There are appear to be methods of creating a fat static library ala "http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3520977/build-fat-static-library-device-simulator-using-xcode-and-sdk-4". Is this recommended? Any special steps (i.e., disabling thumb)
Also, if I do use the fat static library, will monotouch/xcode clear out any unused code in the final product?
You definitely need to turn Thumb code off so you can link properly against the library. As far as creating the fat static library goes, I can only say that anecdotally I've done this for a few third-party libraries that I've used and haven't run into issues.
I assume you already know that you need to create the bindings necessary to make calls to the objective-c library from your MonoTouch code and add extra gcc flags in the project properties to link in the static lib. If not, you can get that information on how to do that from the MonoTouch website.
Related
I have two applications and a static library used by both.
All three using CMake as build system.
I want to localize my applications.
I more or less understand how to localize applications but I'm not
sure how I should localize my static library.
If it would be a dynamic library I could install the compiled
translations alongside with the binary and access them.
But a static library is only relevant for the developer. There is no longer a
library in the final product. I would somehow need to transfer the compiled
translations of the library to the applications.
When calling make install for one of my applications the translatons of my
static library needs to be installed, too.
How can I achieve something like this using CMake?
I'm developing a plugin for mac. I'm trying to use afnetworking and other frameworks which needs arc. I'm trying to create a .a(library) for the framework and access it in firebreath. I tried adding the directory which contains .a using include_directories in projectdef.cmake then linking it in target_link_libraries. Please lemme know how to add this and whether the framework can be used in firebreath without any pitfalls
I have used external libraries in firebreath. Though I have used editors to link the libraries. You need to specify .h files for the function prototypes, along with .a files which will dynamically link to .dylib
Try adding these via Xcode and see if that works.
With the use of a mild hack, it is possible to make static frameworks for iOS. Static frameworks are quite convenient to use: they can simply be dropped into new projects without extra steps (like adding them to the build and adding header search paths).
I've recently started doing OS X programming, and the first thing I noticed was that static frameworks don't seem to be available. Dynamic frameworks are obviously available and recommended, but as I want to make a little private framework intended for application use (not installation in /Library/Frameworks), using a dynamic framework in new application projects still requires a bunch of extra steps.
In my ideal world, I'd create a static framework (a framework which contains header files and a compiled .a file), drag & drop the framework onto a new project, and start coding. Is there any way to make such a static framework on OS X?
P.S. I already tried setting the Mach-O output type to "static library" in a normal framework project, but I just get the error Framework target has invalid MACH_O_TYPE value of 'staticlib'..
You can create a dynamic framework on Mac OS X. In your dynamic framework you can set the LD_DYLIB_INSTALL_NAME as #rpath/Foo.framework/Versions/A/Foo
If you have an app that wants to link with this framework then you make sure you run the
install_name_tool -add_rpath <rpath> <full-path-to-app-binary>
So if I had Foo.app
install_name_tool -add_rpath Foo.app/Contents/Library Foo.app/Contents/MacOS/Foo
Now if you just copy your Foo.framework into Contents/Library it should get loaded and everything should work.
I hope this helps.
Probably simpler would be to use a static library with public headers. When you build the static lib you can have Xcode copy the headers for you automatically. And in your target you can add the folder to your search path.
If you use a static library Xcode will strip away some dead code that your app doesn't really need but is compiled into the static lib.
Static frameworks aren't really supported on OS X. They're fairly brittle anyway, and solve a specific problem that exists on iOS but not on OS X.
If you're looking to make it easy for developers to use a library you create, you have a couple options:
Use Cocoapods. They have a tutorial for publishing your library on CocoaPods. This is probably the easiest way to distribute a library on OS X.
Package your library as a framework. If you set the install name correctly (to #rpath/<library name>), the downstream developer merely needs to copy the framework into their Xcode project and set the runtime search path of their application to #executable_path/../Frameworks).
When I need to build some third party library to be used in several of my projects under different version of MSVC, I usually build it for every MSVC version and for both Debug and Release configurations. That's what boost does, and that's what we have been done for our whole life in my team.
However, I still don't get, why couldn't I just build this library with like... whatever. All I need is function prototype and object code, right? Since I'm linking CRT statically, I have no external dependencies. But when I'm trying to link library built in Release under MSVC8 with my project in Debug under MSVC10 I have this annoying "already defined" linker errors which we all hate so much.
But why? Can I just "encapsulate" all this functions inside lib and do not export them so that my project will take only what it needs from the lib? Why can I have precompiled version of libpng and zlib which I can link in every project? Yes, they are not build using MSVC, I guess, but the still uses the same functions of CRT. So can anyone please explain in depth or share a link to some enlightened explanation of this issue?
Since I'm linking CRT statically, I have no external dependencies
Well, that's not true, you do have a dependency. On the static version of the CRT. Debug or Release, depending on your build settings. And it is an external dependency, the linker glues the CRT later, when the library gets linked. The code that uses the library also has a dependency on the CRT. And if the compile settings don't match then the linker barfs.
You isolate that dependency by building a DLL instead of a static link library. You must further ensure that the exported functions don't cause a CRT dependency. You can't return a C++ object from the standard C++ library and can't return a pointer to an object that needs to be released by the client code. Even passing structures is tricky since their packing is an implementation detail, but you usually get away with it. A good practical example is COM automation, it forces you into using a subset of types that are universal. Windows is rife with them and all these servers work with any version of the compiler or CRT. Even any language. This however comes at a cost, writing such a library isn't as simple or convenient as just throwing a bunch of code in a static lib.
I have a need to create a static library which will some of it's own code and it will also contain a number of other static libraries I have written.
So normally I have a main project A.xcodeproj which depends on B.xcodeproj which in turn depends on C, D, E etc.
My company has a requirement to distribute only a static library with a simple app, and for there to only be one library sent out, not a multitude of libC.a libD.a etc.
So I create A_static.xcodeproj which has simple application API calls and links to libB.a but everytime I try this libB.a only contains the symbols for B.xcodeproj, I can not get to it also contain libC.a libD.a etc.
Is there an easy way to do this in XCode that I'm missing?
Thanks
It sounds very much like you need to use frameworks. Allows you to bundle multiple libraries and files together into 1 bundle that other parties can include. I'm in the same boat where I work. I've used this guide on github to get our frameworks up and running. Worked great for me.
iOS Framework