Apple iTunes Connect App submission error - ios

Apple iTunes Submission Error : Unable to process application at this time due to following error: bundle 'xyz.app' is missing a bundle executable.
Certificates and Profile : Checked

This is likely happening due to the use of a "fake framework" (either the one from https://github.com/kstenerud/iOS-Universal-Framework or variations of this design). Some libraries and packages had their resources bundled together as a "framework" to make the inclusion of headers, nibs, images and localizable strings easier for host projects. However, those frameworks were actually a mutant bundle and don't meet the definition/structure that Apple is enforcing now that they've added Cocoa Touch Frameworks.
Some solutions:
Split the "fake framework" into a separate .a binary, resource bundle and set of headers. I'd recommend using Cocoapods to package them up so that anyone trying to incorporate the library/bundle/headers doesn't have to deal with manual inclusion at multiple steps. You can still lipo together multiple .a files that are targeting the architectures for devices/simulators to create a universal binary and all will work fine.
Switch to using a Cocoa Touch Framework (though, these appear to only work for deployment target 8.0) and embed the binary into the app. If you go this route, you'll need to also make a separate bundle for your resources because your framework now contains a binary (and thus, adding it as a "resource" package is going to cause you to have multiple binaries in your app when you package it and it'll get rejected from the app store). See here for some info on creating an iOS resource bundle: http://jaym2503.blogspot.ro/2014/03/how-to-create-resource-bundle-in-ios.html . There are some other nuances and gotchas with this approach (such as if you lipo together the simulator/device binaries in the framework and then embed the framework, you'll get rejected from the app store for having a binary embedded that includes architectures for the simulator). Unfortunately, as of now there isn't much documentation from Apple on how to use these frameworks, so it's a lonely road.
I'd personally recommend the Cocoapod route.

Check that you are building for arm64 armv7 armv7s

Related

Can't submit iOS app to iTunes connect when using a SPM package

When I try to submit an iOS app that includes an SPM package which uses the new binary target the submission fails with the following two errors:
Invalid Swift Support. The file MyApp.app/Frameworks/libHello.a doesn’t have the correct file type for this location. Ensure you’re using the correct file, rebuild your app using the current public (GM) version of Xcode, and resubmit it.
Invalid Bundle Structure - The binary file 'MyApp.app/Frameworks/libHello.a' is not permitted. Your app can’t contain standalone executables or libraries, other than a valid CFBundleExecutable of supported bundles. Refer to the Bundle Programming Guide at https://developer.apple.com/go/?id=bundle-structure for information on the iOS app bundle structure.
I believe it's to do with SPM as when I manually drag the Hello.xcframework package to the project it allows me to submit successfully.
Trying to do other things like changing Xcode build settings, customising the package.swift and using lipo to make sure the architecture slices are valid doesn't lead to anyway.
I looked at the embed framework in Build phases, it's not been included only in the link framework phase. One thing I noticed is when I archived the app the static library libHello.a was in the app's framework folder, which is weird since it shouldn't be there as they are integrated with the app binary. When I delete that file I can continue the app submission without any issues. But I don't think this workaround would be ideal long term.
I've created a simple static library with one class and method to keep thing simple. I then use Xcode archive the resulting static library in an XCFramework using xcodebuild -create-xcframework. See Github Repo: https://github.com/shams-ahmed/Hello
Steps to reproduce:
Create a new Xcode project
Add the Hello SPM package using the SPM interface with URL: https://github.com/shams-ahmed/Hello
Archive the project
Validate the App
You can deselect all the options
Fails with the above error message
What do I need to do to get SPM working with a static library? This is now meant to be supported with Xcode 12 and Swift 5.3
Info:
Xcode 12.0
Swift 5.3
Using a new Xcode project
P.S must use a static library
Looks like it's not possible with static libraries (.a files) because .binaryTarget with a xcframework is associated with dynamic frameworks and XCode just copy a platform depended entity from the xcframework to Frameworks folder of your .app instead of linking to your application's binary.
XCode build log:
PBXCp .../Hello.xcframework/ios-x86_64-simulator/libHello.a .../Test.app/Frameworks/libHello.a
There are two solutions:
Compile library sources as dynamic frameworks and make the xcframework from them.
If you have .a files only you can make dynamic frameworks wrappers which link static libraries and provides API access to them and then make the xcframework.

Changing symbol names and embedding bitcode

tl;dr: I get this error message:
ld: -alias_list and -bitcode_bundle (Xcode setting ENABLE_BITCODE=YES)
cannot be used together
How do I fix it?
I am trying to create my own version of a third-party library. I want to make sure that none of my calls are going to the system version of this library, so I use --alias-list to put a prefix on all the symbols, and generate a header file which renames all the symbols from foo to MJB_foo. My build system then includes this header file with the --include option whenever I want to use this library.
This works great on Android and Linux (and I'm pretty sure it will eventually work on Windows too). However I get the above error when I try to link the shared library. How do I achieve the same effect?
In Build Settings of project you need to set Enable Bitcode to No. For iOS Apps bitcode is default but optional so you can send the app to AppStore without bitcode.
Bitcode re-optimize your app binary in the future without the need to submit a new version of your app to the App Store.
From Apple Doc:
For iOS apps, bitcode is the default, but optional. For watchOS and tvOS apps, bitcode is required. If you provide bitcode, all apps and frameworks in the app bundle (all targets in the project) need to include bitcode.
https://help.apple.com/xcode/mac/current/#/devbbdc5ce4f
What I have ended up doing is forcing the inclusion of the header full of #defines when building the library, as well as when using it. This allows me to drop --alias-list from the linker command line, so it is happy.
Sadly, this is not the complete solution. The library (it is OpenSSL) has a number of assembler modules, so those have to be patched with sed by the build script first.
It also has some macros which turn
FOO(SHA1)
into
void SHA1_Init(struct SHA1_CTX *ctx)
the problem is that SHA1 is one of the functions I am renaming, so it becomes instead:
void MJB_SHA1_Init(struct MJB_SHA1_CTX *ctx)
renaming the function is harmless (because it turns out it gets renamed uniformly), but I am not renaming the structs. The solution is to create another small file which renames MJB_SHA1_CTX et al back to SHA1_CTX.
*When bitcode is enabled for a target, all the objects, static libraries and user frameworks used when linking that target must contain bitcode.
Otherwise, an error or a warning will be issued by the linker. (Note: missing bitcode is currently a warning for iOS, but it will become an error in an upcoming release of Xcode .)
ENABLE_BITCODE should be consistently turned on for all the targets. If you use a library or framework provided by a third party, please contact the vendor for an updated version which contains bitcode."

The bundle at 'my_app.app/ResearchKit/ResearchKit/Info.plist' does not contain a bundle executable

Update
XCode Version: 8.2
iOS Target: 9
Hopefully some can point out to me that this is not a bug. Very simply I pulled the latest stable version of researckKit, and I dropped the .xcodeproj file into my new iOS project, added the embedded binary. I created a couple steps that look fine in the simulator. My app builds fine and even the archive validates OK. Upload to app store is fine, but then I am receiving emails from the app store with 6 entries all look about the same, for 6 different Info.plist files inside the ReserachKit framework:
Unexpected CFBundleExecutable Key - The bundle at
'my_app.app/ResearchKit/ResearchKit/Info.plist' does not contain a
bundle executable. If this bundle intentionally does not contain an
executable, consider removing the CFBundleExecutable key from its
Info.plist and using a CFBundlePackageType of BNDL. If this bundle is
part of a third-party framework, consider contacting the developer of
the framework for an update to address this issue.
I have found quite a few answers on Stack Overflow, many people agreeing to do what was suggested in the error message: simply remove the CFBundleExecutable Key from the .plist files. I tried that, but then my archive will not even validate with the following error:
iTunes Store operation failed. Invalid Bundle Structure - The binary
file 'my_app.app/Frameworks/ResearchKit.framework/ResearchKit' is not
permitted. Your app can’t contain standalone executables or libraries,
other than the CFBundleExecutable of supported bundles. Refer to the
Bundle Programming Guide at
https://developer.apple.com/go/?id=bundle-structure for information on
the iOS app bundle structure.
** UPDATE **
Granted I pulled a fresh version of the ResearchKit framework from github for this project. So instead I just tried a copy of a version of ResearchKit from another Xcode Project that I have successfully deployed on the app store recently, i figure if it worked for that app it should go through for this app. But Alas, I am getting the same email error from the App Store about the Unexpected CFBundleExecutable Key.
Again this is an apple-supported free framework. There are simple instructions for how to use it on the github page, which I followed. I have used it before and submitted an app with this framework recently, which had no problems and is currently active in Test Flight Beta Testing. I also filed an issue on the GitHub project page.
I met this problem like yours,and I fixed it by:
Remove Executable file in ResearchKit
Find info.plist in ResearchKit,do:
delete info.plist in ResearchKit.
Or you can add Bundle version,Bundle identifier,Bundle versions in this info.plist,they should be same as your parameters in your own info.plist
check Target - Info - URL Types,check if there is illegal identifier
I contacted Apple Technical Support and they helped me solve the problem. Like I had suspected it was NOT necessary to alter the ResearchKit framework in any way for this to work correctly.
For me, the issue was that I was copying the entire source code, test cases, Xcode projects, and the rest of ResearchKit into the app.
I must have done this at an early step and didn't realize. What was helpful for me was to go to the Build Phases tab in XCode and look in the different sections. My error was that I had the researchkit framework in the sections: Link Binary With LIbraries and Copy Bundle Resources. I needed to remove those.
The correct configuration, which you get by dragging the xcodeproj file to the project and embedding the binary will just add on line to the Target Dependencies and Embed frameworks sections in Build Phases.
Here is a screenshot of my corrected configuration:

How to debug "Invalid Bundle" error which happens only after submitting to app store

I have a lot of frameworks in my app. App works fine in adhoc/enterprise release. Only if I submit to the app store for testflight testing I get this error email from apple:
Dear developer,
We have discovered one or more issues with your recent delivery for "My app's name here". To process your delivery, the following
issues must be corrected:
Invalid Bundle - One or more dynamic libraries that are referenced by your app are not present in the dylib search path.
Once these issues have been corrected, you can then redeliver the corrected binary.
Regards,
The App Store team
there is no specific information here. How can I debug it?
Got an answer from Apple Developer Technical Support which says it is a bug on Apple's side. this is the suggested workaround below which did not work for me:
To diagnose this issue, you should export the IPA you are sending to
the App Store from Xcode. Since IPAs are zip files, you can
decompress it by right clicking and saying Open With > Archive
Utility. You should find your main executable inside the unzipped
folder structure and run otool at the command line to see the library
list: otool -L
The list of paths you get should match what you find inside of your
IPA. All of your libraries should start with #rpath. A simple
comparison of everything in this list with the unzipped IPA folders
should reveal what is missing.
Once you know what is missing, go to your Xcode build phases setup.
There should be a build phase for either Copy Files or Embed
Frameworks that includes the missing library — you should just add the
library to the list. If you don’t see either of these build phases,
you can recreate it by adding a new Copy Files build phase, setting
the Destination to Frameworks, and adding the library to the list,
ensuring that Code Sign On Copy is checked.
If you don’t find anything missing in your main binary, make sure to
do the same search on any other binaries you may have, like for a
watchOS app or an iOS app extension.
If you find that all of the frameworks are in this build phase, please
take a look at the Embedded Binaries section of your app target’s
General page, and let me know if you see multiple levels of ../ next
to the binary that you found is missing.
Please let me know if it works for you!
I have encountered the same issue when uploading an app with watch support to the app store.
I was able to solve it with the hint from the first answer, using otool -L to analyze the binary from the ipa or xcarchive.
However, the problem was not with my frameworks (at #rpath) but with a swift lib. I noticed that libswiftWatchKit.dylib was missing in the frameworks folder.
The solution that worked for me was as simple as to set EMBEDDED_CONTENT_CONTAINS_SWIFT=YES in the build settings of the watch app (or the watch app extension, but not both). After that, all necessary swift libraries were correctly copied to the watch app path in the archive and upload to app store was working correctly.
Apparently, the watch app works and upload passes if you provide the necessary swift libraries only in the main app's folder.
After adding the custom Swift framework to my project I got this email after uploading the app to iTunes connect.
I got this email from iTunes store,
Invalid Bundle - One or more dynamic libraries that are referenced by your app are not present in the dylib search path.
The fix is simple for this issue,
Step 1: Make sure your Custom framework is added to Embedded Binaries in General tab of your target.
Step 2: Under build settings,
Set Always Embed Swift Standard Libraries = Yes for your main project target.
And Set Always Embed Swift Standard Libraries = No for your custom framework target.
This solved my problem and I was able to upload binary to iTunes connect.
Ref
Tried all the above solutions and did not work for me.
I was experiencing this issue in Xcode 10.1 recently and all my frameworks were referenced correctly (did otool -L and everything lined up).
Seems there were some changes in the apple validation process, may be a bug, may not be on Apple's end, but all my prior builds uploaded and validated fine -- and I did not add any new frameworks since.
Upon uploading the binary to iTunesConnect, I'd see the following error:
Invalid Bundle - One or more dynamic libraries that are referenced by
your app are not present in the dylib search path.
Invalid Bundle - The app uses Swift, but one of the binaries could not
link to it because it wasn't found. Check that the app bundles
correctly embed Swift standard libraries using the "Always Embed Swift
Standard Libraries" build setting, and that each binary which uses
Swift has correct search paths to the embedded Swift standard
libraries using the "Runpath Search Paths" build setting.
MY SOLUTION:
After days of debugging, what worked for me was to disable 'Include bitcode for iOS content' upon uploading the archive from Xcode organizer. Seems that this option modifies the binary which caused the validator to fail.
Or you can disable bitcode in your Build Settings
My Problem:
I had the same error with embedded frameworks.
The App project has Custom Framework project
Inside the Custom Framework project is another Custom Framework project
The app built to the simulator and to devices with no problem but failed the Apple test, returning "Invalid Bundle".
I inspected the package just like Taha had been told to by Tech Support and everything was present and correct!
My Solution:
I restructured the project so that the two custom frameworks sit side by side and one is no longer embedded within the other.
This looks to be an Apple validation problem since everything works fine on devices and the simulator but the work around was straight forward.
In my case, in the build settings, this was fixed when I added the following to the build settings for the library:
DYLIB_INSTALL_NAME_BASE = #rpath
The clue was a linker warning: 'YourLibrary has an install name beginning with “/”, but it is not from the specified SDK'
Had same issue. This happened to me because one of my Framework target was added to main target in "Link Binary With Libraries" but was not added to "Target Dependencies" and "Embedded Binaries"
I also received a similar mail from Apple:
Dear Developer,
We identified one or more issues with a recent delivery for your app,
"********. Please correct the following issues, then
upload again.
ITMS-90562: Invalid Bundle - One or more dynamic libraries that are
referenced by your app are not present in the dylib search path.
Best regards,
The App Store Team
I used my own framework for my watch app. I solved this issue by changing the framework option to "Embed Without Signing" in the Extension Target. The default option was "Do Not Embed".
I had the same problem, it was due to one framework not being present in the Frameworks subfolder in the app bundle.
I fixed it by adding a Copy Fields build phase, and adding the missing .framework file there.
This error message is also addressed in Apple Technical Note TN2435
Embedding Frameworks In An App: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/technotes/tn2435/_index.html
You can find the error message under the heading "Missing Framework Bundle" with troubleshooting steps.
We had the same problem, and even after going through all the steps (see "Missing Framework Bundle"), the only thing that worked was disabling Bitcode.
So I struggled on this for two days. What it turned out to be was I had UITests checked in Archive for the Build for the Scheme I was archiving.
After unchecking it from Archive, re-archiving it, validating it (although validating it before always passed), and "Upload to AppStore" I did not get the e-mail from Apple informing me of Invalid Swift Support. Instead I got the e-mail that it'd been processed and is good to go!
In my case, I've had to add a framework from Notification App Extension to the main target (embed & sign in the main target, do not embed in the extension) - even though there was no mention about it in otool -L output.
Funny thing that Iterable official doc says that the framework should be embedded & signed in the extension - which would lead to another upload problem because of nested bundles.

Libraries under Frameworks folder in an iPhone app

Working on an iPhone app. After I built the app (Product -> archive) I looked at the package content. Under Frameworks folder, there are a few libraries I have not used anywhere in the project:
libswiftCoreAudio.dylib
libswiftCoreGraphics.dylib
libswiftCoreImage.dylib
libswiftDarwin.dylib
Here I have 2 questions to ask:
Where do they come from?
Is there any way to remove them from the final package?
Most likely they are required by some components of the infrastructure used by your app. Do not try to remove them; Apple works hard to minimize footprint via mechanisms such as "app thinning", so most unnecessary object code will be optimized out of the package delivered to the customer.

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