290

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: 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)
7
  • 3
    @Cawas - the "weight" of the library is irrelevant in 95% of real-world situations - for most of us, the libs are tiny, especially compared to e.g. displaying even just one single UIImageView.
    – Adam
    Jan 15, 2011 at 14:58
  • 1
    @Cawas - meanwhile, the value here is that you make it MUCH easier for other people to use/re-use your library. It becomes a one-stage drag/drop process.
    – Adam
    Jan 15, 2011 at 14:59
  • 5
    @Cawas - finally, a surprisingly valuable benefit: it is so easy to accidentally send someone the "wrong" compiled library - XCode does zero checks, and will happily compile the "wrong" architecture into the named file you thought was the "correct" architecture. Apple keeps breaking Xcode in this area - each new version has changes that mean "the button you pressed yesterday to compile your lib correctly will today compile it incorrectly". Until Apple stops messing us all around, we need to idiot-proof their bad UI :).
    – Adam
    Jan 15, 2011 at 15:01
  • Adam, so essentially the point is maintaining same behavior on simulator and iPhone?
    – cregox
    Jan 15, 2011 at 18:58
  • 1
    That would really be great! Because right now as it is, we just can't rely on the simulator for anything little bit more complex.
    – cregox
    Jan 19, 2011 at 1:11

10 Answers 10

275

ALTERNATIVES:

Easy copy/paste of latest version (but install instructions may change - see below!)

Karl's library takes much more effort to setup, but much nicer long-term solution (it converts your library into a Framework).

Use this, then tweak it to add support for Archive builds - c.f. @Frederik's comment below on the changes he's using to make this work nicely with Archive mode.


RECENT CHANGES: 1. Added support for iOS 10.x (while maintaining support for older platforms)

  1. Info on how to use this script with a project-embedded-in-another-project (although I highly recommend NOT doing that, ever - Apple has a couple of show-stopper bugs in Xcode if you embed projects inside each other, from Xcode 3.x through to Xcode 4.6.x)

  2. Bonus script to let you auto-include Bundles (i.e. include PNG files, PLIST files etc from your library!) - see below (scroll to bottom)

  3. now supports iPhone5 (using Apple's workaround to the bugs in lipo). NOTE: the install instructions have changed (I can probably simplify this by changing the script in future, but don't want to risk it now)

  4. "copy headers" section now respects the build setting for the location of the public headers (courtesy of Frederik Wallner)

  5. Added explicit setting of SYMROOT (maybe need OBJROOT to be set too?), thanks to Doug Dickinson


SCRIPT (this is what you have to copy/paste)

For usage / install instructions, see below

##########################################
#
# c.f. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3520977/build-fat-static-library-device-simulator-using-xcode-and-sdk-4
#
# Version 2.82
#
# Latest Change:
# - MORE tweaks to get the iOS 10+ and 9- working
# - Support iOS 10+
# - Corrected typo for iOS 1-10+ (thanks @stuikomma)
# 
# Purpose:
#   Automatically create a Universal static library for iPhone + iPad + iPhone Simulator from within XCode
#
# 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)
#

set -e
set -o pipefail

#################[ Tests: helps workaround any future bugs in Xcode ]########
#
DEBUG_THIS_SCRIPT="false"

if [ $DEBUG_THIS_SCRIPT = "true" ]
then
echo "########### TESTS #############"
echo "Use the following variables when debugging this script; note that they may change on recursions"
echo "BUILD_DIR = $BUILD_DIR"
echo "BUILD_ROOT = $BUILD_ROOT"
echo "CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR = $CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR"
echo "BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR = $BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR"
echo "CONFIGURATION_TEMP_DIR = $CONFIGURATION_TEMP_DIR"
echo "TARGET_BUILD_DIR = $TARGET_BUILD_DIR"
fi

#####################[ 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 ${SDK_NAME} | grep -o '\d\{1,2\}\.\d\{1,2\}$')

# 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:-false} ]
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 \"${CONFIGURATION}\" -project \"${PROJECT_NAME}.xcodeproj\" -target \"${TARGET_NAME}\" -sdk \"${OTHER_SDK_TO_BUILD}\" ${ACTION} RUN_CLANG_STATIC_ANALYZER=NO" BUILD_DIR=\"${BUILD_DIR}\" BUILD_ROOT=\"${BUILD_ROOT}\" SYMROOT=\"${SYMROOT}\"

xcodebuild -configuration "${CONFIGURATION}" -project "${PROJECT_NAME}.xcodeproj" -target "${TARGET_NAME}" -sdk "${OTHER_SDK_TO_BUILD}" ${ACTION} RUN_CLANG_STATIC_ANALYZER=NO BUILD_DIR="${BUILD_DIR}" BUILD_ROOT="${BUILD_ROOT}" SYMROOT="${SYMROOT}"

ACTION="build"

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

# Calculate where the (multiple) built files are coming from:
CURRENTCONFIG_DEVICE_DIR=${SYMROOT}/${CONFIGURATION}-iphoneos
CURRENTCONFIG_SIMULATOR_DIR=${SYMROOT}/${CONFIGURATION}-iphonesimulator

echo "Taking device build from: ${CURRENTCONFIG_DEVICE_DIR}"
echo "Taking simulator build from: ${CURRENTCONFIG_SIMULATOR_DIR}"

CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR=${SYMROOT}/${CONFIGURATION}-universal
echo "...I will output a universal build to: ${CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"

# ... 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 "${CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"
mkdir "${CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"

#
echo "lipo: for current configuration (${CONFIGURATION}) creating output file: ${CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR}/${EXECUTABLE_NAME}"
xcrun -sdk iphoneos lipo -create -output "${CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR}/${EXECUTABLE_NAME}" "${CURRENTCONFIG_DEVICE_DIR}/${EXECUTABLE_NAME}" "${CURRENTCONFIG_SIMULATOR_DIR}/${EXECUTABLE_NAME}"

#########
#
# Added: StackOverflow suggestion to also copy "include" files
#    (untested, but should work OK)
#
echo "Fetching headers from ${PUBLIC_HEADERS_FOLDER_PATH}"
echo "  (if you embed your library project in another project, you will need to add"
echo "   a "User Search Headers" build setting of: (NB INCLUDE THE DOUBLE QUOTES BELOW!)"
echo '        "$(TARGET_BUILD_DIR)/usr/local/include/"'
if [ -d "${CURRENTCONFIG_DEVICE_DIR}${PUBLIC_HEADERS_FOLDER_PATH}" ]
then
mkdir -p "${CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR}${PUBLIC_HEADERS_FOLDER_PATH}"
# * needs to be outside the double quotes?
cp -r "${CURRENTCONFIG_DEVICE_DIR}${PUBLIC_HEADERS_FOLDER_PATH}"* "${CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR}${PUBLIC_HEADERS_FOLDER_PATH}"
fi
fi

INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Create a static lib project
  2. Select the Target
  3. In "Build Settings" tab, set "Build Active Architecture Only" to "NO" (for all items)
  4. In "Build Phases" tab, select "Add ... New Build Phase ... New Run Script Build Phase"
  5. Copy/paste the script (above) into the box

...BONUS OPTIONAL usage:

  1. OPTIONAL: if you have headers in your library, add them to the "Copy Headers" phase
  2. OPTIONAL: ...and drag/drop them from the "Project" section to the "Public" section
  3. OPTIONAL: ...and they will AUTOMATICALLY be exported every time you build the app, into a sub-directory of the "debug-universal" directory (they will be in usr/local/include)
  4. OPTIONAL: NOTE: if you also try to drag/drop your project into another Xcode project, this exposes a bug in Xcode 4, where it cannot create an .IPA file if you have Public Headers in your drag/dropped project. The workaround: dont' embed xcode projects (too many bugs in Apple's code!)

If you can't find the output file, here's a workaround:

  1. Add the following code to the very end of the script (courtesy of Frederik Wallner): open "${CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"

  2. Apple deletes all output after 200 lines. Select your Target, and in the Run Script Phase, you MUST untick: "Show environment variables in build log"

  3. if you're using a custom "build output" directory for XCode4, then XCode puts all your "unexpected" files in the wrong place.

    1. Build the project
    2. Click on the last icon on the right, in the top left area of Xcode4.
    3. Select the top item (this is your "most recent build". Apple should auto-select it, but they didn't think of that)
    4. in the main window, scroll to bottom. The very last line should read: lipo: for current configuration (Debug) creating output file: /Users/blah/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/AppName-ashwnbutvodmoleijzlncudsekyf/Build/Products/Debug-universal/libTargetName.a

    ...that is the location of your Universal Build.


How to include "non sourcecode" files in your project (PNG, PLIST, XML, etc)

  1. Do everything above, check it works
  2. Create a new Run Script phase that comes AFTER THE FIRST ONE (copy/paste the code below)
  3. Create a new Target in Xcode, of type "bundle"
  4. In your MAIN PROJECT, in "Build Phases", add the new bundle as something it "depends on" (top section, hit the plus button, scroll to bottom, find the ".bundle" file in your Products)
  5. In your NEW BUNDLE TARGET, in "Build Phases", add a "Copy Bundle Resources" section, and drag/drop all the PNG files etc into it

Script to auto-copy the built bundle(s) into same folder as your FAT static library:

echo "RunScript2:"
echo "Autocopying any bundles into the 'universal' output folder created by RunScript1"
CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR=${SYMROOT}/${CONFIGURATION}-universal
cp -r "${BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR}/"*.bundle "${CREATING_UNIVERSAL_DIR}"
50
  • 2
    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
    Oct 12, 2010 at 7:28
  • 2
    Can anyone confirm if this method works for XCode 4.5? I am trying to compile a static library and use it in my main project. I am able to run this on the device but not on the simulator. This is the error I get: missing required architecture i386 in file /Users/alex/Documents/iphone/production/iphone/mymedia/libMyUnrar4iOS.a (2 slices)
    – Alex1987
    Sep 17, 2012 at 18:16
  • 2
    Any idea how to make this work with XCode 5 and ARM64? If I leave architectures as standard, it makes the library with armv7, armvs7 and i386 as expected. If I set architectures to standard including 64bit, then the library only contains "cputype 16777223". I use otool -h on the .a file to verify what is inside Oct 23, 2013 at 22:44
  • 1
    XCode5 has made adding a run script build phase even more tricky. check out this: runscriptbuildphase.com Nov 25, 2013 at 12:01
  • 1
    This appears to work fine on Xcode 6 with no changes (only tried a couple of projects so far, and haven't submitted any App Store updates yet, but all are working fine so far).
    – Adam
    Oct 15, 2014 at 14:39
89

I have spent many hours trying to build a fat static library that will work on armv7, armv7s, and the simulator. Finally found a solution.

The gist is to build the two libraries (one for the device and then one for the simulator) separately, rename them to distinguish from each other, and then lipo -create them into one library.

lipo -create libPhone.a libSimulator.a -output libUniversal.a

I tried it and it works!

4
  • 4
    I suggest you read the accepted answer. You may find that this has been covered already, 2 years previously...
    – Adam
    Jan 21, 2013 at 0:08
  • 2
    I read it, used the script, but it was not working for me for armv7s.
    – g_low
    Feb 5, 2013 at 10:43
  • 2
    the lipo command doesnt work on the script, but manually it works great! 10x
    – Dima
    Mar 11, 2013 at 9:34
  • 11
    +1 This was really all I needed, not a huge "make-a-framework" script.
    – CodeSmile
    Jun 5, 2013 at 22:44
74

I've made an XCode 4 project template that lets you make a universal framework as easily as making a regular library.

5
  • Couldn't build it with iOS 4.3 target. Get the following error: invalid deployment target for -stdlib=libc++ (requires iOS 5.0 or later)
    – Alex1987
    Oct 20, 2012 at 12:40
  • I wish I could give more reputation points for this answer... so much easier than using CMake to create a static library. Thank you so much for doing this!
    – iwasrobbed
    Jan 23, 2013 at 20:05
  • It works also with iOS 6 for me. But maybe it is because my lib is quite simple and without any dependencies and resources Mar 6, 2013 at 9:06
  • There is a BIG problem with that solution: other who want's to use framework created by this solution (this solution suggest to install fremework template to xcode) MUST install this template to THEIR xcode!!!
    – evya
    Sep 28, 2014 at 12:16
  • You only need to install the template for real frameworks. Fake frameworks will run fine in unmodified Xcode.
    – Karl
    Oct 29, 2014 at 21:13
30

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.

6
  • 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
    Sep 2, 2010 at 20:01
  • 1
    I used a script similar to this and put it under a new target containing only the shell script. The recursive build script above is very clever, but unnecessarily confusing.
    – benzado
    Feb 9, 2011 at 18:52
  • 1
    I prefer shell scripts for stuff like this, here is my take gist.github.com/3178578
    – slf
    Jul 25, 2012 at 20:47
  • @benzado Yeah I avoided complexity intentionally because I think shell script must be easy to read for modifying.
    – eonil
    Jul 26, 2012 at 5:42
  • lipo: can't open input file: /Debug-iphoneos/
    – Dima
    Mar 11, 2013 at 9:11
11

I needed a fat static lib for JsonKit so created a static lib project in Xcode and then ran this bash script in the project directory. So long as you've configured the xcode project with "Build active configuration only" turned off, you should get all architectures in one lib.

#!/bin/bash
xcodebuild -sdk iphoneos
xcodebuild -sdk iphonesimulator
lipo -create -output libJsonKit.a build/Release-iphoneos/libJsonKit.a build/Release-iphonesimulator/libJsonKit.a
7

IOS 10 Update:

I had a problem with building the fatlib with iphoneos10.0 because the regular expression in the script only expects 9.x and lower and returns 0.0 for ios 10.0

to fix this just replace

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

with

SDK_VERSION=$(echo ${SDK_NAME} | grep -o '[\\.0-9]\{3,4\}$')
5
  • Thanks. I made similar change this morning, but used \d. This I think is the one we want (is it better or worse than yours?) ... grep -o '\d\{1,2\}\.\d\{2\}$'
    – Adam
    Sep 19, 2016 at 16:23
  • I think mine is more reliable since it considers only numbers
    – ben
    Sep 19, 2016 at 18:27
  • 1
    No, yours matches 1 particular way of writing digits. Given Apple's historical support for (and use of) prettified characters and text (e.g. in filenames) I'd expect your proprietary selection of a few digits to be less reliable.
    – Adam
    Sep 21, 2016 at 8:10
  • 1
    okay maybe youre right. at least mine got my project also working and we are safe for the next 89 ios versions
    – ben
    Sep 21, 2016 at 8:26
  • @ben solution works for me, Adam's regex '[\\.0-9]\{3,4\}$' gives error code 2
    – Zee
    Oct 5, 2016 at 8:27
4

I've made this into an Xcode 4 template, in the same vein as Karl's static framework template.

I found that building static frameworks (instead of plain static libraries) was causing random crashes with LLVM, due to an apparent linker bug - so, I guess static libraries are still useful!

1
  • Hi Michael, I have tried your static library template but I can compile for simulator but not for device, here the error: ** BUILD FAILED ** The following build commands failed: ProcessPCH /var/folders/qy/ncy6fkpn6677qt876ljrc54m0000gn/C/com.apple.Xcode.501/SharedPrecompiledHeaders/MenuBarUniversal-Prefix-gwxxzpanxyudmfgryorafazokagi/MenuBarUniversal-Prefix.pch.pth MenuBarUniversal/MenuBarUniversal-Prefix.pch normal armv7 objective-c com.apple.compilers.llvm.clang.1_0.compiler (1 failure) Showing first 200 notices only Command /bin/sh failed with exit code 65
    – Kappe
    Nov 1, 2012 at 10:40
3

XCode 12 update:

If you run xcodebuild without -arch param, XCode 12 will build simulator library with architecture "arm64 x86_64" as default.

Then run xcrun -sdk iphoneos lipo -create -output will conflict, because arm64 architecture exist in simulator and also device library.

I fork script from Adam git and fix it.

1
2

Great job! I hacked together something similar, but had to run it separately. Having it just be part of the build process makes it so much simpler.

One item of note. I noticed that it doesn't copy over any of the include files that you mark as public. I've adapted what I had in my script to yours and it works fairly well. Paste the following to the end of your script.

if [ -d "${CURRENTCONFIG_DEVICE_DIR}/usr/local/include" ]
then
  mkdir -p "${CURRENTCONFIG_UNIVERSAL_DIR}/usr/local/include"
  cp "${CURRENTCONFIG_DEVICE_DIR}"/usr/local/include/* "${CURRENTCONFIG_UNIVERSAL_DIR}/usr/local/include"
fi
1
  • 1
    OK, i've added that to the answer above. (haven't had a chance to test it yet, but looks correct to me)
    – Adam
    Dec 2, 2010 at 15:02
1

I actually just wrote my own script for this purpose. It doesn't use Xcode. (It's based off a similar script in the Gambit Scheme project.)

Basically, it runs ./configure and make three times (for i386, armv7, and armv7s), and combines each of the resulting libraries into a fat lib.

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