If you've ever used different Xcode targets to manage different version or clones of a similar app and then had to debug why one target builds while another doesn't, finding a way to diff two targets was always challenging.
Sometimes it's because you forgot to check a box including a new class in multiple targets, or maybe you've integrated a new framework with targetA but forgot to include the framework reference in the Build Phases for targetB.
I'm actually hoping that I just haven't learned the obvious way to resolve these problems and you (dear reader) will leave a comment telling me how simple it is to do with the built in tools. Until then, here's something that I hope will help others that are trying to see what two Xcode targets have different between them.
How about a little CLI tool: diffXcodeTargets
diffXcodeTargets is a command line utility I threw together that allows you to visualize the differences between two Xcode project targets using a diff tool.
Install it with npm
npm install -g diffxcodetargets
How to use it?
You can first call it by passing in the path to your project file and no targets and it will print out what targets are available.
> diffXcodeTargets ./myProject.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj
Could not find TargetA ''. Possible targets are:
- targetA
- targetB
Now you know your available targets and you can call it with the two targets you want to diff:
diffXcodeTargets ./myProject.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj targetA targetB
How does it work?
If you're curious how this tool does it's job it is actually quite simple and would love to hear any feedback...
diffXcodeTargets uses the xcode npm module to read/parse xcode projects and then approvals to show a difftool with two different files.
What's missing?
I threw this together quickly to help diagnose some issues with a project I was working on. It does not yet support all of the various scenarios that may be needed when diffing two Xcode targets, but if you have any suggestions or ideas feel free to leave a github issue.
Happy Diffing!