refactor: don't use nitro dispose

[KrzysztofMoch]

Summary

Until now, when player was released we call dispose() to clear native object, but once dispose() is called we cannot access any properties.

This cause crashes when player is used with events:

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    participant RN as React Native
    participant App as App Logic
    participant Player as HybridVideoPlayer

    Player->>RN: Event is called (scheduled by RN)
    App->>Player: Release player (dispose())
    Note right of Player: Resources freed and references invalid
    App-->>RN: JS callback scheduled/executed
    RN->>App: Run JS callback
    App->>Player: Access player reference
    Player-->>App: Crash due to disposed instance
    Note over App,Player: Access after dispose() triggers crash

Loading

This PR changes this behaviour. Now we don't call dispose(), instead we set hybrid player to undefined and we let GC to clean it when needed. We throw "specific" error when, player being accessed after release. This fixes uncontrolled crashes

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR refactors the video player cleanup mechanism to avoid calling Nitro's dispose() method, which was causing crashes when player instances were accessed from events after disposal. The new approach introduces a release() method that cleans up native resources while allowing the hybrid object to be garbage collected naturally, with a 5-second grace period for pending events.

Key changes:

• Replaced dispose() calls with a new release() method that only releases native resources
• Added a 5-second timeout before nullifying the player reference to allow late events to complete
• Improved thread safety in Android's event emitter with synchronized blocks
• Added AutoCloseable interface to Android's HybridVideoPlayer for better resource management

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 24 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
packages/react-native-video/src/spec/nitro/VideoPlayer.nitro.ts	Added release() method to VideoPlayer interface and documented source replacement behavior
packages/react-native-video/src/core/VideoPlayer.ts	Implemented delayed cleanup with getter-based access control and 5-second timeout for event processing
packages/react-native-video/nitrogen/generated/shared/c++/HybridVideoPlayerSpec.hpp	Generated C++ header with new release() method declaration
packages/react-native-video/nitrogen/generated/shared/c++/HybridVideoPlayerSpec.cpp	Generated C++ implementation registering release() as hybrid method
packages/react-native-video/nitrogen/generated/ios/swift/HybridVideoPlayerSpec_cxx.swift	Generated Swift-C++ bridge implementation for release() method
packages/react-native-video/nitrogen/generated/ios/swift/HybridVideoPlayerSpec.swift	Generated Swift protocol with release() method signature
packages/react-native-video/nitrogen/generated/ios/c++/HybridVideoPlayerSpecSwift.hpp	Generated iOS C++ wrapper implementing release() method
packages/react-native-video/nitrogen/generated/android/kotlin/com/margelo/nitro/video/HybridVideoPlayerSpec.kt	Generated Kotlin spec with abstract release() method
packages/react-native-video/nitrogen/generated/android/c++/JHybridVideoPlayerSpec.hpp	Generated Android JNI header with release() override declaration
packages/react-native-video/nitrogen/generated/android/c++/JHybridVideoPlayerSpec.cpp	Generated Android JNI implementation calling Java release() method
packages/react-native-video/ios/hybrids/VideoPlayer/HybridVideoPlayer.swift	Implemented release() to clean up iOS player resources and clear event listeners
packages/react-native-video/ios/hybrids/VideoPlayer/HybridVideoPlayer+Events.swift	Modified playback status logic to handle non-waiting states differently
packages/react-native-video/android/src/main/java/com/twg/video/hybrids/videoplayereventemitter/HybridVideoPlayerEventEmitter.kt	Added thread safety with synchronized blocks for listener management and event emission
packages/react-native-video/android/src/main/java/com/twg/video/hybrids/videoplayer/HybridVideoPlayer.kt	Made release() public, added AutoCloseable interface, and updated memory size calculation
packages/react-native-video/android/src/main/java/com/twg/video/core/VideoManager.kt	Enhanced player unregistration to null out player references in associated views
packages/drm-plugin/nitrogen/generated/ios/swift/HybridPluginManagerSpec_cxx.swift	Auto-generated update from Nitro code generator (Bool conversion and toString)
packages/drm-plugin/nitrogen/generated/ios/swift/HybridPluginManagerSpec.swift	Auto-generated default toString() implementation
packages/drm-plugin/nitrogen/generated/ios/c++/HybridPluginManagerSpecSwift.hpp	Auto-generated toString() C++ wrapper
packages/drm-plugin/nitrogen/generated/ios/ReactNativeVideoDrm-Swift-Cxx-Bridge.cpp	Auto-generated include for NitroDefines header
packages/drm-plugin/nitrogen/generated/android/kotlin/com/margelo/nitro/videodrm/HybridPluginManagerSpec.kt	Auto-generated default toString() implementation and import cleanup
packages/drm-plugin/nitrogen/generated/android/c++/JHybridPluginManagerSpec.hpp	Auto-generated toString() declaration
packages/drm-plugin/nitrogen/generated/android/c++/JHybridPluginManagerSpec.cpp	Auto-generated toString() JNI implementation
example/ios/Podfile.lock	Version bump from 7.0.0-beta.0 to 7.0.0-beta.1
bun.lock	Version bump across packages from 7.0.0-beta.0 to 7.0.0-beta.1

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (2)

packages/react-native-video/android/src/main/java/com/twg/video/hybrids/videoplayer/HybridVideoPlayer.kt:374

• The release() method is not synchronized or protected against concurrent calls. If release() is called multiple times concurrently, it could lead to race conditions where listeners are removed multiple times or the player is released while still being accessed. Consider adding synchronization or a flag to ensure release() only executes once, similar to the guard in the TypeScript implementation at line 49.

  override fun release() {
    if (playInBackground || showNotificationControls) {
      VideoPlaybackService.stopService(this, videoPlaybackServiceConnection)
    }

    runOnMainThread {
      VideoManager.unregisterPlayer(this)
      stopProgressUpdates()
      loadedWithSource = false

      eventEmitter.clearAllListeners()

      player.removeListener(playerListener)
      player.removeAnalyticsListener(analyticsListener)
      player.release() // Release player

      // Clean Listeners
      audioFocusChangedListener.removeEventEmitter()
      audioBecomingNoisyReceiver.removeEventEmitter()

      // Update status
      status = VideoPlayerStatus.IDLE
    }
  }

packages/react-native-video/ios/hybrids/VideoPlayer/HybridVideoPlayer.swift:224

• The release() method is not protected against concurrent calls. If release() is called multiple times concurrently or while other operations are in progress, it could lead to race conditions or attempting to access already-released resources. Consider adding a flag to track whether release has already been called and guard against multiple executions, similar to the TypeScript implementation's guard at line 49.

  func release() {
    sourceLoader.cancelSync()
    NowPlayingInfoCenterManager.shared.removePlayer(player: player)
    
    try? _eventEmitter?.clearAllListeners()
    
    self.player.replaceCurrentItem(with: nil)
    self.playerItem = nil

    if let source = self.source as? HybridVideoPlayerSource {
      source.releaseAsset()
    }

    // Clear player observer
    self.playerObserver = nil
    status = .idle

    VideoManager.shared.unregister(player: self)
  }

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[pigeonmal]

Hi, I had a quick question about your PR and version 7 in general.

The point of replaceSourceAsync(null) -> release() HybridVideoPlayer.kt is to be able to reuse the player with replaceSourceAsync(newSource), as described in the documentation. However, it seems impossible because the player has been released, and several events are no longer available: VideoManager.unregisterPlayer(this), audioFocusChangedListener, audioBecomingNoisyReceiver.

Perhaps I misunderstood the code, and it's specific to Android, I don't know.

But I find it more intuitive to create/replace with:

override fun resetForReuse() {
runOnMainThread {
if (player.playbackState != Player.STATE_IDLE) {
player.stop()

}
player.clearMediaItems()

}

}

Can you explain its purpose/use to me, as I may have misunderstood it?