Workflow for building Frameworks to distribute

[sirghi]

More of a question - is there a workflow one can use this plugin to build a framework A with its source code, alongside dependency B, and pack it into one single framework that can be shipped standalone?

[biocross]

@sirghi Interesting! One way I think of is using a sample project (like this repo's example project) and defining a MergeFile like:

group 'MyStandaloneFramework'
    has_dependencies!  # Only add this if A depends on B
    pod 'FrameworkA'
    pod 'DependencyB'
end

and then run pod install.

This'll merge the pods and put the merged framework in the MergedPods/MyStandaloneFramework directory, which you can then package and ship.

[sirghi]

Hi @biocross, sorry for the late reply. So I setup a sample project here. It has FrameworkA which is dependent on the Apollo pod. If you try to bundle exec pod install you should get a "File name too long" error that seems to be of a recursive nature. If you can get to the bottom of the problem, I'd be grateful.

Also, spotted the following secondary issues/uncertainties:

1. This is a theoretical one. In the above example, with has_dependencies!, in case FrameworkA depends on DependencyB, I assume FrameworkA'a podspec will specify that (like in my case). So I don't see why we'd specify both in the MergeFile.
2. The podspec is one level higher compared to the MergeFile, but I had to put ../.. in the MergeFile for it to be found.
3. The MergeFile doesn't support comments. pod installing fails if it does.

Cheers

[sirghi]

The error I get is:

File name too long @ rb_file_s_lstat - ../../Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/FrameworkA/Example/MergeCache/Pods/Target Support Files/Pods-Dummy/Pods-Dummy-umbrella.h

Any help appreciated

[biocross]

@sirghi Thank you for providing an Example project. I was able to reproduce the issue, and found the root cause. The recursive copy is happening because of the the pod you're trying to merge is local.

When a pod is specified with a :path attribute in the MergeFile, the plugin creates a copy of the directory at that path for merging; simply to avoid modifying the original source at that path. In your case, the path not only contains your dependency FrameworkA, but also the folder where the actual merge is happening. This leads to the MergeCache directory recursively copying itself.

A simple fix to this problem is to keep FrameworkA.podspec and it's sources in a folder that is at the same directory as the MergeFile.

[biocross]

Also thanks for reporting the additional issues:

1. I completely agree what you've mentioned should be the case, but the plugin at this time does not read the dependencies in the podspec, hence all the dependencies need to be manually specified. I plan to make this automatic in the near future (PRs welcome!), but there's edge cases like subspecs to take care of.
2. You're absolutely right, and this seems to be a bug: The plugin should account for this in :pathed pods in the MergeFile. I'll fix this.
3. Yep that's correct. I've also mentioned this in the README now.

[sirghi]

Thanks @biocross for the detailed answers.

On the main problem, I tried that, but the thing is, the plugin asks for the MergeFile be in the same place as the Podfile. After moving both I still have the same error. Asking for your further assistance.