SKIP_BUNDLING prevents generating packager host IP for debugging on iOS devices

[keatongreve]

Duplicate of #17301, which was closed due to being stale.

Environment

React Native Environment Info:
    System:
      OS: macOS High Sierra 10.13.5
      CPU: x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz
      Memory: 165.44 MB / 16.00 GB
      Shell: 3.2.57 - /bin/bash
    Binaries:
      Node: 9.11.2 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v9.11.2/bin/node
      Yarn: 1.9.2 - /usr/local/bin/yarn
      npm: 5.6.0 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v9.11.2/bin/npm
      Watchman: 4.9.0 - /usr/local/bin/watchman
    SDKs:
      iOS SDK:
        Platforms: iOS 11.4, X 10.11, macOS 10.13, tvOS 11.4, watchOS 4.3
    IDEs:
      Android Studio: 3.1 AI-173.4720617
      Xcode: 9.4.1/9F2000 - /usr/bin/xcodebuild
    npmPackages:
      react: 16.4.1 => 16.4.1 
      react-native: 0.56.0 => 0.56.0 
    npmGlobalPackages:
      react-native-cli: 2.0.1

Description

When setting SKIP_BUNDLING before a clean build of a React Native application for an iOS device (not a simulator), the ip.txt file is not generated in the build directory, preventing the application from getting the packager host's IP address in guessPackagerHost.

This only affects projects whose build directories have been cleaned; if the project has been built before when SKIP_BUNDLING is not set, ip.txt is generated and remains there even after SKIP_BUNDLING is later set.

Reproducible Demo

These steps describe building from Xcode, but a previous version of this issue describes reproducible steps using react-native run-ios. I built from Xcode to demonstrate in the Xcode debugger that a value is nil when it should not be.

1. rimraf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData

2. react-native init NewProject1

3. open NewProject1/ios/NewProject1.xcodeproj

4. Add export SKIP_BUNDLING=1 to the build phase Bundle React Native code and images

5. Build and run the application on an iOS device

Expected behavior

Application generates a jsCodeLocation that includes packager host's IP address. i.e. http://192.168.0.19:8081/index.bundle?platform=ios&dev=true&minify=false
Application loads JS bundle from packager

Actual behavior

Application fails to load React Native view, with error No bundle URL present. Make sure you're running a packager server or...