Xcode Build Settings Reference

• build: Build the product and place it in the product build directory $(CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR).
• clean: Remove the product and build files in the product build directory $(CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR) and the intermediate build files directory $(CONFIGURATION_TEMP_DIR).
• install: Build the product and place it in its installation destination $(INSTALL_PATH).
• installhdrs: Copy the product’s public and private header files into the public headers directory $(PUBLIC_HEADERS_FOLDER_PATH) and the private headers directory $(PRIVATE_HEADERS_FOLDER_PATH), respectively.
• installsrc: Copy the target's source files into the project directory $(SRCROOT).

• YES: Search project directory first.
• NO: Search system directories first.

• Setting this to YES causes Property Lists (.plist) and Strings files to be converted as specified by 'Property List Output Encoding' and 'Strings file Output Encoding'.

• When $(SDKROOT)=iphoneos: armv7 arm64
• When $(SDKROOT)=iphonesimulator: i386 x86_64
• When $(SDKROOT)=macosx: x86_64

• When sdk=macosx: i386
• When sdk=iphoneos: armv7
• When sdk=iphonesimulator: i386

• When sdk=macosx: x86_64
• When sdk=iphoneos: arm64
• When sdk=iphonesimulator: x86_64

• When sdk=macosx: x86_64
• When sdk=iphoneos: arm64
• When sdk=iphonesimulator: x86_64

• When sdk=iphoneos: armv7 arm64
• When sdk=iphonesimulator: i386 x86_64

• When $(ACTION)=build: headers build
• When $(ACTION)=install: headers build
• When $(ACTION)=installhdrs: headers
• When $(ACTION)=installsrc: empty

• normal: Use to produce a normal binary.
• profile: Use to produce a binary that generates profile information.
• debug: Use to produce a binary with debug symbols, additional assertions, and diagnostic code.

• When $(DEPLOYMENT_LOCATION)=YES and $(RETAIN_RAW_BINARIES)=YES: $(SYMROOT)/BuiltProducts
• Otherwise: $(CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR)

Enabling this setting allows non-modular includes to be used from within framework modules. This is inherently unsafe, as such headers might cause duplicate definitions when used by any client that imports both the framework and the non-modular includes themselves. If disabled, passes flags:

• -Wnon-modular-include-in-framework-module
• -Werror=non-modular-include-in-framework-module

Check for values stored to variables that are never read afterwards. If disabled, passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang deadcode.DeadStores

Check for misuses of Grand Central Dispatch API. If disabled, passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.API

Warn about memory leaks, use-after-free, as well as other API misuse. If disabled passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang unix.Malloc
• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang unix.MallocSizeof
• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang unix.MismatchedDeallocator
• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang cplusplus.NewDelete

Warn on nil pointers used as mutexes for @synchronized. If disabled, passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.cocoa.AtSync

Warn if CF collections are created with non-pointer-size values. Check if NS collections are initialized with non-Objective-C type elements. If disabled, passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.coreFoundation.containers.PointerSizedValues
• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.cocoa.VariadicMethodTypes
• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.cocoa.NilArg

Warn about Objective-C method signatures with type incompatibilities. If disabled, passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.cocoa.IncompatibleMethodTypes

Warn if functions accepting CFErrorRef or NSError cannot indicate if error occured. If disabled, passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.coreFoundation.CFError
• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.cocoa.NSError

Warn on leaks and improper reference count management. If disabled, passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.cocoa.RetainCount
• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.cocoa.ClassRelease

Check that [super init] is properly called within an Objective-C initialization method. If disabled, passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.cocoa.SelfInit

Warn about private ivars that are never used. If disabled, passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker
• -Xclang osx.cocoa.UnusedIvars

Warn on using a floating point value as a loop counter (CERT: FLP30-C, FLP30-CPP). If disabled, passes flags:

• -Xclang -analyzer-checker
• -Xclang security.FloatLoopCounter

• YES: * -Xclang -analyzer-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.getpw * -Xclang -analyzer-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.gets
• NO: -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.getpw * -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.gets

• YES: * -Xclang -analyzer-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.mkstemp * -Xclang -analyzer-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.mktemp
• NO: * -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.mkstemp * -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.mktemp

• YES: * -Xclang -analyzer-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.rand
• NO: * -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.rand

• YES: * -Xclang -analyzer-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.strcpy
• NO: * -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.strcpy

• YES: * -Xclang -analyzer-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.UncheckedReturn
• NO: * -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.UncheckedReturn

• YES: * -Xclang -analyzer-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.vfork
• NO: * -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker * -Xclang security.insecureAPI.vfork

• YES
• NO: * -Xclang -analyzer-disable-checker * -Xclang osx.SecKeychainAPI

• donothing: Does nothing
• precheck: Passes flag -ccc-arcmt-check

• c++98: Passes flag -std=c++98 C++98: Accept ISO C++ 1998 with amendments, but not GNU extensions.
• gnu++98: Passes flag -std=gnu++98 GNU++98: Accept ISO C++ 1998 with amendments and GNU extensions.
• c++0x: Passes flag -std=c++11 C++11: Accept the ISO C++ 2011 standard with amendments, but not GNU extensions.
• gnu++0x: Passes flag -std=gnu++11 GNU++11: Accept the ISO C++ 2011 standard with amendments and GNU extensions.
• c++14: Passes flag -std=c++1y C++14: Accept the ISO C++ 2014 standard with amendments, but not GNU extensions.
• gnu++14: Passes flag -std=gnu++1y GNU++14: Accept the ISO C++ 2014 standard with amendments and GNU extensions.
• compiler-default: Compiler Default: Tells the compiler to use its default C++ language dialect. This is normally the best choice unless you have specific needs. (Currently equivalent to GNU++98.)

• libstdc++: Passes flag -stdlib=libstdlibc++ traditional C++ standard library that works with GCC and the LLVM Compiler
• libc++: Passes flag -stdlib=libc++ highly optimized C++ standard library that works only with the LLVM Compiler, and is designed to support new C++11 features.
• compiler-default: Uses libstdc++

• default:
• line-tables-only: Passes flag -gline-tables-only

• shallow: Use Shallow for faster analysis. Passes flags: * -Xclang -analyzer-config * -Xclang mode=shallow
• deep: Use Deep to exercise the full power of the analyzer.

• shallow: Use Shallow for faster analysis.
• deep: Use Deep to exercise the full power of the analyzer.

• YES: Passes flag: -fprofile-instr-use=$(CLANG_OPTIMIZATION_PROFILE_FILE)

• YES: Passes flag -Wbool-conversion
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-bool-conversion

• YES: Passes flag -Wconstant-conversion
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-constant-conversion

• YES: Passes flag -Wc++11-extensions
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-c++11-extensions

• YES: Passes flag -Wdeprecated-implementations
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-deprecated-implementations

• YES:
• YES_ERROR: Passes flag -Werror=deprecated-objc-isa-usage
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-deprecated-objc-isa-usage

• YES: Passes flag -Wempty-body
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-empty-body

• YES: Passes flag -Wenum-conversion
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-enum-conversion

• YES: Passes flag -Wsign-conversion
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-sign-conversion

• YES: Passes flag -Wint-conversion
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-int-conversion

• YES: Passes flag -Wimplicit-atomic-properties
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-implicit-atomic-properties

• YES: Passes flag -Wreceiver-is-weak
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-receiver-is-weak

• YES: Passes flag -Warc-repeated-use-of-weak
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-arc-repeated-use-of-weak

• YES: enabled by default
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-objc-root-class
• YES_ERROR: Passes flag -Werror=objc-root-class

• YES: Passes flag -Wconversion
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-conversion

• YES: Passes flag -Wexit-time-destructors
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-exit-time-destructors

• default: Platform default
• sse3: SSE 3
• ssse3: SSE 3 (with supplemental extensions)
• sse4.1: SSE 4.1
• sse4.2: SSE 4.2
• avx: AVX
• avx2: AVX 2

• YES: PNG files (those with the .png suffix) are compressed as they’re copied to the application bundle.
• NO: No PNG compression takes place.

• Debug
• Release

• When $(CONFIGURATION) in $(BUILD_VARIANTS): $(CONFIGURATION)
• Otherwise: normal

• dwarf: Use the DWARF format and place the debug information in the binary.
• dwarf-with-dsym: Use the DWARF format and place the debug information in a dSYM file.

• YES: Product files are placed in $(DSTROOT).
• NO: Product files are placed in $(SYMROOT).

• YES: Binary receives deployment postprocessing.
• NO: Binary does not receive deployment postprocessing.

• When current platform identifier is com.apple.platform.macosx: empty string
• Otherwise: -$(PLATFORM_NAME)

• YES: The build uses data gathered from header-file scans.
• NO: The build does not use data gathered from header-file scans.

• YES: Use CodeWarrior syntax for inline assembly code. Passes -fasm-blocks
• NO: Do not use CodeWarrior syntax for inline assembly code.

• ansi: -ansi ANSI C: Accept ISO C90 and ISO C++, turning off GNU extensions that are incompatible. Incompatible GNU extensions include the asm, inline, and typeof keywords (but not the equivalent __asm__, __inline__, and __typeof__ forms), and the // syntax for comments. This setting also enables trigraphs.
• c89: -std=c89 C89: Accept ISO C90 (1990), but not GNU extensions.
• gnu89: -std=gnu89 GNU89: Accept ISO C90 and GNU extensions.
• c99: -std=c99 C99: Accept ISO C99 (1999), but not GNU extensions.
• gnu99: -std=gnu99 GNU99: Accept ISO C99 and GNU extensions.
• c11: -std=c11 C11: Accept ISO C11 (2011), but not GNU extensions.
• gnu11: -std=gnu11 GNU11: Accept ISO C11 and GNU extensions.
• compiler-default: Compiler Default: Tells the compiler to use its default C language dialect. This is normally the best choice unless you have specific needs. (Currently equivalent to GNU99.)

• dwarf: Passes -g
• dwarf-with-dsym: Passes -g
• Otherwise:

• YES: Generated code is nonrelocatable when the prerequisite is met. Passes flag -mdynamic-no-pic
• NO: Generated code is relocatable.

• YES: Compiler generates code necessary for exception propagation.
• NO: Compiler does not generate code necessary for exception propagation. Passes flag -fno-exceptions

• YES: Binary includes information about virtual classes.
• NO: Binary might not include information about virtual classes. Passes flag -fno-rtti

• YES: Recognize the Objective-C exception-handling directives.
• NO: Do not allow the Objective-C exception-handling directives in source code. Passes flag -fno-objc-exceptions

• unsupported: The application cannot load code that requires garbage collection. The loadable bundle cannot be loaded by an application that requires garbage collection.
• supported: The application can load code that supports or requires garbage collection. The loadable bundle can be loaded by an application with any level of garbage-collection support. Passes flag -fobjc-gc
• required: The application can load only code that supports garbage collection. The loadable bundle can be loaded only by an application that supports garbage collection. Passes flag -fobjc-gc-only

• YES: Binary uses SSE3 functions.
• NO: Binary does not use SSE3 functions.

• YES: Binary uses SSE4.1 functions.
• NO: Binary does not use SSE4.1 functions.

• YES: Binary uses SSE4.2 functions.
• NO: Binary does not use SSE4.2 functions.

• YES: Passes flag -trigraphs
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-trigraghs

• YES: Binary includes debugging symbols.
• NO: Binary does not include debugging symbols.

• automatic: According to File Type
• sourcecode.c.c: C
• sourcecode.c.objc: Objective-C
• sourcecode.cpp.cpp: C++
• sourcecode.cpp.objcpp: Objective-C++

• 1: Objective-C version 1
• 2: Objective-C version 2

• compile
• generate-preprocessed
• generate-assembler
• precompile
• separate-symbols

• 0: None: Do not optimize. * With this setting, the compiler's goal is to reduce the cost of compilation and to make debugging produce the expected results. Statements are independent: if you stop the program with a breakpoint between statements, you can then assign a new value to any variable or change the program counter to any other statement in the function and get exactly the results you would expect from the source code.
• 1: Fast: Optimizing compilation takes somewhat more time, and a lot more memory for a large function. * With this setting, the compiler tries to reduce code size and execution time, without performing any optimizations that take a great deal of compilation time. In Apple's compiler, strict aliasing, block reordering, and inter-block scheduling are disabled by default when optimizing.
• 2: Faster: The compiler performs nearly all supported optimizations that do not involve a space-speed tradeoff. * With this setting, the compiler does not perform loop unrolling or function inlining, or register renaming. As compared to the 'Fast' setting, this setting increases both compilation time and the performance of the generated code.
• 3: Fastest: Turns on all optimizations specified by the 'Faster' setting and also turns on function inlining and register renaming options. This setting may result in a larger binary.
• s: Fastest, Smallest: Optimize for size. This setting enables all 'Faster' optimizations that do not typically increase code size. It also performs further optimizations designed to reduce code size.
• fast: Fastest, Aggressive Optimizations: This setting enables 'Fastest' but also enables aggressive optimizations that may break strict standards compliance but should work well on well-behaved code.

• YES: Target generates a prefix header when the prerequisite is met.
• NO: Target does not generate a prefix header.

• When $(CONFIGURATION)=Debug: DEBUG=1
• Otherwise: empty string

• YES: Passes flag -fstrict-aliasing
• NO: Passes flag -fno-strict-aliasing

• YES: Symbols that do not specify public visibility are not exported. Passes flag: -fvisibility=hidden
• NO: Symbols that do not specify private visibility are exported.

• YES: Binary uses the IA-32 ABI thread-safe initialization functions.
• NO: Binary does not use the IA-32 ABI thread-safe initialization functions. Passes flag -fno-threadsafe-statics

• YES: Compiler generates code with unrolled loops. Passes flag -funroll-loops
• NO: Compiler does not unroll loops.

• YES: Passes flag -Wshorten-64-to-32
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-shorten-64-to-32

• YES: Passes flag -Wdeprecated-declarations
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-deprecated-declarations

• YES: Passes flag -Winvalid-offsetof
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-invalid-offsetof

Warn if a structure's initializer has some fields missing. For example, the following code would cause such a warning, because "x.h" is implicitly zero:

  struct s { int f, g, h; };
  struct s x = { 3, 4 };

This option does not warn about designated initializers, so the following modification would not trigger a warning:

  struct s { int f, g, h; };
  struct s x = { .f = 3, .g = 4 };

• YES: Passes flag -Wmissing-field-initializers
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-missing-field-initializers

• YES: Passes flag -Wnewline-eof
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-newline-eof

• YES: Passes flag -Wmissing-prototypes
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-missing-prototypes

• YES: Passes flag -Wpointer-sign
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-pointer-sign

• YES:
• YES_ERROR: Passes flag -Werror=return-type
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-return-type

• YES: Passes flag -Wprotocol
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-protocol

• YES: Passes flag -Wswitch
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-switch

• YES: Passes flag -Wfour-char-constants
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-four-char-constants

Warn when a function declaration hides virtual functions from a base class. For example, in:

  struct A {
    virtual void f();
  };

  struct B: public A {
    void f(int);
  };

the A class version of f() is hidden in B, and code like this:

  B* b;
  b->f();

will fail to compile. This setting only applies to C++ and Objective-C++ sources.

• YES: Passes flag -Woverloaded-virtual
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-overloaded-virtual

Warn if an aggregate or union initializer is not fully bracketed.

Example, Here initializer for a is not fully bracketed, but that for b is fully bracketed.

  int a[2][2] = { 0, 1, 2, 3 };
  int b[2][2] = { { 0, 1 }, { 2, 3 } };

• YES: Passes flag -Wmissing-braces
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-missing-braces

Warn if parentheses are omitted in certain contexts, such as when there is an assignment in a context where a truth value is expected, or when operators are nested whose precedence people often get confused about.

Also warn about constructions where there may be confusion to which if statement an else branch belongs. Here is an example of such a case:

  {
    if (a)
      if (b)
        foo ();
    else
      bar ();
  }

In C, every else branch belongs to the innermost possible if statement, which in this example is if (b) . This is often not what the programmer expected, as illustrated in the above example by indentation the programmer chose. When there is the potential for this confusion, GCC will issue a warning when this flag is specified. To eliminate the warning, add explicit braces around the innermost if statement so there is no way the else could belong to the enclosing if . The resulting code would look like this:

  {
    if (a)
      {
        if (b)
          foo ();
        else
          bar ();
      }
  }

• YES: Passes flag -Wparentheses
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-parentheses

• YES: Passes flag -Wselector
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-selector

• YES: Passes flag -Wnon-virtual-dtor
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-non-virtual-dtor

• YES: Passes flag -Wshadow
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-shadow

• YES: Passes flag -Wselector
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-selector

• YES: Passes flag -Wundeclared-selector
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-undeclared-selector

• YES: Passes flag -Wuninitialized
• YES_AGGRESSIVE: Passes flag -Wconditional-uninitialized
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-uninitialized

• YES: Passes flag -Wunknown-pragmas
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-unknown-pragmas

• YES: Passes flag -Wunused-function
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-unused-function

• YES: Passes flag -Wunused-label
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-unused-label

• YES: Passes flag -Wunused-parameter
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-unused-parameter

• YES: Passes flag -Wunused-value
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-unused-value

• YES: Passes flag -Wunused-variable
• NO: Passes flag -Wno-unused-variable

• YES: Generates the product’s package information file.
• NO: Does not generate the product’s package information file.

• traditional
• plaintext

• YES: The header map contains a name/path entry for every header in the target.
• NO: The header map does not contain name/path entries for the headers that belong to the target.

• YES: The header map contains a framework-name/path entry for every header in the target.
• NO: The header map does not contain framework-name/path entries for the headers in the target.

• YES: The header map contains a name/path entry for every header in the project.
• NO: The header map does not contain name/path entries for the headers that are part of the project.

• same-as-input
• XML
• binary

• Kernel extension project: $(SYSTEM_LIBRARY_DIR)/Extensions
• Action project: $(USER_LIBRARY_DIR)/Automator
• Application project: $(HOME)/Applications
• Audio unit and bundle projects: $(HOME)/Library/Bundles
• Command-line utility project: $(HOME)/bin
• Apple plug-in project (complete path depends on specific project template): $(DSTROOT)
• Dynamic library and static library projects: /usr/local/lib

• mh_execute:
• mh_dylib: Linker flag -dynamiclib
• mh_bundle: Linker flag -bundle
• staticlib:
• mh_object: Linker flag -r

• empty string: Compiler Default - Code will load on any Mac OS system that supports the APIs that are used.
• 10.4: OS X 10.4 - Code will not load on systems earlier than 10.4.
• 10.5: OS X 10.5 - Code will not load on systems earlier than 10.5.
• 10.6: OS X 10.6 - Code will not load on systems earlier than 10.6.
• 10.7: OS X 10.7 - Code will not load on systems earlier than 10.7.
• 10.8: OS X 10.8 - Code will not load on systems earlier than 10.8.
• 10.9: OS X 10.9 - Code will not load on systems earlier than 10.9.
• 10.10: OS X 10.10 - Code will not load on systems earlier than 10.10.

• YES: The product includes only code for the native architecture $(NATIVE_ARCH).
• NO: The product includes code for the architectures specified in $(ARCHS).

• same-as-input
• XML
• binary