kjcjohnson (Community Member) asked a question.
iOS Scanning in a Post-Bitcode World
I was shocked to see in the Xcode 14 Beta release notes that Apple is deprecating support for bitcode:
- Starting with Xcode 14, bitcode is no longer required for watchOS and tvOS applications, and the App Store no longer accepts bitcode submissions from Xcode 14.
- Xcode no longer builds bitcode by default and generates a warning message if a project explicitly enables bitcode: “Building with bitcode is deprecated. Please update your project and/or target settings to disable bitcode.” The capability to build with bitcode will be removed in a future Xcode release. IPAs that contain bitcode will have the bitcode stripped before being submitted to the App Store. Debug symbols for past bitcode submissions remain available for download. (86118779)
Is there any guidance yet on what iOS packaging and scanning might look like in a post-bitcode world? I don't think Apple has said if/when they might pull the plug completely - for now, enabling bitcode just throws warnings in Xcode 14 Beta.
It's been hard enough getting all of our third-party vendors to provide bitcode-enabled libraries. It will only get worse now that Apple is actively discouraging bitcode.
-Keith
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Hi @kjcjohnson (Community Member) ,
Veracode Research is aware of this and working on a solution. Please consider registering an idea with Veracode Community Ideas at https://community.veracode.com/s/ideas to be kept up-to-date and help Veracode Research prioritize.
Thank you,
Boy Baukema
Hi @kjcjohnson (Community Member) ,
Please note that (since the beginning of this year) we now support a 'non bitcode' build using our new 'gen-ir' tool.
For more information please see: https://docs.veracode.com/r/Use_xcodebuild_to_Package_iOS_and_tvOS_Apps
Thank you,
Boy Baukema
For iOS apps, bitcode is the default, but optional. If you provide bitcode, all apps and frameworks in the app bundle need to include bitcode. For watchOS apps, bitcode is required.