Provide pre-compiled universal binary

[gk-brown]

• I've read, understood, and done my best to follow the *CONTRIBUTING guidelines.

Thanks for all of the hard work you've put into the Charts framework - it's very much appreciated. Just wanted to suggest providing a pre-compiled universal binary in addition to your current CocoaPods and Carthage support. The following shell script can be used to generate a framework binary that will run in both the iOS simulator and on an actual device:

FRAMEWORK=Charts

BUILD=build
FRAMEWORK_PATH=$FRAMEWORK.framework

rm -Rf $BUILD
rm -f $FRAMEWORK.framework.tar.gz

xcodebuild archive -project $FRAMEWORK.xcodeproj -scheme $FRAMEWORK -sdk iphoneos SYMROOT=$BUILD
xcodebuild build -project $FRAMEWORK.xcodeproj -target $FRAMEWORK -sdk iphonesimulator SYMROOT=$BUILD

cp -RL $BUILD/Release-iphoneos $BUILD/Release-universal
cp -RL $BUILD/Release-iphonesimulator/$FRAMEWORK_PATH/Modules/$FRAMEWORK.swiftmodule/* $BUILD/Release-universal/$FRAMEWORK_PATH/Modules/$FRAMEWORK.swiftmodule

lipo -create $BUILD/Release-iphoneos/$FRAMEWORK_PATH/$FRAMEWORK $BUILD/Release-iphonesimulator/$FRAMEWORK_PATH/$FRAMEWORK -output $BUILD/Release-universal/$FRAMEWORK_PATH/$FRAMEWORK

tar -czv -C $BUILD/Release-universal -f $FRAMEWORK.tar.gz $FRAMEWORK_PATH $FRAMEWORK_PATH.dSYM

Place the script in the project root directory and make sure it has execute permission. See this article for more information:

https://gkbrown.org/2017/10/11/creating-a-universal-framework-in-xcode-9/

For an example that also supports tvOS, see:

https://github.com/gk-brown/Lima/blob/master/package.sh

[liuxuan30]

would mind a PR for this? But I think there is already a binary in derivedData.

[gk-brown]

The framework in the DerivedData folder is not a universal binary - it won't run on both the simulator and an actual device. It would also require cloning and building the project manually.

Providing a pre-compiled universal binary would allow developers to download just the framework, instead of the entire codebase. For example, see the *.tar.gz files attached to this project release:

https://github.com/gk-brown/Lima/releases/tag/1.0.3

To use the framework, developers just need to extract the framework from the zip file and drag it to the "Embedded Binaries" section of their Xcode project.

[liuxuan30]

is there any automated way to generate it? Welcome a PR. But this isn't a high priority for us

[gk-brown]

Yes, running the script generates the framework bundle. I'll see if I can submit a PR.

[liuxuan30]

@gk-brown I mean can github or any service like travisCI has such feature? Running the script and upload it is still some kinds of manual work for us. a one click job is much preferred, though I wonder this isn't such service.

why not use carthage or pod if you don't want the source code?

While I'm writing this, I recall carthage seems to have a feature called 'pre-built framework' support. Realm seems already using it. So maybe carthage is a better choice.

[gk-brown]

I provide universal binaries for my own projects because I don't want users to have to use a 3rd-party dependency management tool like CocoaPods or Carthage. They just need to drag the framework to the "Embedded Binaries" section of their Xcode project, as described here:

https://github.com/gk-brown/Lima#getting-lima

Carthage does provide support for pre-built frameworks, but you still need to build them yourself and add them to your repo. Additionally, users would have to use Carthage to consume them.

[liuxuan30]

I see. what's your thought @jjatie @petester42 ?

[pmairoldi]

I might be a good idea now that swift is more stable from version to version. I know that for a while Apple didn’t recommend distributing precompiled frameworks. Has that changed? I would wait until swift 5 is out since it should be finally “stable”

[gk-brown]

That's a good point. My earlier releases were all Objective-C, so binary compatibility was not an issue.

Swift 5 was released yesterday - I'll do some testing and update the ticket.

[jjatie]

Module Stability is not here yet. It is the goal for Swift 5.1

[gk-brown]

You are right - just read that on the Swift blog.

Maybe Xcode 11 will provide out-of-the-box support for building frameworks, so this script will no longer be necessary.

[liuxuan30]

so... we just wait for now? closing this is ok? @gk-brown

[gk-brown]

Closing is fine, although I do think it would be useful to provide a pre-compiled framework once the binary compatibility issues are resolved.

[liuxuan30]

sure. when the time comes.

[ghost]

Hi, sorry to open this but I need to add this as .framework in my project.... done the script but when running in simulator I get XXX.xcodeproj Building for iOS Simulator, but the linked and embedded framework 'Charts.framework' was built for iOS.

I added the Release-universal to the project

Any help please?

[gk-brown]

@TGWC I ended up using the Swift package instead, which has worked well.

[ghost]

how to do it ? Any tutorial ? Sorry

[gk-brown]

Unfortunately, it looks like the project maintainers still don't provide any instructions on how to use Charts as a Swift package. Maybe this will help:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/adding_package_dependencies_to_your_app

[liuxuan30]

I think we already supported Swift Package? There is a config file already. I don't realize the issue @gk-brown
https://github.com/danielgindi/Charts/blob/master/Package.swift

[gk-brown]

You do support using Charts as a Swift package. However, unlike Cocoapods and Carthage, I don't believe this is documented anywhere.

[jjatie]

There is now an SPM Install section, mirroring the detail common in popular iOS libraries. If you feel further instructions are required for less common use cases, please submit a PR.