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VooDoo Chicken
Known Participant
February 26, 2019
Question

trouble re-signing ipa file (made in animate for ios)

  • February 26, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 1070 views

here is the thing: animate is marketed as a tool to develop once but to publish to many platforms, with one single development. When publishing to Android it gets the job done, more or less (there is a warning that from august this year it will also require a 64 bit binary in the bundle though), but when publishing to ios, if it did work once, whenever that was is now outdated. There are some requirements for the Apple store that animate does not document, does not include in its requirements when building the app and since it is animate the one that makes the bundle, when trying to add the rest of things, they way the bundle is built gets screwed.

At first it was a thing about required icons: there are some required icons and assets (like splash screens that are not even documented, since the documentation only mentions a single default file) that animate does not ask for or at least does not require, but are required either by xcode or by the store itself; then there is the asset catalog, that animate should build by itself but didn't. So you go over some searches and find about those things that are missing and you try to add them to your project; in my case, I added the asset catalog and some icons, and some splash screens; but then, when I was trying to upload the new build, it told me there was an error about a redundant binary because the version number was already used. No matter what version I placed on the version dialog box in the animate air for ios, it would always appear as version 0.9.0 in the ipa file, and it would not let me upload a new bundle with a version number I had already used, even if that bundle was not approved (because of the asset catalog). Whatever, I changed the ipa to a .zip, I change the bundle, of course the signature would not be valid, and xcode reminded me of that

to re-sign the ipa, which is in my documents, I open terminal, go to my documents folder and run the next line:

codesign -s xxxxx myapp.ipa

I assume it works because there is no error message. I know it found the certificate and the ipa, because if I change a letter either in the ipa name or the certificate, it will let me know with an error, and if I try to run the same line again it will tell me the ipa is already signed. Just to be clear, the ipa is the payload folder, with all changes made, with the added asset catalog and icons and modified plist, and zipped again, and renamed from zip to ipa. I also checked that the certificate was apple distribution certificate (and not development or other thing)

but when I use xcode to try to upload again the ipa with new files and new version, it will still give me an error that the signature is not valid. the most critical part is that there are just a few days to retry: besides of the error, there is a warning about current build using api 11, and from march this year all bundles must use api 12 or higher. So if I am not able to upload my thing this month, I will not be able to upload it with the whatever is it that this version of animate has built

how do I re-sign my modified, zipped folder?

tnx

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    Preran
    Community Manager
    PreranCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    February 26, 2019

    Not an expert here, and am doing my best to help. Have you had a chance to look at this article https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/using/packaging-applications-air-ios.html ​to make sure that you are following the correct process? Also, see ios - XCode Error itms-90035 - Invalid signature? - Stack Overflow

    Thanks,

    Preran

    V
    VooDoo ChickenAuthor
    Known Participant
    February 26, 2019

    hi Preran, tnx for your answer; yes, I have read those already as those are probably the first docs everybody who wants to publish to iOS reads (the one in Adobe), but that is about the publish to ios air setup box from Animate; it just tells what those fields in the setup box are and how to fill them. The problem, once again, is that those things are not enough today (they may have been enough some time in the past, but if that was the case it was years ago). Today the apps require files that are not mentioned either in that setup box or in the documentation (the articles that are opened when you click on help within animate, which are the same you reference in your reply), so for example, just by filling the blanks in the air for ios box, xcode would not let me upload the ipa because it was lacking a splash screen for the iphone 5. It turns out that there is now iphone 6, 7, 8, x etc, and a few ipads that must be accounted for when publishing for ios.

    but then again, you can add those using the + icon in the add those files list (in the setup air for ios box), but that is after you read documentation elsewhere and you find things like the assets catalog (assets.car), and either you make the file yourself, or use an automatic tool besides of what adobe has to offer. but for example, the assets catalog is a list of the included icons (mainly). animate asks for the icons file, but does not generate the assets catalog. it means that if i use a tool to create required icons and assets catalog, it would be with different names (which follow a convention that animate does not seem to follow) or have redundant icons (or replace current icons by editing the build yourself, and damage the plist file even more). but let´s assume you added the missing files and you are ready to upload again: the problem i had was that when i tried to upload, xcode would give me an error about a redundant binary because i had already upload a build with that version number. the version is something i tell to animate myself, and if i say this is version 8, then animate should account for that and mark my bundle as version 8, or something like that. I found two places where there is some version referenced in the bundle, there is an xml file within an air folder, which i believe is more like decoration, and the important one in a .plist file. even if i said to animate to mark my bundle as version 0.9.8, it would still mark it as 0.9.0, i don't know why, but this prevented me from uploading my bundle since it had a version number already in use. this is not explained in the docs you reference

    the thing is, to change the number version, i edited the .plist file manually, but that made the signature invalid. currently i have a zipped folder (which was the ipa generated by animate, renamed to .zip, expanded, edited and zipped again), and i am trying to sign it again to see if i am finally able to upload it. I have not been able to do so because with the line referenced in my first post it still gives me the invalid signature error

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