How to disable bitcode when compiling for iOS?

Report · Feb 15, 2016

Hi Adobe Air Support, I know apple is forcing the bitcode thing in xcode 7+but there are still hundreds of third-party iOS libraries/Frameworks which have not yet updated their frameworks to support bitcode.

This link shows where in xcode the bitcode thing can be disabled: Bitcode is now mandatory in iOS 9 Beta 3? | Apple Developer Forums

when using xcode, we have the option to disable bitcode for our xcode project so the iOS compiler won't nag about the framework not supporting bitcode. But unfortunately we don't have any setting in Adobe Air SDK to disable it. Considering that Air SDK 20 is using the latest versions of iOS SDK, the bitcode is enabled by default and that makes the problem because we, as an ANE developer won't be able to develop or update our ANEs with newer Air SDK versions because we have to wait for the third-party framework developers to update their framework first! and this is all time consuming and a confusing process!

In brief, that would have been great if the adt command line could have a new option like enableBitcode NO or something like that. It will be a super easy add on to Air SDK and I hope you can see the importance of this feature.

Thanks a lot,

myflashlabs Team (@myflashlab) | Twitter

Report · Feb 15, 2016

Hi emstris‌,

Thanks for raising this issue.

It will be great if you can provide a sample ANE to demonstrate the problem you are facing. Our Engineering team will look into this.

-Roshan

Report · Feb 15, 2016

Thanks Roshan Chhetri‌

I can send you the ANE but it's a work in progress and nature of it is classified. That would be great if you can show me a private way to send you the ANE directly.

Report · Feb 15, 2016

I have sent you my mail id.

Report · Feb 24, 2016

Thanks, I just emailed you the ANE.

Report · Feb 28, 2016

Roshan Chhetri‌

Still waiting for some news about turning bitcode off when compiling with Air SDK 20.x.x

As another example, GoogleSignIn.framework is not supporting bitcode and in result any ANE being built with GoogleSignIn can't be compiled with AirSDK 20.x.x

ld: '/Users/myflashlab/Documents/project/Extensions/Google-Play-Games/myNativeTest/realtime/Frameworks/GoogleSignIn.framework/GoogleSignIn(GTMABAddressBook.o)' does not contain bitcode. You must rebuild it with bitcode enabled (Xcode setting ENABLE_BITCODE), obtain an updated library from the vendor, or disable bitcode for this target. for architecture armv7

clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

Report · Sep 07, 2016

Same problem here. I can't upload my ipa file to Itunes Connect. Here's the mail from Apple when uploading my AIR APPS:

While processing your iOS app, Marées-NC 3.9.0(3.9.0), errors occurred in the app thinning process, and your app couldn’t be thinned. If your app contains bitcode, bitcode processing may have failed. Because of these errors, this build of your app will not be able to be submitted for review or placed on the App Store. For information that may help resolve this issue, see Tech Note 2432.

Any progress on this error ?

Report · Sep 11, 2016

I have the same issue. Even if i disable bitcode new comilation in itunes the error occures.

Report · Sep 11, 2016

The bitcode is disabled by default. "ld"(Apple's Dynamic Linker, which is used by AIR SDK to link libraries to create the final IPA) requires that each and every library that are packaged with the application, should contain bitcode. Even if 10 out of 9 libraries contains bitcode and 1 does not contain it, the "ld" will skip embedding bitcode in the final binary. So the ipa that will be generated will NOT be having any trace of bitcode in it. As of now, our AIR runtime binaries does not contain bitcode embedded in them, so you CAN'T generate an ipa which have bitcode in it.

Also for uploading iOS applications on Apple app store, bitcode is NOT required as of now.

Refer: App Thinning (iOS, tvOS, watchOS)

So the error that you are getting might be due to some other issue. Please share the resources that you are using to package your application so that we can look into the issue further. My email ID: arguptaATadobeDOTcom.

Report · Sep 12, 2016

Thx for the answer. When you say "Please share the resources that you are using", what do you mean by "ressources". Do you want the ipa file ? The lib file (with ANE files) ?

Report · Sep 12, 2016

I have two apps. they have the same framework just differnt content.

the first one SM.ipa i can upload

the second KP.ipa im getting the thinning error.

The problem must be in the IPA file. But i have no clue thus both ipas use the same framework and classes and graphics.

is it possible that i can share both IPAS so you can have a look at it ?

there are no swc and no ANES in both projects

regards

Michael