Xcode "directory not found for option -L" errors - xcode

Question

I'm getting these errors:
ld: warning: directory not found for option '-L"/pathToMyApp/MyApp/Shared/Libraries/ADMS_AppLibrary"'
ld: warning: directory not found for option '-L"/pathToMyApp/MyApp/Shared/Libraries/TestFlightSDK1.1"'
ld: warning: directory not found for option '-L"/pathToMyApp/MyApp/Shared/Libraries/Medialets"'
ld: library not found for -lTestFlight
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
These directories do in fact exist at the paths above.
The thing is, the app used to compile fine. All I did was add a new version of the Medialets library to the project, and now I get these erros.

Answer 1

There are two errors that people seem to be confused about:
If it is a "directory not found for option '-L/..." error That means it's a Library Error, and you should try to:
Click on your project (targets)
Click on Build Settings
Under Library Search Paths, delete the paths
If it is a "directory not found for option '-F/..." That means it's a Framework Error, and you should try to:
Click on your project (targets)
Click on Build Settings
Under Frameworks Search Paths, delete the paths

Answer 2

I had the same problem when I added a new library to the project.
It seems that the linker error occurs when the Xcode 5 adds a path to "Library Search Paths" automatically when adding a new library directory to the project.
The linker error disappeared once I manually edited the paths. (I didn't essentially change the path, just tried some different formats such as $(PROJECT_DIR)/path/to/library or "$(SRCROOT)/path/to/library". It worked even after changed back to the original format.)
I think it's a bug of Xcode. I'm using Xcode 5.1 (5B130a).

Answer 3

For the "-L" issue,
If you are using cmake (in my case 3.3.2) and use the xcode generator, it will generate multiple entries for each link-directory you specify,
link_directories ("${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/SDKs/thelib/lib")
see the cmake sourcecode, cmGlobalXCodeGenerator::AddDependAndLinkInformation(...) where it does this:
{ ...
if(this->XcodeVersion > 15)
{
// Now add the same one but append
// $(CONFIGURATION)$(EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME) to it:
linkDirs += " ";
linkDirs += this->XCodeEscapePath((*libDir + "/$(CONFIGURATION)$(EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME)").c_str());
}
linkDirs += " ";
linkDirs += this->XCodeEscapePath(libDir->c_str());
}
which will result in XCode having these entries in the Lib Search Path
/Users/myuser/thelib/lib/$(CONFIGURATION)$(EFFECTIVE_PLATFORM_NAME)
/Users/myuser/thelib/lib
So that makes it a bit more difficult to get rid of this warning; Depending on your file-structure, one of those is likely going to be wrong - and even if you manually remove it they will be back next time your project is regenerated.
One work-around is to just create empty directories for the ones it complains about...
It's also possible to "pass some arguments" to the linker using "-Wl", but so far I didn't find out what to pass to silence that specific warning.

Answer 4

ld: warning: directory not found for option '-L"----it's a Library Error
Select your project go to the Build Settings tab,Under Library Search Paths, Replace the path with this string $(SRCROOT)

Answer 5

Just removing the lib from "Link With Binary With Libraries" section of "Build Phases" doesn't seem to resolve the issue in Xcode 6 at least.
1) Go to your project navigator and find the "Frameworks" folder
2) your lib is probably there already, so just right click and "Delete"
3) Select "Remove References"
4) go to your repo or project folder where all your files are and drag
it into the "Frameworks" folder
5) clean, and rebuild and the errors should go away

Answer 6

I did not have any added library paths under Library Search Paths, but instead I could solve this issue by deleting the Derived data, by going to Preferences -> Locations

Answer 7

I started seeing both -L and -F errors in the build for a react native app and none of the existing answers solved the problem.
For me the problem was I had updated the ios version in my Podfile:
platform :ios, '11.0'
but not in the xcode project.pbxproj file:
IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET = 10.0;
(The setting appears multiple times in the .pbxproj file)
Making the versions match solved the problem.