xcodebuild: simulator or device?

iphone xcode ios xcodebuild

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Solution 1

An Xcode build from the command line looks like:

xcodebuild -configuration ${BUILD_TYPE} -target ${TARGET_NAME} -arch ${CPU_ARCHITECTURE} -sdk ${SIMULATOR_OR_IOS_SDK}

BUILD_TYPE is something like "Release" or "Debug" (those are the defaults, you may have added others to the project)

TARGET_NAME is the name of the target you are building (by default the same name as your project)

CPU_ARCHITECTURE is the CPU you are building for, one of:

i386, armv6, armv7

Use i386 for simulator builds, and use either armv6 or armv7 for device builds - note that some other devices cannot run armv7 code, so usually when building libraries it's a good idea to build all of these architectures and then glue them together using lipo.

SIMULATOR_OR_IOS_SDK is what you are looking for, it's either iphoneos or iphonesimulator. Those values use the latest version of the SDK that the installed Xcode supports, you can get a list of supported SDK's with:

xcodebuild -showsdks

Which returns a list like:

Mac OS X SDKs:
    Current Mac OS                  -sdk 
    Mac OS X 10.6                   -sdk macosx10.6

iOS SDKs:
    iOS 4.2                         -sdk iphoneos4.2

iOS Simulator SDKs:
    Simulator - iOS 3.2             -sdk iphonesimulator3.2
    Simulator - iOS 4.0             -sdk iphonesimulator4.0
    Simulator - iOS 4.1             -sdk iphonesimulator4.1
    Simulator - iOS 4.2             -sdk iphonesimulator4.2

xcodebuild has more flags than that, but those are the ones you'd commonly use after using Xcode to set up the build properties. You don't have to use all of them, but it's probably a good idea to be clear about what you are building - otherwise I believe your last settings are used.

Solution 2

i find the -xcconfig flag quite useful. this option allows you to specify a path to an xcconfig (build settings file). within an xcconfig, you may #include other xcconfig files.

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Author by

Steven Fisher

Have been programming mobile (iOS and Android) full time since March 2009. I use SQLite a lot. Historical experience in many more languages and environments, especially C/C++ and Borland Pascal/Delphi. I have an infrequently updated blog and a Twitter feed that gets updated with any old thing that pops into my head.

Updated on July 05, 2022

Comments

Steven Fisher almost 2 years

How do I specify to xcodebuild (the command line tool) whether I want to build for the simulator or device?
Steven Fisher about 13 years

I know -configuration and -target, I'd just forgotten that hardware vs. simulator was set by the SDK. Thanks!
Steven Fisher about 13 years

You might want to also mention -sdk iphoneos for the latest version.
SinisterMJ about 13 years

Thanks, I knew XCode had a "latest version" SDK setting, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I assume "iphonesimulator" is also the latest iPhone simulator version.
SinisterMJ about 13 years

Amended answer to refer to use latest version variants by default.
Jeb almost 12 years

Note to build with -sdk iphonesimulator, I had to also use -arch i386, as xcodebuild was erroring out in some llvm commands.
SinisterMJ almost 12 years

Thanks @Jeb, I added that flag to the answer since it seems best to include it to be explicit.
Qadir Hussain about 8 years

@Kendall Helmstetter Gelner how to install the build (created using above command) to the real device connected (via usb)?
ThE uSeFuL over 7 years

@KendallHelmstetterGelner, Thank you for this. I have slightly different requirement. I need an archive which I could install in a simulator. I work in a workspace (not in a project) because I have cocoa pods added. I also have 2 extensions and a today widget. I tried the following, xcodebuild -workspace myproject.xcworkspace -scheme mainappscheme -sdk "iphonesimulator" -configuration Release -arch i386 archive I ended up with the following error, You cannot archive for the iOS Simulator platform
SinisterMJ over 7 years

@ThEuSeFuL : Although not as convenient, what I do for simulator uses is to simply copy all of the directories out of a simulator build, then paste them back into other simulators as needed - I use OpenSim to quickly find app specific folders in each simulator: github.com/luosheng/OpenSim
Jacob King about 7 years

@ThEuSeFuL Archiving produces a .ipa which is only required to distribute to devices. You can actually install the .app produced by a standard build to the simulator. See stackoverflow.com/questions/26031601/… about installing to simulator.
ThE uSeFuL about 7 years

@JacobKing, .app does not include the two extensions I have :(
Lee Irvine almost 3 years

in 2021 including -arch i386 for simulator builds triggers an error. "iOS 10 is the maximum deployment target for 32-bit targets." Remove -arch i386 flag to resolve the issue