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I'm looking to do iPhone development on my Ubuntu machine. I've read that the only way an app makes it to the store is if it's developed on a Mac. Is it possible to develop an app on Ubuntu, and then rsync the source over to someone else's MacBook for a quick build that the folks at apple will accept?

ajwood
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You can write the code on whatever machine you want so long as it has a text editor. However, you won't be able to run it or even do anything with it until it's running on a Mac with Apple's Xcode build tools.

Marc W
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  • what about this? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/276907/starting-iphone-app-development-in-linux – ajwood Mar 19 '11 at 14:42
  • That's for development targeting jailbroken devices only. Also, virtualizing OS X to do your development doesn't count. Of course it's possible to do that. I thought you meant using Ubuntu to do the actual development, not OS X. – Marc W Mar 19 '11 at 14:44
  • I should clarify: my end goal is to have an app in the store. I'm wondering if there is a way to get around hogging my girlfriend's new macbook to develop it. – ajwood Mar 19 '11 at 14:46
  • Oh so you're speaking only of hardware limitations. Your best bet would be to virtualize OS X in VirtualBox on your Ubuntu machine. That should work perfectly fine, and you actually would be able to submit the app to the App Store since you would technically be developing it on Mac OS X. – Marc W Mar 19 '11 at 14:47
  • So its _not_ possible to write/run the app right in Ubuntu? I actually have a crummy little netbook that might not like running an extra OS. – ajwood Mar 19 '11 at 14:53
  • Correct. Again, feel free to write the code in any text editor on any machine you want, of course. =) But no, you won't be able to run or even build your code in Ubuntu using the standard Apple development toolchain. You could try that article you linked to on using Ubuntu for development for jailbroken devices, but I know nothing about that. – Marc W Mar 19 '11 at 14:54
  • Also, the XIB files aren't particularly text editor-friendly, and they are rather important for iOS development. You can make do without, but they're a great time-saver. – Seva Alekseyev Mar 19 '11 at 16:01