Retrieving SDKs

From iPhone Development Wiki
Revision as of 11:57, 6 July 2021 by Kirb (talk | contribs) (→‎Retrieving without a Mac: Bring this into the late-2010s a tiny bit)

SDKs (Software Development Kits) are bundles that contain headers, binaries, and other tools needed to build for a specific version of iOS. These can be found within Xcode at Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs.

Retrieving without a Mac

The legal way to download an SDK without access to a Mac is to download a copy of Xcode from Apple. These are available at developer.apple.com (free developer registration required). Usually the latest SDK is best, but if you want an older version, find the Xcode version containing it from this table.

A shareware program, TransMac, can extract Xcode DMGs on Windows. Open the DMG in the program, then use the left directory tree to navigate to xcode.dmg/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs. Right-click the SDK directory and choose "Copy To".

Alternatively, grab a copy from here. If you can't find the up-to-date version there, some of the newer SDKs can also be found here.

Expansion needed: How can modern Xcode .xip releases be extracted on Windows/Linux?

Troubleshooting

As of iOS 8, some people found that those instructions didn't work with the latest version of TransMac (version 11), but version 10.6 may work.