XCFramework with Pods Dependencies

16
votes

Our goal is to create a framework that hides our internal code and provide SDK to our customers. We have thought of creating XCFramework which fulfills our requirement. Umbrella framework is also suggested over the internet but mostly suggested to avoid that approach. Our Framework is dependent on some third-party libraries which we are using via Pods.

Issue: XCFramework does not compile pods framework. We got an error like "Xyz(Pod) module not found". Even if we add pods from the client-side it does not work.

Code to create XCFramework is as bellow

1) Create an archive for iOS platform

xcodebuild archive -workspace ABC.xcworkspace \
  -scheme ABC \
  -sdk iphoneos \
  -archivePath "./archives/ios_devices.xcarchive" \
  BUILD_LIBRARY_FOR_DISTRIBUTION=YES \
  SKIP_INSTALL=NO

2) Create an archive for iOS-Simulator platform

  xcodebuild archive  -workspace ABC.xcworkspace \
  -scheme ABC \
  -sdk iphonesimulator \
  -archivePath "./archives/ios_simulators.xcarchive" \
  BUILD_LIBRARY_FOR_DISTRIBUTION=YES \
  SKIP_INSTALL=NO

3) Create an XCFramework from Archives

xcodebuild -create-xcframework \
-framework ./archives/ios_devices.xcarchive/Products/Library/Frameworks/ABC.framework \
-framework ./archives/ios_simulators.xcarchive/Products/Library/Frameworks/ABC.framework \
-output build/ABC.xcframework

We got ABC XCFramework successfully but dependencies are not included in XCFramework. Any solution for this? or Is there any way where we can set framework search path to client-side? or Any alternate approach?

3
iosframeworksxcodebuildxcframework
Did the below solution actually work? I'm trying something similar and when using the framework I get errors. - Dustin Pfannenstiel
Yes creating a pod works for me @DustinPfannenstiel - Bhavin Vaghela
@BhavinVaghela - if you do not include the external dependancies in your Framework project, doesn't the compiler give you an error when trying to build the Framework ? - Shawn Frank
@ShawnFrank I have tried in serval way, every time I got an error like a module(third party) is not found. The solution which works for me is to create a pod and add a third-party dependency in a pod spec. Also, I am not getting an error while building or creating a framework I got an error while adding to another project. - Bhavin Vaghela

3 Answers

7
votes

You can create a pod and publish it.

Check https://guides.cocoapods.org/making/making-a-cocoapod.html

Sample Podspec file with XCFramework + Third party dependency

Pod::Spec.new do |s|  
    s.name              = 'XCFrameworkTest' # Name for your pod
    s.version           = '0.0.1'
    s.summary           = 'Sample Spec'
    s.homepage          = 'https://www.google.com'

    s.author            = { 'Sample' => '[email protected]' }
    s.license = { :type => "MIT", :text => "MIT License" }

    s.platform          = :ios
    # change the source location
    s.source            = { :http => 'http://localhost:8080/XCFrameworkTest.zip' } 
    s.ios.deployment_target = '10.0'
    s.ios.vendored_frameworks = 'XCFrameworkTest.xcframework' # Your XCFramework
    s.dependency 'PromisesSwift', '1.2.8' # Third Party Dependency
end

After you publish your pod, Customer can use cocopods to get our framework.

In Customer's Podfile

pod 'XCFrameworkTest' #Your pod name
1
votes

I have created a template for this purpose. You can test it by running the command

pod lib create YourLibName --template-url="https://github.com/zalazara/pod-template-xcframework.git"

The template basically generates an example project together with its podfile file where, in turn, the framework to be developed is embedded, then the generation file compiles the framework using the workspace.

BUILD_DIR="Build"
TMP_DIR="${BUILD_DIR}/Tmp"
IOS_ARCHIVE_PATH="${TMP_DIR}/iOS.xcarchive"
IOS_SIM_ARCHIVE_PATH="${TMP_DIR}/iOSSimulator.xcarchive"

rm -rf ${BUILD_DIR}
rm -rf "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.xcframework"

xcodebuild archive \
 -workspace "Example/${WORKSPACE}" \
 -scheme ${SCHEME} \
 -archivePath ${IOS_SIM_ARCHIVE_PATH} \
 -sdk iphonesimulator \
 SKIP_INSTALL=NO \
 | xcpretty


 xcodebuild archive \
 -workspace "Example/${WORKSPACE}" \
 -scheme ${SCHEME} \
 -archivePath ${IOS_ARCHIVE_PATH} \
 -sdk iphoneos \
 SKIP_INSTALL=NO \
 | xcpretty

 xcodebuild -create-xcframework \
 -framework ${IOS_SIM_ARCHIVE_PATH}/Products/Library/Frameworks/${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.framework \
 -framework ${IOS_ARCHIVE_PATH}/Products/Library/Frameworks/${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.framework \
 -output ${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.xcframework \
 | xcpretty

For more information : https://github.com/zalazara/pod-template-xcframework.git

0
votes

Ayyanar's solution do the trick for me, but get an error on build: "Failed to build module from its module interface; it may have been damaged or it may have triggered a bug in the Swift compiler when it was produced".

I solve it linking the target to the .xcframwork from Pod.

Hope it helps somebody.