How do I specify multiple targets in my podfile for my Xcode project?

Question

I'm using CocoaPods with my Xcode 4 project and I have three targets for my project (the default, one for building a lite version and one for building a demo version). All the targets use the same libraries, but CocoaPods is only adding the static library and search paths to the primary target. My podfile looks like this:

platform :ios, '5.0'

pod 'TestFlightSDK', '>= 1.1'
pod 'MBProgressHUD', '0.5'
pod 'iRate', '>= 1.6.2'
pod 'TimesSquare', '1.0.1'
pod 'AFNetworking', '1.1.0'
pod 'KKPasscodeLock', '0.1.5'
pod 'iCarousel', '1.7.4'

The only way I was get this to work was to specify each target individually with all the the pods listed again.

platform :ios, '5.0'

target :default do  
    pod 'TestFlightSDK', '>= 1.1'
    pod 'MBProgressHUD', '0.5'
    pod 'iRate', '>= 1.6.2'
    pod 'TimesSquare', '1.0.1'
    pod 'AFNetworking', '1.1.0'
    pod 'KKPasscodeLock', '0.1.5'
    pod 'iCarousel', '1.7.4'
end

target :lite do 
    link_with 'app-lite'

    pod 'TestFlightSDK', '>= 1.1'
    pod 'MBProgressHUD', '0.5'
    pod 'iRate', '>= 1.6.2'
    pod 'TimesSquare', '1.0.1'
    pod 'AFNetworking', '1.1.0'
    pod 'KKPasscodeLock', '0.1.5'
    pod 'iCarousel', '1.7.4'
end

target :demo do 
    link_with 'app-demo'

    pod 'TestFlightSDK', '>= 1.1'
    pod 'MBProgressHUD', '0.5'
    pod 'iRate', '>= 1.6.2'
    pod 'TimesSquare', '1.0.1'
    pod 'AFNetworking', '1.1.0'
    pod 'KKPasscodeLock', '0.1.5'
    pod 'iCarousel', '1.7.4'
end

Is there a better way to do this?

Answer 1

Since CocoaPods 1.0 has changed the syntax, instead of using link_with, do something like:

# Note; name needs to be all lower-case.
def shared_pods
    pod 'SSKeychain', '~> 0.1.4'
    pod 'INAppStoreWindow', :head
    pod 'AFNetworking', '1.1.0'
    pod 'Reachability', '~> 3.1.0'
    pod 'KSADNTwitterFormatter', '~> 0.1.0'
    pod 'MASShortcut', '~> 1.1'
    pod 'MagicalRecord', '2.1'
    pod 'MASPreferences', '~> 1.0'
end

target 'Sail' do
    shared_pods
end

target 'Sail-iOS' do
    shared_pods
end

---

Old answer Pre CocoaPods 1.0:

Yes there is a better way! Check out link_with where you can do link_with 'MyApp', 'MyOtherApp' to specify multiple targets.

I use this with unit tests like link_with 'App', 'App-Tests' (beware of spaces in target's names).

Example:

platform :osx, '10.8'

link_with 'Sail', 'Sail-Tests'

pod 'SSKeychain', '~> 0.1.4'
pod 'INAppStoreWindow', :head
pod 'AFNetworking', '1.1.0'
pod 'Reachability', '~> 3.1.0'
pod 'KSADNTwitterFormatter', '~> 0.1.0'
pod 'MASShortcut', '~> 1.1'
pod 'MagicalRecord', '2.1'
pod 'MASPreferences', '~> 1.0'

---

Approach using abstract_target:

In below example, the 'ShowsiOS', 'ShowsTV' and 'ShowsTests' targets have their own separate pods, plus ShowsKit inherited, because they are all child of the dummy target 'Shows'.

# Note: There are no targets called "Shows" in any of this workspace's Xcode projects.
abstract_target 'Shows' do
  pod 'ShowsKit'

  target 'ShowsiOS' do
    pod 'ShowWebAuth'
  end

  target 'ShowsTV' do
    pod 'ShowTVAuth'
  end

  # Our tests target has its own copy
  # of our testing frameworks
  # (beside inheriting ShowsKit pod).

  target 'ShowsTests' do
    inherit! :search_paths
    pod 'Specta'
    pod 'Expecta'
  end
end

Answer 2

I think better solution is

# Podfile

platform :ios, '8.0'

use_frameworks!

# Available pods

def available_pods
    pod 'AFNetworking', '1.1.0'
    pod 'Reachability', '~> 3.1.0'
end

target 'demo' do
  available_pods
end

target 'demoTests' do
    available_pods
end

Reference from : http://natashatherobot.com/cocoapods-installing-same-pod-multiple-targets/

Answer 3

If you want multiple targets to share the same pods, use an abstract_target.

# There are no targets called "Shows" in any Xcode projects
abstract_target 'Shows' do
  pod 'ShowsKit'
  pod 'Fabric'

  # Has its own copy of ShowsKit + ShowWebAuth
  target 'ShowsiOS' do
    pod 'ShowWebAuth'
  end

  # Has its own copy of ShowsKit + ShowTVAuth
  target 'ShowsTV' do
    pod 'ShowTVAuth'
  end
end

or just

pod 'ShowsKit'
pod 'Fabric'

# Has its own copy of ShowsKit + ShowWebAuth
target 'ShowsiOS' do
  pod 'ShowWebAuth'
end

# Has its own copy of ShowsKit + ShowTVAuth
target 'ShowsTV' do
  pod 'ShowTVAuth'
end

source: https://guides.cocoapods.org/using/the-podfile.html

Answer 4

Easiest way is to use an abstract target, where each pod specified will be linked with all targets.

abstract_target 'someNameForAbstractTarget' do
  pod 'podThatIsForAllTargets'
end

target 'realTarget' do
  pod 'podThatIsOnlyForThisTarget'
end