Xcode build process for linking & embedding framework to app in workspace

Question

I've separated some functionality in an app I'm working on into a self-contained framework. Both the framework and the app are included in a workspace. How do I include this framework in my build in a machine-agnostic manner?

What I've been doing is adding the framework to the embedded binaries of my client app, as suggested on a number of posts here on SO. This works nicely until you start work on another machine, at which point the randomly generated 'DerivedData' directory the framework resides in can't be found, and you have to re-create the link. This will become a really tiresome process.

I was considering using CocoaPods for this purpose, but unless I'm reading it wrong, you can't just reference local projects with a podspec; the project needs to reside on a known source / repo.

So basically I'd like to know how people here have forged a multi-project build process that isn't linked to the directory structure of a particular development machine.

Answer 1

So I've found a solution that works. The issue was that my client app project referred to the framework file relative to the project itself.

The minimal steps I took to refer to (and embed) my framework were significantly fewer than some of the solutions I've seen.

1. In my client app's target (on the General tab), add the framework to the 'Embedded Libraries' section. This will also add a reference to the framework to the Project navigator.
2. Select the reference added to the Project navigator in step 1, and change it's location to be 'Relative to Built Products'. Optionally move the framework to the 'Frameworks' folder of the client app's project, where the rest of the frameworks live.

This second step ensures the build looks for the framework relative to the build products, rather than relative to something else, whose location may vary between machines / copies of the source.