How to add a local package dependency to a local package in Xcode? How to nest package dependencies locally in Xcode?

Question

I have created a local package within Xcode, with 'File -> New -> Package' and named it "BaseTypeExtension" (see image). So far so good, I can use this package in my other Xcode projects as expected (by 'File -> add Package Dependencies ... -> add Local ...').

Then I created another local package (again with 'File -> New -> Package)', but this package should depend on the first package BaseTypeExtensions. But when I try to add the dependency with 'File -> add Package Dependencies ...' surprisingly the option 'add Local ...' is not available anymore.

Can somebody help?

I want to implement such a nested package dependency but only locally (a remote repository e.g. on GitHub makes no sense to me at this moment, I don't want to share code with others, I just want to locally modularize my code using Swift Package Manager.

Any hint, workaround, link, ... is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Well, I finally found a solution for nested local packages. Interesting though, I got more help from ChatGPT, than from here.

But the real help came from this site: https://theswiftdev.com/the-swift-package-manifest-file/

Thanks to Tibor Bödecs, who shared his knowledge about package dependencies. The key was this line of code unter the comment // ... dependency must also be handled here on target level //

I hope it helps somebody with the same issues.

// swift-tools-version: 5.10
import PackageDescription

// Sample for dependency on other local package
let package = Package(
    name: "SecondPackage",
    products: [
        .library(
            name: "SecondPackage",
            targets: ["SecondPackage"]
        ),
    ],
    // relative path to first package
    dependencies: [.package(path: "../BaseTypeExtension"),],
    targets: [
        .target(
            name: "SecondPackage",
            // ... dependency must also be handled here on target level
            dependencies: [.product(name: "BaseTypeExtension", package: "BaseTypeExtension")]
        ),
        .testTarget(
            name: "SecondPackageTests",
            dependencies: ["SecondPackage"]
        ),
    ]
)