test(ci): extract local package creation script

[mikehardy]

Description

When we released 23.8.0 we had several problems related to packaging that would have been visible if we ran our tests against locally created packages (as if they were from npmjs.com the way library users consume them) vs our development-style of symlinking the code into the live source tree

This PR will enable us to run tests in sing locally created packages so we should see those problems pre-publish instead of when users notice them and file issues - it is just the first step, the extraction of the local package creation script we already have - for use in local testing

Related issues

• Related [🐛] v23.8.0 .1 and .2 have a publishing regression - Expo plugin config is not valid - remain on 23.7.0 or wait for 23.8.3+ #8829

Release Summary

This is a testing PR, no release should happen

Checklist

• I read the Contributor Guide and followed the process outlined there for submitting PRs.
  • Yes
• My change supports the following platforms;
  • Android
  • iOS
  • Other (macOS, web)
• My change includes tests;
  • e2e tests added or updated in packages/\*\*/e2e
  • jest tests added or updated in packages/\*\*/__tests__
• I have updated TypeScript types that are affected by my change.
• This is a breaking change;
  • Yes
  • No

Test Plan

• ✅ test patch-package generation result after abstract the script that creates locally created packages from the patch-package flow by comparing downloaded patches.zip vs expectations
• ❓ either convert all test workflows to run against local packages, or add a matrix where some is symlinked and some is locally created packages, need to check how each work first but not there yet

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Project	Deployment	Review	Updated (UTC)
react-native-firebase	Ready	Preview, Comment	Jan 23, 2026 0:47am

[mikehardy]

Add a CI workflow with matrix of supported Expo and RN versions using locally created packages

This new CI workflow is the second step following #8841 and will help avoid problems like #8829 in the future

[mikehardy]

patch-package workflow has already completed and it is the only one affected by this, so it's good to go
I need it to be on main to facilitate local testing of branches so merging now