What's the replacement for Xcode's PackageApplication?

Question

With Xcode 8.3 PackageApplication is gone. I did use it to convert an *.app package/directory to a *.ipa file (after re-signing):

xcrun -sdk iphoneos PackageApplication -v "MyApp.app" -o "MyApp.ipa"

Is there any replacement for this, so I can continue to convert .app to .ipa?

asp_net · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-03T08:52:11.873

25

Apparently there is no need to use any other tool, and it's also not necessary to change the process that leads to the *.app package (in other words: no need to use xcodebuild -exportArchive).

All we have to do, is to zip that *.app package:

pushd "/build"
mkdir ./Payload
cp -R "$PATH_TO_SIGNED_APP_PACKAGE.app" ./Payload
zip -qyr MyApp.ipa ./Payload
rm -r ./Payload
popd

Note:

Jump into the target directory, here /build. This ensures we don't have the full path in the zip archive later.
Create a folder named Payload (important, this cannot vary)
Copy the *.app bundle to the Payload folder
Zip the folder and instead of *.zip use *.ipa as extension
Jump back to where you came from

edited Apr 03 '17 at 08:52

answered Mar 30 '17 at 11:21

asp_net

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You said there is no need for PackageApplication anymore? Does it mean we don't have to include SwiftSupport folder in the IPA anymore? Do you have any reference for that? – MarekR May 06 '17 at 12:50
Can you explain (1) above a little more? Is build just an arbitrary directory name? – bplattenburg May 19 '17 at 19:59
@bplattenburg Yes, completely arbitrary. – asp_net May 22 '17 at 14:27
1

@asp_net xcrun also did file compressing which this one don't do – hariszaman Aug 15 '17 at 08:23
1

@hariszaman Do you know if this eventually matters on Apple's side? I assume they re-pack the archive anyway. – asp_net Aug 15 '17 at 11:44
1

@asp_net https://developer.apple.com/library/content/qa/qa1795/_index.html read under measuring your app – hariszaman Aug 15 '17 at 12:56

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 21 '17 at 19:49

Another workaround would be to put a copy of the PackageApplication tool from a previous Xcode into the Xcode 8.3 directory

Get the PackageApplication script from Xcode 8.2.1 here: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/48f3e4c5ae25313dc0fe10d9ec50c3fc

Remember to make it executable

chmod +x PackageApplication

Then drop it into your 8.3 Xcode.app as

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/usr/bin/PackageApplication

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 30 '17 at 04:20

This is the error: xcrun: error: unable to find utility "PackageApplication", not a developer tool or in PATH It looks like PackageApplication is removed from Xcode 8.3. In Xcode 8.2 there was a warning: PackageApplication is deprecated, use xcodebuild -exportArchive instead.

What's the replacement for Xcode's PackageApplication?

3 Answers3

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