iOS Unity 2019.4 and UnityFramework pod target error

[Str4tos]

[REQUIRED] Please fill in the following fields:

• Unity editor version: 2019.4.11f1, 2020.1.7f1
• External Dependency Manager version: v1.2.159
• Source you installed EDM4U: Unity Package Manager
• Features in External Dependency Manager in use: iOS Resolver
• Plugins SDK in use: CleverAdsSolutions (Own iOS Framework)
• Platform you are using the Unity editor on: Mac

[REQUIRED] Please describe the question here:

Hello.
I am using Cocaopods to integrate my own framework to Unity build.
Everything works well on older versions of Unity like 2018 or 2019.2.
However, in new versions of Unity, a new iOS Target Unity Framework was added. And at this moment problems appear.

EDM4U creates the following Podfile:

source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'
source 'https://github.com/cleveradssolutions/CAS-Specs.git'
platform :ios, '11.0'

target 'UnityFramework' do
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-Promo', '~> 1.6.1'
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-SDK', '~> 1.6.1'
end

The XCode project builds successfully, but an Fatal Error appears during application launch:

Error loading [path]/Test2020.app/Frameworks/UnityFramework.framework/UnityFramework:  
  dlopen([path]/Test2020.app/Frameworks/UnityFramework.framework/UnityFramework, 265): 
     Library not loaded: @rpath/CASPromo.framework/CASPromo
  Referenced from: [path]/Test2020.app/Frameworks/UnityFramework.framework/UnityFramework
  Reason: image not found

I see a solution how to fix this error: modify the Podfile as follows:

source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'
source 'https://github.com/cleveradssolutions/CAS-Specs.git'
platform :ios, '11.0'

target 'UnityFramework' do
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-Promo', '~> 1.6.1'
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-SDK', '~> 1.6.1'
end

target 'Unity-iPhone' do
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-Promo', '~> 1.6.1'
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-SDK', '~> 1.6.1'
end

In this case, all errors go away. And there are no warnings about duplicate code in the build.
I found a closed discussion after which it was decided to leave only one target in the podfile: #282.

Please tell me how to fix it better.
Perhaps I can somehow change the settings of my framework so that it always gets into the build. Or change the settings of Unity Project.

Thank you very much for your attention.

[google-oss-bot]

This issue does not seem to follow the issue template. Make sure you provide all the required information.

[chkuang-g]

Hi @Str4tos

Since you mentioned about EDM4U and iOS Resolver, I assume you have a Dependencies.xml in your Unity project so that EDM4U can generate the Podfile from, is that correct?

You solution seem to be actually opposite to what is mentioned in #282 so I am a bit confused.

Does it work if you only have UnityFramework and run pod repo update; pod install?

Otherwise, could you provide a minimum viable Unity project and steps to reproduce the issue?

Thanks
Shawn

[Str4tos]

Hi @chkuang-g

Since you mentioned about EDM4U and iOS Resolver, I assume you have a Dependencies.xml in your Unity project so that EDM4U can generate the Podfile from, is that correct?

Yes, i have a Dependencies.xml in Unity Project and EDM4U generate the Prodfile only for UnityFramework.

You solution seem to be actually opposite to what is mentioned in #282 so I am a bit confused.

Yes, my solution is actually opposite to what is mentioned in #282, but somehow my solution helps solve the problem.

Does it work if you only have UnityFramework and run pod repo update; pod install?

This does not work.
To solve Error loading application, need to copy the dependencies for target 'Unity-iPhone' as I showed in the first post and run pod install.

Otherwise, could you provide a minimum viable Unity project and steps to reproduce the issue?

Of course, below will be the project archive for Unity 2019.4, but the same problem will be repeated for Unity 2020.1.
CAS-UnitySample.zip

Dependencies.xml path: Assets/CleverAdsSolutions/Editor

Steps to reproduce the issue:

1. Open Unity project from archive
2. Build for iOS platform
3. Open XCode Project
4. Run XCode Project

I do not deny that I may not know something in the framework settings. And I will be glad if you tell me what I need to do to solve such problems.

Many thanks

[polmum]

Hey!
This is also happening to us, it appears to be an issue with the dependency including a dynamic framework, which is not being copied by cocoapods as there is no host target defined in the podfile (when running pod install, the following warning appears: The Podfile contains framework or static library targets (UnityFramework), for which the Podfile does not contain host targets (targets which embed the framework)).
I found that just by adding the Unity-iPhone target to the Podfile, without any pod definitions, seems to fix this issue:

target 'Unity-iPhone' do

end

If this is indeed the case, I think this should be added to the podfile generation post process.

[vimanyu]

Thanks @polmum for listing that error. Looks like the app needs to be aware of its dependency on the framework.
@Str4tos, I tried reproducing this locally using your project but since I dont have an iOS device, I used simulator SDK and saw no errors while running the app in a simulator.

1. Could you confirm if you are seeing this error even on simulator?
2. I havent tried this but just out of curiosity, could you also try this podfile that embeds the framework inside the Unity-IPhone target,

source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'
source 'https://github.com/cleveradssolutions/CAS-Specs.git'
platform :ios, '11.0'

target 'UnityFramework' do
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-Promo', '~> 1.6.1'
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-SDK', '~> 1.6.1'
  target 'Unity-iPhone' do
  end
end

EDIT: I am using XCode 11.4.1 and Unity 2019.4.1f1

[Str4tos]

Thanks @vimanyu and @polmum

I tried different options on Unity 2020.1.16f, Xcode 12.2 and here's what happened.

pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-SDK/Base' - to test only one swift framework without other dependencies.
Application is removed before each test.

1. Default unity build with following podfile:

source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'
source 'https://github.com/cleveradssolutions/CAS-Specs.git'
platform :ios, '11.0'

target 'UnityFramework' do
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-SDK/Base'
end

Device iOS 14: I get an Error loading: Library not loaded
Simulator iOS 14: I get an Error loading: Library not loaded

2. Unity build using the following podfile:

source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'
source 'https://github.com/cleveradssolutions/CAS-Specs.git'
platform :ios, '11.0'

target 'UnityFramework' do
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-SDK/Base'
  target 'Unity-iPhone' do
  end
end

Save and call: pod install --no-repo-update
Device iOS 14: Works great
Simulator iOS 14: Works great

3. Unity build using the following podfile:

source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'
source 'https://github.com/cleveradssolutions/CAS-Specs.git'
platform :ios, '11.0'

target 'UnityFramework' do
  pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-SDK/Base'
end

target 'Unity-iPhone' do
end

Save and call: pod install --no-repo-update
Device iOS 14: Works great
Simulator iOS 14: Works great

Full pod 'CleverAdsSolutions-SDK' and 'CleverAdsSolutions-Promo' works same.

I believe that the third option is enough to solve the problem.

[vimanyu]

Great! Glad to know you are not blocked and thanks a lot for testing these combinations. I am flagging this as a bug just so we can do this during the resolve.