XcodeSurgery: Eliminating Recompilation for your iOS Build Variants
summary
XcodeSurgery is a Swift CLI that reuses compiled app binaries to avoid recompiling the same target for multiple variants, using four steps: create a destination target, copy build settings, add a prepare run script, and add a transplant run script. The demo shows two variants drop from ~147+147s to ~147+2s by copying the built .app and swapping binaries and resources; it works for simulator, device installs and archives because Xcode defers code signing and performs no integrity checks between build phases. Variant files in plist plus an encryption key pattern is recommended.
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chapters (19)
- 0:00Introduction
- 0:38Overview
- 1:53Common reasons for compound times
- 2:43Introducing XcodeSurgery
- 3:27Installation
- 3:59Steps
- 4:35Step 1 Create a Target
- 5:10Step 2 Copy Build Settings
- 5:59Step 3 Create Run Script
- 6:20Step 4 Run Script
- 6:44Step 5 Build App
- 7:25Demo
- 15:35Explanation
- 15:54How Xcode builds iOS apps
- 18:23Why is this possible
- 19:02Limitations
- 19:39Encryption
- 20:43Other Notes
- 21:46Conclusion
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