Flutter - iOS; app is run but cannot archive

Question

I had a strange situation when my app is run via command line (flutter run) and in xCode but when I choose "Generic iOS Device" to archive, I got an error:

'shared_preferences/SharedPreferencesPlugin.h' file not found

I tried different methods related with plugins problem, recommended in Github and here. For example, this one:

1. xCode -> Project -> Clean
2. deleted Podfile.lock and directory Pods
3. pod install
4. flutter clean, flutter run

Everything works smoothly until I try to archive.

This is my Podfile (I have done it based on this example: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/issues/15409#issuecomment-387063765)

# Uncomment this line to define a global platform for your project
# platform :ios, '9.0'

# CocoaPods analytics sends network stats synchronously affecting flutter build latency.
ENV['COCOAPODS_DISABLE_STATS'] = 'true'

project 'Runner', {
  'Debug' => :debug,
  'Profile' => :release,
  'Release' => :release,
}

def parse_KV_file(file, separator='=')
  file_abs_path = File.expand_path(file)
  if !File.exists? file_abs_path
    return [];
  end
  pods_ary = []
  skip_line_start_symbols = ["#", "/"]
  File.foreach(file_abs_path) { |line|
      next if skip_line_start_symbols.any? { |symbol| line =~ /^\s*#{symbol}/ }
      plugin = line.split(pattern=separator)
      if plugin.length == 2
        podname = plugin[0].strip()
        path = plugin[1].strip()
        podpath = File.expand_path("#{path}", file_abs_path)
        pods_ary.push({:name => podname, :path => podpath});
      else
        puts "Invalid plugin specification: #{line}"
      end
  }
  return pods_ary
end

target 'Runner' do
  use_frameworks!

  # Prepare symlinks folder. We use symlinks to avoid having Podfile.lock
  # referring to absolute paths on developers' machines.
  system('rm -rf .symlinks')
  system('mkdir -p .symlinks/plugins')

  # Flutter Pods
  generated_xcode_build_settings = parse_KV_file('./Flutter/Generated.xcconfig')
  if generated_xcode_build_settings.empty?
    puts "Generated.xcconfig must exist. If you're running pod install manually, make sure flutter packages get is executed first."
  end
  generated_xcode_build_settings.map { |p|
    if p[:name] == 'FLUTTER_FRAMEWORK_DIR'
      symlink = File.join('.symlinks', 'flutter')
      File.symlink(File.dirname(p[:path]), symlink)
      pod 'Flutter', :path => File.join(symlink, File.basename(p[:path]))
    end
  }

  # Plugin Pods
  plugin_pods = parse_KV_file('../.flutter-plugins')
  plugin_pods.map { |p|
    symlink = File.join('.symlinks', 'plugins', p[:name])
    File.symlink(p[:path], symlink)
    pod p[:name], :path => File.join(symlink, 'ios')
  }
end

pre_install do |installer|
  # workaround for https://github.com/CocoaPods/CocoaPods/issues/3289
  Pod::Installer::Xcode::TargetValidator.send(:define_method, :verify_no_static_framework_transitive_dependencies) {}
end

post_install do |installer|
  installer.pods_project.targets.each do |target|
    target.build_configurations.each do |config|
      config.build_settings['ENABLE_BITCODE'] = 'NO'
    end
    # workaround for https://github.com/CocoaPods/CocoaPods/issues/7463
    target.headers_build_phase.files.each do |file|
      file.settings = { 'ATTRIBUTES' => ['Public'] }
    end
  end
end

This is my flutter doctor:

Doctor summary (to see all details, run flutter doctor -v):
[✓] Flutter (Channel beta, v0.11.13, on Mac OS X 10.13.6 17G65, locale en-GB)
[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK 28.0.3)
[✓] iOS toolchain - develop for iOS devices (Xcode 10.1)
[!] Android Studio (not installed)
[✓] Connected device (2 available)

! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

Also, I have checked this question about problems with archiving in xCode but did not find answer.

Do you have any ideas what to do?

Thank you in advance for your support.

Answer 1

I fixed this issue by running flutter build ios and then archiving start working. Flutter build ios download and upgraded few build tools. I think they were causing this isse.

Answer 2

The temporary solution was to build with command line but the issue with building in Xcode still exist

Answer 3

Delete all Pod files inside /ios directory then run the following commands in /ios directory:

sudo pod init
sudo gem install cocoapods
sudo pod install

Answer 4

You may want to try to delete your ios folder and regenerate the project and see whether the error disappears or not:

flutter create .

Hope this help, I have met crash on a project for a few weeks ago since the new update with Xcode 11.4 and this method help me