[Cmake] Re: CMake Apple XCode support?

[Eric Wing]

Hello, I didn't see any public followups to my
inquiries about supporting native Xcode projects, so I
assumed things are at a standstill.

So I did some digging for information and this is what
I found:

First, I had the opportunity to speak to some
engineers at Apple and they told me that they really
can't give out any documentation on the Xcode file
format because there really isn't any solid
documentation that exists. One of the issues they are
currently facing is that the file format may continue
to change (as it did between Project Builder and
Xcode). Currently they are dealing with some issues
with certain source control management systems because
those SCMs don't deal well with binary data. There is
some discussion that the file format may change to
non-binary to deal with this, though there are no
guarantees if this will actually happen or, if it
does, when it might happen.

Anyway, they don't discourage project generators like
CMake, but at the same time they don't want to give it
out documentation only to receive complaints about it
changing. Furthermore, they told me that nobody has
requested documentation, so they haven't really
considered it an issue.

Second, after posting to the Xcode users mailing list,
I was contacted by Bjoern Zessack who had started
reverse engineering the Xcode file format for his own
generator. He has documented some stuff, and posted
some preliminary things. He said I may forward this
information to this list which I will do in a the
message.

In conclusion, I suggest that everybody interested in
seeing CMake build native Xcode projects file a
Bug/Enhancement request with Apple to release the
Xcode file format documentation with the understanding
we use at our own risk. Their engineers tell me that
the bug database is their single source of information
that tells them what needs to be done. If it's not in
the database, it doesn't get touched. Furthermore, the
more (legitimate) repeats they have of the same
bug/enhancement, the higher priority the issue is
given.  Bjoern and I have already each filed an
enhancement request. If everybody else using CMake
would file the issue, we might be able to get some
traction. You need to be a registered developer to
file a bug/enhancment, but signing up for the Apple
Developer is free (and I haven't been spammed yet), so
I encourage people to do so. Go to bugreport.apple.com
to make the enhancement request.

Meanwhile, maybe Bjoern's stuff would be useful.

Thanks,
Eric