Launching app with iOS instruments is unreliable - ios

Question

I launch my iOS app on the device (not simulator) with the following command (app is already installed).
instruments \
-w c717fa22472d7b691ae5763af90e1e44244ad85a \
-t /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/Instruments.app/Contents/PlugIns/AutomationInstrument.bundle/Contents/Resources/Automation.tracetemplate \
-D "/Users/mj/Desktop/apps/trace" \
LPSimpleExample-cal \
-e UIARESULTSPATH /Users/mj/Desktop/apps \
-e UIASCRIPT /Users/mj/Desktop/apps/_run_loop.js
6 out of 10 times it is working. In case of an error I get the following message:
2013-10-07 16:45:51.553 instruments[9891:1207] unable to locate CFBundleIdentifier for path: LPSimpleExample-cal
2013-10-07 16:45:51.555 instruments[9891:1207] Recording cancelled : At least one target failed to launch; aborting run
Instruments Trace Error : Error Domain=com.apple.instruments Code=1 "Error Starting Recording" UserInfo=0x7faccbef8fa0 {NSLocalizedDescription=Error Starting Recording, NSLocalizedRecoverySuggestion=At least one target failed to launch; aborting run}
Instruments Trace Error : Failed to start trace.
For me it looks that instruments has a bug here. I tried to launch the app over 100 times, in different scenarios and I can't analyze an error pattern. The device crashlog says:
Process: DTMobileIS [34956]
Path: /Developer/Library/Daemons/DTMobileIS
Identifier: DTMobileIS
Version: ??? (???)
Code Type: ARM (Native)
Parent Process: lockbot [34938]
Date/Time: 2013-10-07 15:29:05.474 -0700
OS Version: iOS 6.1.3 (10B329)
Report Version: 104
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x00000000
Exception type EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV) indicates that an object which is getting accessed has been already released. A SIGSEGV is a segmentation fault, meaning you it is trying to access an invalid memory address. Reference: Exception Types in iOS crash logs
Instead of using the bundleIdentifier I also tried to specify the full app path or the full bundleIdentifier:
# with full app path
instruments \
-w c717fa22472d7b691ae5763af90e1e44244ad85a \
-t /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/Instruments.app/Contents/PlugIns/AutomationInstrument.bundle/Contents/Resources/Automation.tracetemplate \
-D "/Users/mj/Desktop/apps/trace" \
/Users/mj/Desktop/apps/LPSimpleExample-cal.app \
-e UIARESULTSPATH /Users/mj/Desktop/apps \
-e UIASCRIPT /Users/mj/Desktop/apps/_run_loop.js
# with full bundleIdentifier
instruments \
-w c717fa22472d7b691ae5763af90e1e44244ad85a \
-t /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/Instruments.app/Contents/PlugIns/AutomationInstrument.bundle/Contents/Resources/Automation.tracetemplate \
-D "/Users/mj/Desktop/apps/trace" \
/Users/mj/Desktop/apps/LPSimpleExample-cal.app \
-e UIARESULTSPATH /Users/mj/Desktop/apps \
-e UIASCRIPT /Users/mj/Desktop/apps/_run_loop.js
Configuration details
Instruments version: 5.0 (51166)
XCode version: 5.0 (5A1413)
Device Types: iPhone 5 - 6.1.3, iPhone 5C - 7.02, iPhone 5S - 7.0.2
Has anyone more information in which cases instruments can't launch an app on the device or when do you receive the error message unable to locate CFBundleIdentifier for path: LPSimpleExample-cal?

Answer 1

Are you using Calabash with Jenkins?
Has anyone more information in which cases instruments can't launch an app on the device or > when do you receive the error message unable to locate CFBundleIdentifier for path:
LPSimpleExample-cal?
I had the problem using Calabash on Jenkins and what helped me solve it was to launch instruments (calabash) in the app folder (where there is the xcodeproj.) Don't forget to copy the builded app in this folder.
please excuse me if I do not answer the question.

Answer 2

I had this problem when attempting to run an iOS app with instruments under the control of Xcode Server on the iDevice attached to the server host. That app, however, was never installed on the target iDevice before. I can only surmise that the error message
instruments ... unable to locate CFBundleIdentifier for path: ...
actually refers to the iDevice's file system (where that app is not present) in spite of the fact that the error message reports a path in the file system of the Xcode Server host. After I manually installed the app on the target device using my development machine once, the error message on the server host went away and instruments was working again.
My takeaway is that the error messages of Xcode Server (and/or instruments?) are just abysmally bad. Who needs enemies when you've got error messages like these?