Cocoapods error: 'Unable to read the license file'

Question

When I type

pods install

or

pods update

I get the following error for one library:

Unable

Answer 1

If I copy the old pod.lock from an old git branch over the latest git branch I no longer see 'pods is out of sync', and I don't have to redo 'pod update' 'pod install' again.

Someone in the team updated pods, and therefore the pods.lock file changed version the scribbly alphanumeric characters next to the libraries we use.

What's up with that though? Seriously if we update our libraries and then change to a different branch we'll need to update pods and rebuild - Is this the way the process is intended to be for pods and git?