Why am I getting this error while creating XCFramework?: While building for iOS Simulator, no library was found in path

Question

I have written the below commands in a script file to create XCFrameworks for both iPhoneSimulator and iPhoneOS like this below:

xcodebuild archive -scheme "ProjectD" -archivePath "/Users/Ron/Archives/ProjectDiphoneSimulator.xcarchive" -sdk 'iphonesimulator' SKIP_INSTALL=NO

xcodebuild archive -scheme "ProjectD" -archivePath "/Users/Ron/Archives/ProjectDiphoneOS.xcarchive" -sdk 'iphoneos' SKIP_INSTALL=NO

xcodebuild -create-xcframework -framework "/Users/Ron/Archives/ProjectDiphoneSimulator.xcarchive/Products/Library/Frameworks/ProjectDiphoneSimulator.framework" -output "/Users/Ron/XCFrameworks/ProjectDiphoneSimulator.xcframework"

xcodebuild -create-xcframework -framework "/Users/Ron/Archives/ProjectDiphoneOS.xcarchive/Products/Library/Frameworks/ProjectDiphoneOS.framework" -output "/Users/Ron/XCFrameworks/ProjectDiphoneOS.xcframework"

I tried to use this in a project after dragging and dropping it onto the Embedded Frameworks and Libraries

When I run the project with a device as the target, it works fine. But when I run it on a simulator, it throws the below error:

While building for iOS Simulator, no library was found in /Users/Ron/XCFrameworks/ProjectD.xcframework

If I change the order of the archive and XCFramework creation like below:

xcodebuild archive -scheme "ProjectD" -archivePath "/Users/Ron/Archives/ProjectDiphoneOS.xcarchive" -sdk 'iphoneos' SKIP_INSTALL=NO

xcodebuild archive -scheme "ProjectD" -archivePath "/Users/Ron/Archives/ProjectDiphoneSimulator.xcarchive" -sdk 'iphonesimulator' SKIP_INSTALL=NO

xcodebuild -create-xcframework -framework "/Users/Ron/Archives/ProjectDiphoneOS.xcarchive/Products/Library/Frameworks/ProjectDiphoneOS.framework" -output "/Users/Ron/XCFrameworks/ProjectDiphoneOS.xcframework"

xcodebuild -create-xcframework -framework "/Users/Ron/Archives/ProjectDiphoneSimulator.xcarchive/Products/Library/Frameworks/ProjectDiphoneSimulator.framework" -output "/Users/Ron/XCFrameworks/ProjectDiphoneSimulator.xcframework"

It works for simulator and not on the device with the same error:

While building for iPhone, no library was found in /Users/Ron/XCFrameworks/ProjectD.xcframework

I have set the Build Libraries for Distribution to Yes as well. If I try to create them with different destinations(2 XCFrameworks for iphone and simulator) it is working. But that literally defeats the purpose of XCFrameworks.

Am I missing something or doing any of the steps wrong? Thanks for the answers in advance.

Spiritoso

Answer 1

You need to create a single .xcframework file from both .framework. (that will include simulator and device architectures) To do that run a single xcodebuild -create-xcframework command and pass the 2 different .framework files:

xcodebuild
-create-xcframework
-framework "/Users/Ron/Archives/ProjectDiphoneOS.xcarchive/Products/Library/Frameworks/ProjectDiphoneOS.framework"
-framework "/Users/Ron/Archives/ProjectDiphoneSimulator.xcarchive/Products/Library/Frameworks/ProjectDiphoneSimulator.framework"
-output "/Users/Ron/XCFrameworks/ProjectDiphoneOS.xcframework"

When you instead run 2 different xcodebuild -create-xcframework commands you have as a result your .xcframework to include only the last .framework file you passed, which is for devices. That's why your project fails to run in simulator.

Descant

Thanks for the answer!. That was a simple thing I overlooked. – Spiritoso