Build Google Protobuf 3.x for iOS. Builds all supported architectures and produces a universal binary static library.

..build-protobuf.md

Google Protobuf 3.x - Mac OS X and iOS Support

The script in this gist will help you buid the Google Protobuf library for use with Mac OS X and iOS. Other methods (such as homebrew or direct compilation) have issues that prevent their use. The libraries built by this script are universal and support all iOS device architectures including the simulator.

This gist was adapted from the original at https://gist.github.com/BennettSmith/7150245, and updated to deal with Xcode 8 and iOS 10, and download protobuf version 3.3.2.

Get the Script

The easiest way to use this script is to simply clone the gist onto your machine using the following command:

$ git clone https://gist.github.com/petewarden/c8d172709018780eb069

Performing the Build

The script will automatically download the tarball from Google Code, so all you need to do is run the script.

$ cd build-protobuf
$ ./build-protobuf.sh

Results

Build results are found in a folder called protobuf. This folder contains bin, include and lib folders. In addition to these three folders the script also installs the Python language bindings for the Mac OS X build of protobuf. These files are installed in the user's home directory. On my machine the folder is:

${HOME}/Library/Python/2.7/lib/python/site-packages

Integration with Xcode

Create a build rule in your Xcode project with the following settings.

Process *Source files with names matching:* `*.proto`
Using *Custom script:*

cd ${INPUT_FILE_DIR}
${SRCROOT}/Google/protobuf/bin/protoc --proto_path=${INPUT_FILE_DIR} ${INPUT_FILE_PATH} --cpp_out=${DERIVED_FILE_DIR}

Output Files
$(DERIVED_FILE_DIR)/$(INPUT_FILE_BASE).pb.cc
$(DERIVED_FILE_DIR)/$(INPUT_FILE_BASE).pb.h

Depending on where you choose to install the protobuf build, you will need to adjust the path to protoc.

.gitignore

protobuf

build-protobuf.sh

#!/bin/bash -x

echo "$(tput setaf 2)"
echo Building Google Protobuf for Mac OS X / iOS.
echo Use 'tail -f build.log' to monitor progress.
echo "$(tput sgr0)"

# Controls which architectures are build/included in the
# universal binaries and libraries this script produces.
# Set each to '1' to include, '0' to exclude.
BUILD_X86_64_MAC=1
BUILD_X86_64_IOS_SIM=1
BUILD_ARM64_IPHONE=1

PB_VERSION=3.11.4

# Set this to the minimum iOS SDK version you wish to support.
MIN_SDK_VERSION=11.0

(

PREFIX=`pwd`/protobuf
mkdir -p ${PREFIX}/platform

EXTRA_MAKE_FLAGS="-j8"

XCODEDIR=`xcode-select --print-path`

OSX_SDK=$(xcodebuild -showsdks | grep macosx | sort | head -n 1 | awk '{print $NF}')
IOS_SDK=$(xcodebuild -showsdks | grep iphoneos | sort | head -n 1 | awk '{print $NF}')
SIM_SDK=$(xcodebuild -showsdks | grep iphonesimulator | sort | head -n 1 | awk '{print $NF}')

OSX_VERSION=darwin15.0.0

MACOSX_PLATFORM=${XCODEDIR}/Platforms/MacOSX.platform
MACOSX_SYSROOT=${MACOSX_PLATFORM}/Developer/${OSX_SDK}.sdk

IPHONEOS_PLATFORM=$(xcrun --sdk iphoneos --show-sdk-platform-path)
IPHONEOS_SYSROOT=$(xcrun --sdk iphoneos --show-sdk-path)

IPHONESIMULATOR_PLATFORM=$(xcrun --sdk iphonesimulator --show-sdk-platform-path)
IPHONESIMULATOR_SYSROOT=$(xcrun --sdk iphonesimulator --show-sdk-path)

CC=clang
CFLAGS="-DNDEBUG -Os -pipe -fPIC -fno-exceptions"
CXX=clang
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -std=c++11 -stdlib=libc++"
LDFLAGS="-stdlib=libc++"
LIBS="-lc++ -lc++abi"

LIBDIR="${PREFIX}/platform"

echo "$(tput setaf 2)"
echo "####################################"
echo " Cleanup any earlier build attempts"
echo "####################################"
echo "$(tput sgr0)"

(
    cd /tmp
    if [ -d ${PREFIX} ]
    then
        rm -rf ${PREFIX}
    fi
    mkdir ${PREFIX}
    mkdir ${PREFIX}/platform
)

echo "$(tput setaf 2)"
echo "##########################################"
echo " Fetch Google Protobuf $PB_VERSION from source."
echo "##########################################"
echo "$(tput sgr0)"

(
    cd /tmp

    curl -L https://github.com/google/protobuf/archive/v${PB_VERSION}.tar.gz --output /tmp/protobuf-${PB_VERSION}.tar.gz

    if [ -d /tmp/protobuf-${PB_VERSION} ]
    then
        rm -rf /tmp/protobuf-${PB_VERSION}
    fi

    tar xvf /tmp/protobuf-${PB_VERSION}.tar.gz
)

cd /tmp/protobuf-$PB_VERSION
./autogen.sh
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
  echo "./autogen.sh command failed."
  exit 1
fi

if [ $BUILD_X86_64_MAC -eq 1 ]
then

echo "$(tput setaf 2)"
echo "#####################"
echo " x86_64 for Mac OS X"
echo " and python bindings"
echo "#####################"
echo "$(tput sgr0)"

(
    make distclean
    ./configure --disable-shared --prefix=${PREFIX} --exec-prefix=${PREFIX}/platform/x86_64 "CC=${CC}" "CFLAGS=${CFLAGS} -arch x86_64" "CXX=${CXX}" "CXXFLAGS=${CXXFLAGS} -arch x86_64" "LDFLAGS=${LDFLAGS}" "LIBS=${LIBS}"
    make ${EXTRA_MAKE_FLAGS}
    make ${EXTRA_MAKE_FLAGS} test
    make ${EXTRA_MAKE_FLAGS} install
    cd /tmp/protobuf-$PB_VERSION/python
    python setup.py build
    python setup.py install --user
)
X86_64_MAC_PROTOBUF=x86_64/lib/libprotobuf.a
X86_64_MAC_PROTOBUF_LITE=x86_64/lib/libprotobuf-lite.a

else

X86_64_MAC_PROTOBUF=
X86_64_MAC_PROTOBUF_LITE=

fi

if [ $BUILD_X86_64_IOS_SIM -eq 1 ]
then

echo "$(tput setaf 2)"
echo "###########################"
echo " x86_64 for iPhone Simulator"
echo "###########################"
echo "$(tput sgr0)"

(
    cd /tmp/protobuf-$PB_VERSION
    make distclean
    ./configure \
    --host=x86_64-apple-${OSX_VERSION} \
    --disable-shared \
    --enable-cross-compile \
    --with-protoc="${PROTOC_PATH}" \
    --prefix=${LIBDIR}/iossim_x86_64 \
    --exec-prefix=${LIBDIR}/iossim_x86_64 \
    "CFLAGS=${CFLAGS} \
    -mios-simulator-version-min=${MIN_SDK_VERSION} \
    -arch x86_64 \
    -isysroot ${IPHONESIMULATOR_SYSROOT}" \
    "CXX=${CXX}" \
    "CXXFLAGS=${CXXFLAGS} \
    -mios-simulator-version-min=${MIN_SDK_VERSION} \
    -arch x86_64 \
    -isysroot \
    ${IPHONESIMULATOR_SYSROOT}" \
    LDFLAGS="-arch x86_64 \
    -mios-simulator-version-min=${MIN_SDK_VERSION} \
    ${LDFLAGS} \
    -L${IPHONESIMULATOR_SYSROOT}/usr/lib/ \
    -L${IPHONESIMULATOR_SYSROOT}/usr/lib/system" \
    "LIBS=${LIBS}"
    make ${EXTRA_MAKE_FLAGS}
    make ${EXTRA_MAKE_FLAGS} install
)

X86_64_IOS_SIM_PROTOBUF=iossim_x86_64/lib/libprotobuf.a
X86_64_IOS_SIM_PROTOBUF_LITE=iossim_x86_64/lib/libprotobuf-lite.a

else

X86_64_IOS_SIM_PROTOBUF=
X86_64_IOS_SIM_PROTOBUF_LITE=

fi

if [ $BUILD_ARM64_IPHONE -eq 1 ]
then

echo "$(tput setaf 2)"
echo "##################"
echo " arm64 for iPhone"
echo "##################"
echo "$(tput sgr0)"

(
    cd /tmp/protobuf-$PB_VERSION
    make distclean
    ./configure \
    --host=arm \
    --with-protoc="${PROTOC_PATH}" \
    --disable-shared \
    --prefix=${LIBDIR}/ios_arm64 \
    --exec-prefix=${LIBDIR}/ios_arm64 \
    "CFLAGS=${CFLAGS} \
    -miphoneos-version-min=${MIN_SDK_VERSION} \
    -arch arm64 \
    -isysroot ${IPHONEOS_SYSROOT}" \
    "CXXFLAGS=${CXXFLAGS} \
    -miphoneos-version-min=${MIN_SDK_VERSION} \
    -arch arm64 \
    -isysroot ${IPHONEOS_SYSROOT}" \
    LDFLAGS="-arch arm64 \
    -miphoneos-version-min=${MIN_SDK_VERSION} \
    ${LDFLAGS}" \
    "LIBS=${LIBS}"
    make ${EXTRA_MAKE_FLAGS}
    make ${EXTRA_MAKE_FLAGS} install
)

ARM64_IPHONE_PROTOBUF=ios_arm64/lib/libprotobuf.a
ARM64_IPHONE_PROTOBUF_LITE=ios_arm64/lib/libprotobuf-lite.a

else

ARM64_IPHONE_PROTOBUF=
ARM64_IPHONE_PROTOBUF_LITE=

fi

echo "$(tput setaf 2)"
echo "############################"
echo " Create Universal Libraries"
echo "############################"
echo "$(tput sgr0)"

(
    cd ${PREFIX}/platform
    mkdir universal

    lipo ${ARM64_IPHONE_PROTOBUF} ${X86_64_IOS_SIM_PROTOBUF} -create -output universal/libprotobuf.a

    lipo ${ARM64_IPHONE_PROTOBUF_LITE} ${X86_64_IOS_SIM_PROTOBUF_LITE} -create -output universal/libprotobuf-lite.a
)

echo "$(tput setaf 2)"
echo "########################"
echo " Finalize the packaging"
echo "########################"
echo "$(tput sgr0)"

(
    cd ${PREFIX}
    mkdir bin
    mkdir lib
    cp -r platform/x86_64/bin/protoc bin
    cp -r platform/universal/* lib

    file lib/libprotobuf.a
    file lib/libprotobuf-lite.a
)

# ) 2>&1
) 2>&1 | tee build.log

echo "$(tput setaf 2)"
echo Done!
echo "$(tput sgr0)"

I am trying to use this script to build protobuf cpp but end with the following errors

cp: platform/universal/*: No such file or directory

• file lib/libprotobuf.a
  lib/libprotobuf.a: cannot open `lib/libprotobuf.a' (No such file or directory)
• file lib/libprotobuf-lite.a
  lib/libprotobuf-lite.a: cannot open `lib/libprotobuf-lite.a' (No such file or directory)

I have just clone the repo and run .sh file. Am I missing something?