Nativescript 6.5 could not build module 'nanopb' on iOS - nativescript

Question

I have a NS 6.5 app which when I try to build fails with the following error: could not build module 'nanopb'
Here is my package.json:
{
"nativescript": {
"id": "io.app.app",
"tns-ios": {
"version": "6.5.3"
}
},
"description": "NativeScript Application",
"license": "SEE LICENSE IN <your-license-filename>",
"repository": "<fill-your-repository-here>",
"dependencies": {
"#nativescript/theme": "~2.3.0",
"#nstudio/nativescript-camera-plus": "3.0.7",
"#nstudio/nativescript-loading-indicator": "3.0.2",
"moment": "^2.26.0",
"nativescript-appversion": "1.4.4",
"nativescript-carousel": "^6.1.1",
"nativescript-contacts-lite": "0.2.6",
"nativescript-custom-bottomsheet": "^1.0.6",
"nativescript-imagecropper": "^3.0.0",
"nativescript-iqkeyboardmanager": "^1.5.1",
"nativescript-masked-text-field": "4.0.3",
"nativescript-permissions": "1.3.8",
"nativescript-plugin-firebase": "10.5.2",
"nativescript-ui-listview": "^8.1.2",
"tns-core-modules": "6.5.20"
},
"devDependencies": {
"nativescript-dev-webpack": "1.5.1",
"tns-platform-declarations": "6.5.15",
"typescript": "~3.5.3"
},
"gitHead": "d8bdf0799a219051f28f8abd7c258d2bf2fce6e1",
"readme": "NativeScript Application"
}
Here is what I get when I run tns doctor:
No issues were detected.
✔ Your ANDROID_HOME environment variable is set and points to correct directory.
✔ Your adb from the Android SDK is correctly installed.
✔ The Android SDK is installed.
✔ A compatible Android SDK for compilation is found.
✔ Javac is installed and is configured properly.
✔ The Java Development Kit (JDK) is installed and is configured properly.
✔ Xcode is installed and is configured properly.
✔ xcodeproj is installed and is configured properly.
✔ CocoaPods are installed.
✔ CocoaPods update is not required.
✔ CocoaPods are configured properly.
✔ Your current CocoaPods version is newer than 1.0.0.
✔ Python installed and configured correctly.
✔ The Python 'six' package is found.
✔ Xcode version 11.5.0 satisfies minimum required version 10.
✔ Getting NativeScript components versions information...
⚠ Update available for component nativescript. Your current version is 6.5.0 and the latest available version is 7.0.10.
✔ Component tns-core-modules has 6.5.20 version and is up to date.
✖ Component tns-android is not installed.
✔ Component tns-ios has 6.5.3 version and is up to date.
I have tried removing the platform, deleting the hooks, node_modules, and platforms, upgrading the firebase plugin, but nothing helps.
Any ideas on what the problem is?
Thanks.

Answer 1

After opening the app in XCode, I tried building it from there. This build succeeded, so I figured that the issue is with NS. I fixed it by trial and error. I kept playing around with the NS global version and finally, everything worked when I downgraded to version 6.2.0.
Note: Do not forget to clean your app before each test. I use:
tns platform remove ios
rm -rf node_modules hooks platforms package-lock.json
I am not sure why this worked or what the problem was. Perhaps someone from the Nativescript team can shed some light on the topic.