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557

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3

It appears that we can - theoretically - build a single static library that includes both simulator and iPhone and iPad.

However, Apple has no documentation on this that I can find, and Xcode's default templates are NOT configured to do this.

I'm looking for a simple, portable, re-usable technique that can be done inside Xcode.

Some history:

  • In 2008, we used to be able to make single static-libs that included both sim and device. Apple disabled that.
  • Throughout 2009, we made pairs of static libs - one for sim, one for device. Apple has now disabled that too.

References:

  1. This is a great idea, it's an excellent approach, but it doesn't work: http://www.drobnik.com/touch/2010/04/universal-static-libraries/

    • There's some bugs in his script that means it only works on his machine - he should be using BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR and/or BUILD_DIR instead of "guesstimating" them)
    • Apple's latest Xcode prevents you from doing what he's done - it simply will not work, due to the (Documented) change in how Xcode processes targets)
  2. Another SO questioner asked how to do it WITHOUT xcode, and with responses that focussed on the arm6 vs arm7 part - but ignored the i386 part: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2793392/how-do-i-compile-a-static-library-fat-for-armv6-armv7-and-i386

    • Since Apple's latest changes, the Simulator part isn't the same as the arm6/arm7 difference any more - it's a different problem, see above)
+2  A: 

There is a command-line utility xcodebuild and you can run shell command within xcode. So, if you don't mind using custom script, this script may help you.

#Configurations.
#This script designed for Mac OS X command-line, so does not use Xcode build variables.
#But you can use it freely if you want.

TARGET=sns
ACTION="clean build"
FILE_NAME=libsns.a

DEVICE=iphoneos3.2
SIMULATOR=iphonesimulator3.2






#Build for all platforms/configurations.

xcodebuild -configuration Debug -target ${TARGET} -sdk ${DEVICE} ${ACTION} RUN_CLANG_STATIC_ANALYZER=NO
xcodebuild -configuration Debug -target ${TARGET} -sdk ${SIMULATOR} ${ACTION} RUN_CLANG_STATIC_ANALYZER=NO
xcodebuild -configuration Release -target ${TARGET} -sdk ${DEVICE} ${ACTION} RUN_CLANG_STATIC_ANALYZER=NO
xcodebuild -configuration Release -target ${TARGET} -sdk ${SIMULATOR} ${ACTION} RUN_CLANG_STATIC_ANALYZER=NO







#Merge all platform binaries as a fat binary for each configurations.

DEBUG_DEVICE_DIR=${SYMROOT}/Debug-iphoneos
DEBUG_SIMULATOR_DIR=${SYMROOT}/Debug-iphonesimulator
DEBUG_UNIVERSAL_DIR=${SYMROOT}/Debug-universal

RELEASE_DEVICE_DIR=${SYMROOT}/Release-iphoneos
RELEASE_SIMULATOR_DIR=${SYMROOT}/Release-iphonesimulator
RELEASE_UNIVERSAL_DIR=${SYMROOT}/Release-universal

rm -rf "${DEBUG_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"
rm -rf "${RELEASE_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"
mkdir "${DEBUG_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"
mkdir "${RELEASE_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"

lipo -create -output "${DEBUG_UNIVERSAL_DIR}/${FILE_NAME}" "${DEBUG_DEVICE_DIR}/${FILE_NAME}" "${DEBUG_SIMULATOR_DIR}/${FILE_NAME}"
lipo -create -output "${RELEASE_UNIVERSAL_DIR}/${FILE_NAME}" "${RELEASE_DEVICE_DIR}/${FILE_NAME}" "${RELEASE_SIMULATOR_DIR}/${FILE_NAME}"

Maybe looks inefficient(I'm not good at shell script), but easy to understand. I configured a new target running only this script. The script is designed for command-line but not tested in :)

The core concept is xcodebuild and lipo.

I tried many configurations within Xcode UI, but nothing worked. Because this is a kind of batch processing, so command-line design is more suitable, so Apple removed batch build feature from Xcode gradually. So I don't expect they offer UI based batch build feature in future.

Eonil
Thanks, it's really interesting that the underlying *simple* commands still appear to work - it's just that Apple broke their GUI spectacularly.Looks like I could make a fully custom project template that would "not suck" and fix the things Apple broke, by pre-making all the Targets, and wiring up this script with xcode build vars.I'll try it out on my next project :)
Adam
A: 

EDIT: you need to run this once with Active SDK = Simulator, and once with Active SDK = Device - for some reason, if you don't, Xcode says "i386 is not a valid architecture, only armv6 and armv7 are valid". But, once you've done that once, it works fine thereafter.

Wow. I think I've done it - automatic, full integration with XCode GUI! (based on Eonil's code)

NB: several changes, the biggest being that this is recursion-safe (it can be called from INSIDE a build-step, and won't crash if you do).

Usage:

  1. Create a static lib project
  2. Select the Target
  3. right-click and "Add ... New Build Phase ... New Run Script Build Phase"
  4. Copy/paste the script below into the box

Finding the library:

Your library will now magically appear - as a SINGLE FILE :) - in:

[your normal build location]/Debug-universal/libPROJECT-NAME.a

or

[your normal build location]/Release-universal/libPROJECT-NAME.a

...automatically only (re-)building based on the current Configuration (Debug, Release, or any custom config).

ALSO please note: it doesn't matter whether you select "Simulator" or "Device" in the build settings - this script automatically RE-builds the other one for you, and puts everything together in a single binary :)

# Purpose:
#   Create a static library for iPhone from within XCode
#   Because Apple staff DELIBERATELY broke Xcode to make this impossible from the GUI (Xcode 3.2.3 specifically states this in the Release notes!)
#   ...no, I don't understand why they did such a stupid thing either!
#
# Author: Adam Martin - http://twitter.com/redglassesapps
# Based on: original script from Eonil (main changes: Eonil's script WILL NOT WORK in Xcode GUI - it WILL CRASH YOUR COMPUTER)
#
# More info: see this Stack Overflow question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3520977/build-fat-static-library-device-simulator-using-xcode-and-sdk-4


#####################[ part 1 ]##################
# First, work out the BASESDK version number (NB: Apple ought to report this, but they hide it)
#    (incidental: searching for substrings in sh is a nightmare! Sob)

SDK_VERSION=$(echo ${SDK_NAME} | grep -o '.\{3\}$')

# Next, work out if we're in SIM or DEVICE

if [ ${PLATFORM_NAME} = "iphonesimulator" ]
then
OTHER_SDK_TO_BUILD=iphoneos${SDK_VERSION}
else
OTHER_SDK_TO_BUILD=iphonesimulator${SDK_VERSION}
fi

echo "XCode has selected SDK: ${PLATFORM_NAME} with version: ${SDK_VERSION} (although back-targetting: ${IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET})"
echo "...therefore, OTHER_SDK_TO_BUILD = ${OTHER_SDK_TO_BUILD}"
#
#####################[ end of part 1 ]##################

#####################[ part 2 ]##################
#
# IF this is the original invocation, invoke WHATEVER other builds are required
#
# Xcode is already building ONE target...
#
# ...but this is a LIBRARY, so Apple is wrong to set it to build just one.
# ...we need to build ALL targets
# ...we MUST NOT re-build the target that is ALREADY being built: Xcode WILL CRASH YOUR COMPUTER if you try this (infinite recursion!)
#
#
# So: build ONLY the missing platforms/configurations.

if [ "true" = ${ALREADYINVOKED} ]
then
echo "RECURSION: I am NOT the root invocation, so I'm NOT going to recurse"
else
# CRITICAL:
# Prevent infinite recursion (Xcode sucks)
export ALREADYINVOKED="true"

echo "RECURSION: I am the root ... recursing all missing build targets NOW..."
echo "RECURSION: ...about to invoke: xcodebuild -configuration \"${CONFIGURATION}\" -target \"${TARGET_NAME}\" -sdk \"${OTHER_SDK_TO_BUULD}\" ${ACTION} RUN_CLANG_STATIC_ANALYZER=NO"
xcodebuild -configuration "${CONFIGURATION}" -target "${TARGET_NAME}" -sdk "${OTHER_SDK_TO_BUILD}" ${ACTION} RUN_CLANG_STATIC_ANALYZER=NO
fi

ACTION="build"

#Merge all platform binaries as a fat binary for each configurations.

CURRENTCONFIG_DEVICE_DIR=${SYMROOT}/${CONFIGURATION}-iphoneos
CURRENTCONFIG_SIMULATOR_DIR=${SYMROOT}/${CONFIGURATION}-iphonesimulator
CURRENTCONFIG_UNIVERSAL_DIR=${SYMROOT}/${CONFIGURATION}-universal

# ... remove the products of previous runs of this script
#      NB: this directory is ONLY created by this script - it should be safe to delete!

rm -rf "${CURRENTCONFIG_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"
mkdir "${CURRENTCONFIG_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"

#
echo "lipo: for current configuration (${CONFIGURATION}) creating output file: ${CURRENTCONFIG_UNIVERSAL_DIR}/${EXECUTABLE_NAME}"
lipo -create -output "${CURRENTCONFIG_UNIVERSAL_DIR}/${EXECUTABLE_NAME}" "${CURRENTCONFIG_DEVICE_DIR}/${EXECUTABLE_NAME}" "${CURRENTCONFIG_SIMULATOR_DIR}/${EXECUTABLE_NAME}"
Adam
I've used this on a few projects now, and shipped stuff into the app-store that used this to build the libraries. All worked 100% OK, so I'm sticking with this for now (until Xcode 4, perhaps)
Adam
Updated with Todd's correction
Adam
A: 

Adam - nice! I'll note that the script as published always wants to lipo the debug version -- should replace Dubug with ${CONFIGURATION} - that seemed to do the trick.

Todd
Thanks, I've updated the script above. I believe it was doing the right thing, but just outputting to the wrong directory?
Adam