how to reuse the apple certificate with fastlane match

Question

Because the personal developer only could have 3 distribution certificate(https://help.apple.com/xcode/mac/current/#/dev3a05256b8), I have more than 3 apps, so I have to make different app use the same certificate, this is what I am trying to do.

Step 1: export the certificate from keychain

step 2: generate the cert file and pem file by using this command:

openssl pkcs12 -nocerts -nodes -out key.pem -in Certificates.p12
openssl aes-256-cbc -k 225843 -in key.pem -out MLD9L5TNVK.p12 -a
openssl aes-256-cbc -k 225843 -in Certificates.cer -out MLD9L5TNVK.cer -a

then add the MLD9L5TNVK.p12 and MLD9L5TNVK.cer file to the certificate repo that management by fastlane match.

step 3: using fastlane match to generate the provision file:

fastlane match adhoc

but when I using this command to publish the ios package in GitHub Actions:

  - name: Deploy to TestFlight/PGY
    run: |
      cd ./ios
      bundle exec fastlane beta
    env:
      FLUTTER_ROOT: ${{ secrets.FLUTTER_ROOT }}
      APPLE_ID: ${{ secrets.APPLE_ID }}
      GIT_URL: ${{ secrets.GIT_URL }}
      PGY_USER_KEY: ${{ secrets.PGY_USER_KEY }}
      PGY_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.PGY_API_KEY }}
      TEAM_ID: ${{ secrets.TEAM_ID }}
      ITC_TEAM_ID: ${{ secrets.ITC_TEAM_ID }}
      FASTLANE_USER: ${{ secrets.FASTLANE_USER }}
      FASTLANE_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.FASTLANE_PASSWORD }}
      FASTLANE_APPLE_APPLICATION_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.FASTLANE_APPLE_APPLICATION_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD }}
      FASTLANE_SESSION: ${{ secrets.FASTLANE_SESSION }}
      MATCH_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.MATCH_PASSWORD }}
      MATCH_KEYCHAIN_NAME: ${{ secrets.MATCH_KEYCHAIN_NAME }}
      MATCH_KEYCHAIN_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.MATCH_KEYCHAIN_PASSWORD }}

show this error message:

No signing certificate "iOS Distribution" found: No "iOS Distribution" signing certificate matching team ID "***" with a private key was found. (in target 'Runner' from project 'Runner')

this is the detail log output:

+-----------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                Summary for gym 2.191.0                                                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| workspace                                                 | Runner.xcworkspace                                        |
| scheme                                                    | Runner                                                    |
| export_method                                             | ad-hoc                                                    |
| export_options.provisioningProfiles.com.reddwarf.musicapp | match AdHoc com.reddwarf.musicapp 1629273389              |
| clean                                                     | false                                                     |
| output_directory                                          | .                                                         |
| output_name                                               | Runner                                                    |
| silent                                                    | false                                                     |
| skip_package_ipa                                          | false                                                     |
| skip_package_pkg                                          | false                                                     |
| build_path                                                | /Users/runner/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives/2021-08-18 |
| result_bundle                                             | false                                                     |
| buildlog_path                                             | ~/Library/Logs/gym                                        |
| destination                                               | generic/platform=iOS                                      |
| skip_profile_detection                                    | false                                                     |
| skip_package_dependencies_resolution                      | false                                                     |
| disable_package_automatic_updates                         | false                                                     |
| use_system_scm                                            | false                                                     |
| xcode_path                                                | /Applications/Xcode_12.4.app                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+

[10:05:55]: $ set -o pipefail && xcodebuild -workspace Runner.xcworkspace -scheme Runner -destination 'generic/platform=iOS' -archivePath /Users/runner/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives/2021-08-18/Runner\ 2021-08-18\ 10.05.55.xcarchive archive | tee /Users/runner/Library/Logs/gym/Runner-Runner.log | xcpretty
[10:06:00]: ▸ ❌  error: No signing certificate "iOS Distribution" found: No "iOS Distribution" signing certificate matching team ID "***" with a private key was found. (in target 'Runner' from project 'Runner')
[10:06:00]: ▸     The iOS deployment target 'IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET' is set to 8.0, but the range of supported deployment target versions is 9.0 to 14.4.99. (in target 'Flutter' from project 'Pods')
[10:06:00]: ▸ ** ARCHIVE FAILED **

❌  error: No signing certificate "iOS Distribution" found: No "iOS Distribution" signing certificate matching team ID "***" with a private key was found. (in target 'Runner' from project 'Runner')


    The iOS deployment target 'IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET' is set to 8.0, but the range of supported deployment target versions is 9.0 to 14.4.99. (in target 'Flutter' from project 'Pods')
** ARCHIVE FAILED **
[10:06:00]: Exit status: 65
[10:06:00]: 
[10:06:00]: Maybe the error shown is caused by using the wrong version of Xcode
[10:06:00]: Found multiple versions of Xcode in '/Applications/'
[10:06:00]: Make sure you selected the right version for your project
[10:06:00]: This build process was executed using '/Applications/Xcode_12.4.app'
[10:06:00]: If you want to update your Xcode path, either
[10:06:00]: 
[10:06:00]: - Specify the Xcode version in your Fastfile
[10:06:00]: ▸ xcversion(version: "8.1") # Selects Xcode 8.1.0
[10:06:00]: 
[10:06:00]: - Specify an absolute path to your Xcode installation in your Fastfile
[10:06:00]: ▸ xcode_select "/Applications/Xcode8.app"
[10:06:00]: 
[10:06:00]: - Manually update the path using
[10:06:00]: ▸ sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app
[10:06:00]: 

+---------------+------------------------------+
|              Build environment               |
+---------------+------------------------------+
| xcode_path    | /Applications/Xcode_12.4.app |
| gym_version   | 2.191.0                      |
| export_method | ad-hoc                       |
| sdk           | iPhoneOS14.4.sdk             |
+---------------+------------------------------+

[10:06:00]: ▸ note: Building targets in parallel
[10:06:00]: ▸ note: Planning build
[10:06:00]: ▸ note: Constructing build description
[10:06:00]: ▸ error: No signing certificate "iOS Distribution" found: No "iOS Distribution" signing certificate matching team ID "***" with a private key was found. (in target 'Runner' from project 'Runner')
[10:06:00]: ▸ warning: The iOS deployment target 'IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET' is set to 8.0, but the range of supported deployment target versions is 9.0 to 14.4.99. (in target 'Flutter' from project 'Pods')
[10:06:00]: 
[10:06:00]: ⬆️  Check out the few lines of raw `xcodebuild` output above for potential hints on how to solve this error
[10:06:00]: 📋  For the complete and more detailed error log, check the full log at:
[10:06:00]: 📋  /Users/runner/Library/Logs/gym/Runner-Runner.log
[10:06:00]: 
[10:06:00]: Looks like fastlane ran into a build/archive error with your project
[10:06:00]: It's hard to tell what's causing the error, so we wrote some guides on how
[10:06:00]: to troubleshoot build and signing issues: https://docs.fastlane.tools/codesigning/getting-started/
[10:06:00]: Before submitting an issue on GitHub, please follow the guide above and make
[10:06:00]: sure your project is set up correctly.
[10:06:00]: fastlane uses `xcodebuild` commands to generate your binary, you can see the
[10:06:00]: the full commands printed out in yellow in the above log.
[10:06:00]: Make sure to inspect the output above, as usually you'll find more error information there
[10:06:00]: 
+------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                  Lane Context                                                  |
+------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DEFAULT_PLATFORM                   | ios                                                                       |
| PLATFORM_NAME                      | ios                                                                       |
| LANE_NAME                          | ios beta                                                                  |
| KEYCHAIN_PATH                      | ~/Library/Keychains/***                                                 |
| ORIGINAL_DEFAULT_KEYCHAIN          | "/Users/runner/Library/Keychains/***.keychain-db"                       |
| SIGH_PROFILE_TYPE                  | ad-hoc                                                                    |
| MATCH_PROVISIONING_PROFILE_MAPPING | {"com.reddwarf.musicapp"=>"match AdHoc com.reddwarf.musicapp 1629273389"} |
+------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[10:06:00]: Error building the application - see the log above

+------+------------------+-------------+
|           fastlane summary            |
+------+------------------+-------------+
| Step | Action           | Time (in s) |
+------+------------------+-------------+
| 1    | default_platform | 0           |
| 2    | xcode_select     | 0           |
| 3    | create_keychain  | 0           |
| 4    | is_ci            | 0           |
| 5    | match            | 2           |
| 💥   | build_app        | 8           |
+------+------------------+-------------+

[10:06:00]: fastlane finished with errors

[!] Error building the application - see the log above
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

why would this happen? what should I do to fix this problem?Any help is appreciated. I can not revoke the certificate because the certificate is using now. I also tried to find the iOS Distribution but failed:

did not found the "iOS distribution".

Answer 1

If you want to use a single developer and/or distribution certificate for multiple apps belonging to the same development team, you may use the same signing identities repository and branch to store the signing identities for your apps:

Matchfile example for both App #1 and #2:

git_url("https://github.com/example/example-repo.git")
git_branch("master")

match will reuse certificates and will create separate provisioning profiles for each app.