A better build date script for Xcode

README.md

A Better Build Date

Showing a build date in an app is pretty easy using __DATE__ and __TIME__ but the format is fixed. This script allows you to control the date and time format and pull the build date from the Info.plist using the CMDBundleBuildTime key.

date.rb

#!/usr/bin/ruby

# plist gem
require "rubygems"
begin
  require "plist"
rescue LoadError => e
  puts "You need to install the 'Plist' gem: [sudo] gem install plist"
  exit 1
end

# xcode check
raise "Must be run from Xcode" unless ENV["XCODE_VERSION_ACTUAL"]

# gather constants
PRODUCT_PLIST = File.join(ENV["BUILT_PRODUCTS_DIR"], ENV["INFOPLIST_PATH"])
BUILD_TIME_VALUE = Time.now.strftime("%b %e, %y at %I:%M %p")
BUILD_TIME_KEY = "CMDBundleBuildTime"

# update product plist
if File.file?(PRODUCT_PLIST)
  `/usr/bin/plutil -convert xml1 \"#{PRODUCT_PLIST}\"`
  info = Plist::parse_xml(PRODUCT_PLIST)
  if info
    info[BUILD_TIME_KEY] = BUILD_TIME_VALUE
    info.save_plist(PRODUCT_PLIST)
    puts "Set #{BUILD_TIME_KEY} to #{BUILD_TIME_VALUE}"
  end
  `/usr/bin/plutil -convert binary1 \"#{PRODUCT_PLIST}\"`
end