I have created a static library and added it to my project, when i try to debug my application it goes to the .m file of the library. If this library is distributed to some one he will also be able to see code in that library which is blunder, how should i get rid of this.Are there any settings that are to be changed?
If you don't distribute the source file, they cannot see the source file. They may be able to see symbols within the library, such as function or method names, if you don't strip the binary after building it. There is a setting in the "Build Settings" of the project and target settings where you can turn stripping on or off. I believe that it's on for debug and off for release by default.
Related
I have an iOS static library.
As a matter of fact, I have four variants of it:
Debug-iphoneos/libopende.a
Debug-iphonesimulator/libopende.a
Release-iphoneos/libopende.a
Release-iphonesimulator/libopende.a
I want to link my iOS app against this static library using Xcode.
To do so, I go to Build Phases, and in Link Binary With Libraries, I click the '+' to add one, using Add Other.
Now I have the problem of which variant I should be adding. So I just pick one of the .a files, and hope Xcode is smart enough to find the others?
Anyways, if I do this, the linking fails saying it can't find libopende.a file.
So, is it even possible to do what I want, without first building a 'Framework' instead of a set of static libraries?
Ok, so when linking against a static iOS library, you need to know that:
It does not matter which .a file you add in the Build Phases - Link Binary With Libraries panel. Any of the four .a files will do, it only takes the file name, not its path.
To actually differentiate between library variants for Debug/Release Device/Simulator, you need to specify the correct library paths in the Build Settings - Library Search Paths.
Base on this question
Why don't iOS framework dependencies need to be explicitly linked to a static library
I read the selected answer and still don't understand so I made an example project
Test Project on Github
In the test project, I remove all framework from Link Binary With Libraries and File navigation for both main project and the static library (including Foundation.framework and UIKit.framework too), basically, both project link to 0 frameworks.
Questions are
In static library, it's including MapKit/MapKit.h without referencing the Mapkit.framework to the project, why is its still working?
In main project, I remove UIKit.framework and Foundation.framework from the project, why is it still working?
Since it's working for now, will there be any issue later?
Thank you for your comment.
P.S. By working, I mean I can run on the simulator and I can archive the main project without any error.
Edit 25/07/2014
I tried with the real app that I'm working on, it's the same.
I highlight Foundation, UIKit, CoreData and 10 another frameworks in File Navigation, well, all of them.
Uncheck the target in Utilities Panel --> Target Membership
Build : Pass, Run : Pass
Every functionality of my app is still working as expected. I don't get this.
Check your project build settings. Underneath LLVM 5.1 — Language — Modules you should see the option 'Link Frameworks Automatically'. In your case it sounds like it's set to 'YES', the default.
In that case, instead of producing an error when you reference a class that the compiler doesn't know, it'll figure out which Framework contains that class and link it. In your code it'll be MKMapView or one of the other MapKit classes that triggers the linkage.
EDIT: from the relevant 'What's New?' document:
Auto Linking is enabled for frameworks imported by code modules. When
a source file includes a header from a framework that supports
modules, the compiler generates extra information in the object file
to automatically link in that framework. The result is that, in most
cases, you will not need to specify a separate list of the frameworks
to link with your target when you use a framework API that supports
modules.
Another way of looking at it is that the compiler is smart enough to mutate #import to #import when the framework has been built appropriately. All system frameworks have been.
To elaborate #Tommy's answer, a framework that supports modules satisfies the following 2 conditions:
Under Build Settings > Packaging
Define Modules is set to YES
Module Map File exists.
So, if you're certain that the framework you're using in your code modularizes like that, you can choose to not explicitly add it in the link phase as it will be automatically added as long as in the project file, under Apple Clang - Language - Modules, The option Link Frameworks Automatically is set to YES.
I compiled a static library for iOS with Xcode with symbols stripped. It's compiled in the Release configuration. When I copy the static library into another iOS project (I physically copy it into another directory), I'm still able to view the source of the static library when stepping through code. I clicked Show in finder in the source window and it pointed me to the appropriate source file on disk.
I opened the library in a hex editor, and it indeed contains paths to my source files on my machine, as well as a bunch of other text data that that shouldn't be exposed.
Have I missed something in my project settings? If this is expected behavior, how can I make sure that the customer will not see the symbols, source file names etc.?
Found the compiler options required.
In LLVM code generation, set Generate debug symbols to No and Symbols hidden by default to Yes. For some reason, even if you tell it to strip symbols, it's not going to do it unless these are set.
You can check whether symbols are striped or not using
nm filename
Stripping doesn't happens automatically, you need to setup xcode to strip them and there are several flags that are in charge:
a) DEPLOYMENT_POSTPROCESSING
Prerequisite for: “STRIP_INSTALLED_PRODUCT (Strip Linked Product).”
b) STRIP_INSTALLED_PRODUCT
This one is going to work in non-appstore builds only if you will have set DEPLOYMENT_POSTPROCESSING to YES.
There is a way to strip symbols manually, just call
strip YOURBINARYNAME
strip YOURBINARYNAME as suggested by #andrei-shender is not enough. You need to do the following:
strip -S YOURBINARYNAME
To get rid of the debugging symbols manually. Of course configuring your project properly is better, but if you are building a 3rd party library using a vendor script you may have to do it manually. Mapbox-native-gl goes from 550mb to 22mb if you strip the debug symbols!
I'm having trouble linking to a static library in Xcode 5. I did read the chapter on building and using a static library in the Pro iOS 5 Tools. What it told me to do after creating your static library, was to link against the framework in the Build Phases tab. That part is pretty straight forward. Then it says in the Build Settings, under "Header Search Paths", to add:
$(BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR)
Then in order to use my static library, I just import it like so:
#import "ConversionCalculator/ConversionCalculator.h"
So this used to work up until yesterday. I tried adding a new static library to my project which didn't seem to work. So I cleaned my project, and tried rebuilding again, but now Xcode complains about #import "ConversionCalculator/ConversionCalculator.h". It says
Lexical or Preprocessor issue. 'ConversionCalculator/ConversionCalculator.h' file could not be found.
I was wondering if anyone has any tips on debugging this. I've looked through different tutorials like this:
http://blog.stevex.net/2012/04/static-libraries-in-xcode/
http://cocoamanifest.net/articles/2011/06/library-management-with-xcode-workspaces.html
http://www.raywenderlich.com/41377/creating-a-status-library-in-ios-tutorial
But I can't seem to find the "golden way" to link to a static lib, or how to troubleshoot why Xcode cannot find my file. My file structure is setup on my machine like so:
Projects\
DistanceCalculator\DistanceCalculator.xcodeproj
ConversionCalculator\ConversionCalculator.xcodeproj
DistanceCalculator.workspace
Like I said, this all used to work too when I followed the tutorial in Pro iOS 5 Tools book. Now I don't know why my workspace cannot find ConversionCalculator when it has used it before. The part I find hard is different articles say different things about the header search path, and I'm not sure what the best way to populate that field is. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
Edit:
I'll add that I can build for the device without errors. But when I switch to the iPhone simulator, it gives me that error about not being able to find the file. I also see that I get this warning:
ConversionCalculator was rejected as an implicit dependency for 'libConversionCalculator.a' because its architectures 'i386' didn't contain all required architectures 'i386 x86_64'
Looking at that, I'm not sure what that means. If it means that my library is not being built for all architectures, I just tried creating a Target that builds for all architectures according to the wenderlich article in the above link. That seems to work as when I go to the dervieddata folder, I see for debug, release, and universal, I see the libConversionCalculator.a file. But then when I go back into the workspace and try to rebuild the project for the simulator, I get that could not find file error and the implicit warning.
Edit #2:
I just saw a warning flag on Xcode that says upgrade to recommended Build Settings. Now I get no errors. Not sure what happened... but I guess no errors is good.
I would follow the description available in Xcode's Help topic "Linking Against Your Library" in chapter Configuration Your Application in Introduction to Using Static Libraries in iOS
(you may search within Xcode Help, too).
Except that I would recommend to include your headers from libraries always using angle brackets:
#import <ConversionCalculator/ConversionCalculator.h>
Using double quotes may inadvertently search and find files with the same name in some sub-folder relative to the file where this import directive is written. Only after there was no file in any sub-folder the preprocessor starts searching with the specified header search paths.
Using angle brackets, the preprocessor immediately searches only at the specified header search paths.
So, since you actually want to find headers for the corresponding library, always use angle brackets.
Note: If you follow the recommendation to create a static library project, you don't need to explicitly set a header search path in the target that links agains the library: Xcode will already add a search path:
$(BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR)/includes
Your library headers are located in
$(BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR)/includes/<product-name>
which are placed there through the "Copy-Files" phase of the iOS static library target, whose "Destination" is set to "Products Directory" and whose "Subpath" is set to "includes/${PRODUCT_NAME}" per default.
You may change these default settings to other reasonable and sensible values. (if you do, consider the the consequences for Xcode's default search paths!)
I'm including a 3rd party library (sources) with my static library. It it intended for device only (since it includes some ARM assembly routines) and I do not wish to build it for the simulator (I just want my app to compile there so I can test the GUI).
Creating another target for simulator only is not an option since my projects reference my library as a dependency and it would be a nightmare to maintain.
Adding #if (TARGET_OS_IPHONE) for those files is not an option as well since these are not my original sources and I would like to update them easily for updates (there are more than 200 files there and I do not with to modify all of them)
I'm looking for a way (similar to #if (TARGET_OS_IPHONE) in source files) which will work from the IDE itself (so I can exclude a file from the actual build process based on my target architecture). The only thing I found is an option to exclude/include a file from a target - but not for a specific architecture.
Is there a way to set architecture conditions per specific files?
Your best bet would be to separate the third party library into a new target that builds it as a static framework. Set it as a dependency for your project, and then set the static framework to be conditionally linked as described by Apple here: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Xcode/Conceptual/ios_development_workflow/115-Configuring_Applications/configuring_applications.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007959-CH19-SW7
You can add a new target by selecting the Project in the project navigator and then hitting the Add Target button at the bottom of the Editor pane. You can setup a cocoa touch static library and then assign the relevant .m or .c files to belong only to that target. Then select your app's target and add the static framework in the "Target Dependencies" section of the Build Phases tab.
You can conditionally include/exclude files in Xcode using EXCLUDED_SOURCE_FILE_NAMES based on sdk. For example:
EXCLUDED_SOURCE_FILE_NAMES[sdk=*simulator*] = something.cpp something_else.cpp
See Conditional Compilation article for more details