iOS Build Environment Help Center

Can't use your Mac to extract the iOS SDK?

append delete Pierre-Marie Baty

This question comes around more and more often.

If for whatever reason you can't use your Mac to migrate the iOS SDK (for example: hard disk full, no space left to install Xcode), there are websites on which you can rent remote access to a Mac. Some of them offer free tryouts, enough for you to install Xcode and migrate the necessary files from there.

https://www.macincloud.com is one of them

https://www.virtualmacosx.com is another one

A Google search will probably give other alternatives...

The iOS SDK can't legally be redistributed by Apple's restriction (cf. Xcode EULA), so please don't ask around for someone to send you a compressed SDK archive. Thank you for your understanding.

P.S. I am not affiliated with any of the links above, I'm just forwarding information that I received from some users who found this workaround.

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append delete #1. Pierre-Marie Baty

Here's another useful tip.

Say you do have a Mac, but unfortunately it's too old to install the recent Xcode of which you need the iOS SDK to build and publish your app.

The workaround is to simply download the latest Xcode installer archive from Apple in the form of a .xib file, then extract it on your Mac (you'll get a Xcode.app with a greyed icon because your Mac won't be allowed to run it); move it in your Applications folder anyway, and run the builder's Migration Assistant. It'll make no difference and everything will happen as if that version of Xcode was actually installed on your Mac.

Happy building,

:: @Pierre-Marie Baty added on 03 Jun ’23 · 11:22

*edit* Download links to Xcode .xib files : https://xcodereleases.com

append delete #2. Sokharev

Hello, would like to add that https://scaleway.com/ offers pretty cheap mac m1 (2.4 euro per 24 hours minimal, than machine can be deleted) to extract sdk from. VNC works very slow(almost unusable) but SSH works well and good for getting SDK.
Btw, you mentioned good way to get sdk from file. So it's theoretically possible to get sdk from xcode image files without mac?
I've researched a bit and found following:
1. here the list of xcode downloads (updateble and permanent )
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10335747/how-to-download-xcode-dmg-or-xip-file
2. i've downloaded and extracted xip...but as i understand inside xip file there'is tricky container with pbzx signature...i've found some ways to extract(may be wrong) but didn't tried
https://gist.github.com/bruienne/ec5205408b9e52bd5cfc
= but is it really possible to extract sdk from this big file?

:: @Sokharev added on 19 Jan ’22 · 08:51

Here another more clean try to unpack xip file (but in linux!)
https://gist.github.com/phracker/1944ce190e01963c550566b749bd2b54

append delete #3. Pierre-Marie Baty

Yep. These tools (xar, pbzx, cpio) can also be compiled on Windows (modulo a bit of porting). I might give that a go someday.

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