop).
- reactNativeDependencies.js: document that the no-version-marker branch returns
  before the version.txt write, so a locally-staged artifact never gains a marker
  and later runs re-hit the branch (intentional; downstream must not assume it).
- rndependencies.rb: uniq the HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS so a second call can't duplicate.
- prebuilt-deps.md: drop the stray space before SocketRocket.

Note: the Ruby-tests request is not actioned — the repo's cocoapods Ruby test
harness is not wired into CI, so the tests would not run.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: chrfalch

packages/react-native/scripts/cocoapods/__docs__/prebuilt-deps.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ How the third-party C/C++ deps (`RCT-Folly`, `glog`, `boost`,
 In prebuilt-deps mode the `ReactNativeDependencies` POD (CocoaPods) is the
 single authority for the third-party deps: compiled code lives in its
 xcframework binary, and the artifact's own
-`Headers/{folly,glog,boost,fmt,double-conversion,fast_float, SocketRocket}` are
+`Headers/{folly,glog,boost,fmt,double-conversion,fast_float,SocketRocket}` are
 flattened into the pod's `Headers/` by the podspec's `prepare_command`.
 Consumers resolve bare `<folly/...>` / `<SocketRocket/...>` via CocoaPods
 public-header linkage from `s.dependency "ReactNativeDependencies"`, plus an

packages/react-native/scripts/cocoapods/rndependencies.rb

@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ def add_rn_third_party_dependencies(s)
         header_search_paths << "$(PODS_ROOT)/SocketRocket"
         header_search_paths << "$(PODS_ROOT)/RCT-Folly"
 
-        current_pod_target_xcconfig["HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS"] = header_search_paths
+        # uniq so a second call on the same spec can't duplicate entries.
+        current_pod_target_xcconfig["HEADER_SEARCH_PATHS"] = header_search_paths.uniq
     else
         # Prebuilt-deps mode: this pod SELF-SERVES the third-party headers from its
         # own xcframework (incl. SocketRocket - sole supplier in this mode). See

packages/react-native/scripts/cocoapods/rndeps_facades.rb

@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@
 
 require 'json'
 require 'fileutils'
+# Self-contained against require ordering: this module reads
+# Helpers::Constants.socket_rocket_config. react_native_pods.rb normally loads
+# helpers.rb first, but requiring it here (idempotent) removes that implicit
+# dependency. The defined? guard at the use site stays as a backstop.
+require_relative './helpers'
 
 # Dependency-only facade podspecs for the third-party deps in prebuilt-deps
 # mode (deps-side analogue of RNCoreFacades). Design + rationale:
@@ -45,8 +50,12 @@ module RNDepsFacades
     # `react_native_path` locates the real third-party podspecs we mirror.
     # version + subspecs + default_subspecs are DERIVED from the real spec (or,
     # for SocketRocket, synthesized from the socket_rocket_config version) so the
-    # facade stays graph-equivalent to the source pod. NO source_files and NO
-    # headers are emitted — the ReactNativeDependencies pod supplies both. A
+    # facade matches the source pod's spec/subspec SHAPE. It is not fully
+    # graph-equivalent: every derived subspec depends only on
+    # ReactNativeDependencies, so intra-pod subspec deps (e.g. RCT-Folly/Fabric
+    # -> RCT-Folly/Default) are not reproduced — harmless here because the deps
+    # are all declared explicitly in react_native_pods.rb. NO source_files and
+    # NO headers are emitted — the ReactNativeDependencies pod supplies both. A
     # facaded pod whose real podspec can't be read is a hard error (see
     # load_real_spec) — silently shipping an empty facade would hide drift.
     def self.generate(react_native_path, install_root, ios_version)

packages/react-native/scripts/ios-prebuild/reactNativeDependencies.js

@@ -162,8 +162,11 @@ function checkExistingVersion(
         `React Native Dependencies found on disk at: ${artifactsPath}.\nNo version file has been found. We are going to use it anyway, but there might be some unexpected behaviors.`,
       );
       // Honor the message above: an artifact without a version marker is a
-      // locally-staged one (e.g. a freshly composed deps build) — falling
-      // through here rmSync'd it and re-downloaded. Use it as-is.
+      // locally-staged one (e.g. a freshly composed deps build). Use it as-is.
+      // NOTE: this returns BEFORE the version.txt write below, so a
+      // locally-staged artifact never gains a marker — every later run re-hits
+      // this branch. That is intentional (don't clobber a hand-staged build),
+      // but downstream code must not assume version.txt exists here.
       return true;
     }
   } else {