/ExampleXcodeApp

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A simple guide on how to build your Xcode apps into .deb files

This guide will work regardless of ObjC or Swift, and supports using workspaces for Cocoapods etc

This guide will consist of two parts, first just building a deb with the app, and then I will cover how to bundle tweaks with it.

This guide is assuming that the Xcode app is called ExampleApp and that the tweak is exampletweak

The Xcode Project:

  1. In your project root, containing the folder ExampleApp/ and ExampleApp.xcodeproj or ExampleApp.xcworkspace, create a blank text file and name it Makefile.

The base contents of the Makefile should contain the following:

TARGET = iphone:13.3:10.0
ARCHS = arm64
INSTALL_TARGET_PROCESSES = ExampleApp

include $(THEOS)/makefiles/common.mk

XCODEPROJ_NAME = ExampleApp
ExampleApp_XCODEFLAGS = SWIFT_OLD_RPATH=/usr/lib/libswift/stable
ExampleApp_XCODE_SCHEME = ExampleApp
ExampleApp_CODESIGN_FLAGS = -SexampleAppEntitlements.xml

include $(THEOS_MAKE_PATH)/xcodeproj.mk
  1. In your project root again, create another text file, and call it something along the lines of exampleAppEntitlements.xml, this is also what you put in the CODESIGN_FLAGS of the Makefile. The base contents of your entitlements file should be:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>platform-application</key>
        <true/>
        <key>com.apple.private.security.no-container</key>
        <true/>
        <key>com.apple.private.skip-library-validation</key>
        <true/>
    </dict>
</plist>

Now at this point, if you would like to not bundle any tweaks, you should follow this part, if you would, skip this step

  1. In your project root, create a file called control, and it's base contents should be:
Package: com.charliewhile.exampleapp
Name: ExampleApp
Version: 0.0.1
Architecture: iphoneos-arm
Description: An awesome MobileSubstrate tweak!
Maintainer: Charlie While
Author: Charlie While
Section: Tweaks
Depends: mobilesubstrate (>= 0.9.5000), firmware(>=12.2) | org.swift.libswift (>=5.0)

It should be noted here that if your app is Swift based, and you plan to support iOS 12 or below, you will need to add firmware(>=12.2) | org.swift.libswift (>=5.0) to your control file.

Congratulations, just running make package will create your deb file, which you can distribute on package repos.

Bundling tweaks

There are multiple approaches to bundling tweaks with your app, however this is my preferred method. This guide assumes you already have a tweak setup and working, made with Theos

  1. Create a master folder, which will contain your app, and the tweak/s you are bundling with your app. The layout should be as following:
MyTweakFolder/ 
	ExampleApp/
		ExampleApp/
		ExampleApp.xcodeproj
		Makefile
		exampleAppEntitlements.xml
	exampletweak/
		Tweak.x
		Makefile
		exampletweak.plist
  1. Inside the master folder, MyTweakFolder, create a Makefile and a control file. The contents of the Makefile will be:
INSTALL_TARGET_PROCESSES = SpringBoard
ARCHS = arm64 arm64e 
TARGET = iphone:clang:13.3:11.0
#Un-comment this line to make it a non-debug build
#PACKAGE_VERSION=$(THEOS_PACKAGE_BASE_VERSION)

include $(THEOS)/makefiles/common.mk

SUBPROJECTS += exampletweak ExampleApp

include $(THEOS_MAKE_PATH)/aggregate.mk

The SUBPROJECTS part of your Makefile are a list of the 2 folders you have

The contents of the control file will be the same as the one listed earlier, including the libSwift dependency if applicable.

Congratulations, if you followed everything correctly, you now can just run make package inside of your master folder