CODEWITHSUNDEEP
objective-cxcodeopen-sourcestatic-libraries
ma11hew28
ma11hew28

Reputation: 126319

Static Library vs. Source Code?

I'm creating a modular open-source library. Let's say the project has 15 .m files in it.

Should I (1) release it like the Venmo iOS SDK (Cocoa Touch Static Library) or (2) release it like JSONKit (just the source code)?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 686

Answers (2)

Vincent Gable
Vincent Gable

Reputation: 3465

Releasing as source code means you, and your developers, don't have problems when a new architecture comes out. A static library built as armv6 wouldn't work with the latest Xcode today.

One caveat with source code releases, since you don't know what build settings the project it's added to will have, you'll need to do extra work to make sure it builds without warnings as best you can, even for pedantic warnings.

Upvotes: 1

deleted_user
deleted_user

Reputation: 3805

I prefer frameworks over static libs. Its easier to ship resources in the framework bundle if you eventually need to and there no cost to dynamic linking. If its pure C and the libraries dependencies are guaranteed to be there then it might be ok. But in general I try to avoid static linking unless I know the target OS has the exact dependencies for that binary at deployment time.

Its much easier to load a dynamic library with the endpoints you need at runtime (which were compiled for that exact platform but have the same external interface) than it is to fail with a static lib that was compiled directly to external dependencies which dont exist on the target platform.

Maybe Im crazy but this is what Ive always done in C, C++ or obj C. Just my opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_library

Upvotes: 0

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