Xcode settings: architecture vs valid architecture

Question

I was looking at the configuration of the Sparkle project and noticed that they set:

• Architectures = ppc i386 x86_64
• Valid architectures = i386 x86_64

Valid architectures description from apple:

Space-separated list of identifiers. Specifies the architectures for which the binary may be built. During the build, this list is intersected with the value of ARCHS build setting; the resulting list specifies the architectures the binary can run on. If the resulting architecture list is empty, the target generates no binary.

So, why set architectures different from valid architectures if it won't run on ppc anyways?

Ingenerate

Maybe that was the default value ? – Marja

@DavidAndreoletti you can edit both variables – Ingenerate

Refer to this thread: #12701688 – Esparto

Answer 1

When set to 'Native architecture of the Build Machine', you might want to specify which architectures your app works on.

For example, if you have an app that isn't ready for 64-bit environment (it might compile, but it would crash), you put valid architectures just 32-bit, so it won't build the 64-bit section even on 64-bit computer.

As for your Sparkle question - you'll need to ask Sparkle devs, but I bet it's just a value that comes from days when PPC was still widely used.

Greataunt