I have come across some of the jailbroken applications which use package files named with the extension .deb . So how it is related to iPhone and how it is different from .app .
.deb is a package management format used on Debian-based Linux distributions. Ubuntu, for example, uses .deb files to manage installation of software.
.deb files are not specific to Debian though and can be used on any compatible *nix platform. fink for Mac OS X is .deb-based, I believe.
So, to answer one half of your question, .deb files are used to install certain jailbroken applications into your iPhone.
.app files, on the other hand, are Apple's format for assembled applications. They contain everything you need to run them.
The main difference is that with .app files, that is the actual application itself. With .deb files, it contains the instructions for how to install the application.
Hope this helps.
.deb
Related
I want to know how to install an ipa/app file into iPhone just using the command line?
The device maybe without jailbreak or jailbroken already.
I tried to use the command line: xcodebuild, but failed. I didn't find the parameter how to set the destination, maybe a real device, not a simulator.
What options do I have?
Three ways I know of:
These guys wrote a tool in Ruby to do it. It uses the Fruitstrap library which in turn uses one of Apple's private APIs, so this could possibly break in the future.
You can also just use Fruitstrap on its own, but then you need an .app directory, whereas the Transporter Chief tool I linked above supports both .app and .ipa deployments (as required in your answer).
In either case, you need to have XCode installed for it to work, but the device does not need to be jailbroken.
Thirdly, there is also a binary distribution for OS X of the libimobiledevice library, which enables Linux boxes to talk to iOS devices. This has a few different tools, one of which can install valid signed IPAs to the device using this syntax:
ideviceinstaller -i myapp.ipa
The advantage of this method is that it does not need XCode or even iTunes.
With the new Apple Configurator 2 application, you can Install Automation Tools... from the menu. This will add support for the command-line tool "cfgutil".
cfgutil allows you to install ipa's from the command-line using cfgutil install-app <AbsolutePathToIpa>. We use it on our build server to automatically update the device with the latest build.
I've just gathered in a single post (Gist) how to achieve this, using
1.- Mattt's library Shenzhen
2.- Phonegap's library ios-deploy
Read here:
How to generate and install an IPA file
I've tried libimobiledevice-macosx. works fine on iPhone 5. iOS version 6.1.4.
I was able to install app and see log output like in xcode :) Thank you!
The new Xcode 4.4 does not include Quartz Composer and is not installed in the folder Macintosh HD / Developer, but as an app in Applications. Quartz Composer has to download separately from the Apple Developer website. The dmg. Graphics Tools contains a series of tools among them is the QC. My question is: where do I install these Graphics Tools? In the dmg there isn't info about the installation. Any help?
Tnks
Joseph
You can copy the .app bundles wherever you like. I recommend simply copying them to /Applications, like any other app bundle.
Put them in the Applications folder in Xcode.app/contents
That way they will appear in the xcode>Open Developer Tools menu
I'd like to use the excellent stringencoders library in an iOS application. It's a fairly typical c library, with a configure script generated by autoconf and a makefile.
What I'd like to do is compile arm7 and i386 versions on Mac OSX and then use lipo to make a fat binary.
I'm having trouble figuring out how to persuade the build tools to create my platform-specific binaries. There's a few articles out there and even a few scripts but most of them are targeted at XCode 4.2 and don't work with 4.3.
It looks like it should be possible to create a fairly generic build script that can play nicely with configure and make but I'm at a loss as to where to even start.
Have you successfully done anything like this? I'd love some pointers!
BTW: 'import all the sourcecode into your project' is NOT a viable solution. That way lies madness.
Thanks.
I've ported a handful of open source C libraries to iOS (see iOS Ports). I've found the most reliable way to port a library is to build a new Xcode project with a build target for a static iOS Library. It is important to note that Apple will not allow your iOS Application to contain dynamic libraries if you plan to distribute your app on the iTunes App store, so you will be unable to use FAT libraries.
These are the steps I usually follow when porting libraries to iOS which usually built with the GNU Autotools:
Run ./configure with appropriate flags on OS X.
Verify that the library builds correctly on OS X using make.
Create a new Xcode project using the iOS Static Library template.
Add the config.h from the previous configure run to the Xcode project.
Read the automake file (Makefile.am), and add the referenced sources in the automaker targets to the Xcode target for the static library.
Copy the CPP flags (i.e. -DHAVE_CONFIG_H) from the automake file to the build settings in Xcode.
Compile in Xcode and start running down errors (usually by adding missing header include paths or missing source files).
The directory structure I usually use is the following:
project/
project/ported-project.xcodeproj
project/project-x.x.x.tar.gz
project/project-x.x.x
project/project -> project-x.x.x
I know this is not exactly what you asked for in your question, however it is rough outline of the steps I've used for years for porting libraries. The benefit of creating an actual Xcode to compile the ported library is that it makes it easier to integrate the library into multiple Xcode iOS applications.
If you need clarification or more detailed instructions, let me know and I"ll try to write up more extensive instructions and update my answer.
Is it plausible to add the source files (i.e. .c files) to your project directly?
Objective C is a superset of C so i am surprised that the code did not work directly out of the box in XCode 4. Are you missing out something there ? just suggesting
Generate your project files using gyp: http://code.google.com/p/gyp/
I use it to share libraries between win/osx/ios and linux (pi).
I just installed Xcode 3.2.6 a couple times in a custom directory. I am installing that in addition to Xcode 4.2 that is installed in my developer folder. I can't seem to find the Xcode app in the Applications folder in the custom directory. All I see is a Utilities folder. Any ideas as to what might have happened?
Couple things to keep in mind:
If you are going to have multiple versions of Xcode installed, you MUST install them in order from lowest to highest version number, or you will break ALL of them. For example, if you installed Xcode4 and then Xcode3, neither is likely to work. The reason for this is that part of the Xcode install includes stuff that can only be placed in shared directories -- directories shared by all instances of Xcode. Installing an older version of these files over a newer version breaks 'em all. (I just went through this pain, by accident!)
If you install into a custom directory, the Xcode binary WILL be in the Applications folder in that custom directory. The default directory that Xcode installs to (if you don't change it) is /Developer, of course, but you can change this when you are doing an install to say, /Xcode4 or whatever you like. That being said, Spotlight Search is certainly a good first step to locating stuff you just cannot find by hand. :-)
I ran into the very same problem.
uninstalled version 3.2.6 using the uninstall --all method via terminal (described in documentation).
then re-installed 4.2 version, then uninstalled, using terminal,
then re-installed 3.2.6 |===> now running smoothly.
might see what happens if i add 4.2 in a different directory later.
Just use search function in finder dude.
Anyway, default location for Xcode installation is under Macindosh HD\Developer\Applications
If you didn't change the path during installation, you should be able to find it there
How do I convert a .ipa file to a .deb file?
Your question makes very little sense, since .IPA is the extension for an application installed on the i(Phone|Pad|Pod), where as .DEB is the extension for a package for the Linux operating system Debian.
Based on your comments, the answer is: you pay the $99/year to Apple, and you can then deploy things to your own iPhone (there are plenty of docs out there on this), or you Jailbreak your iPhone, and in that case, I'm not sure how app deployment works, but I'm sure there are docs out there for that too.
It is unfortunate that Apple has chosen to require payment for people to tinker with their own devices, but I guess that's why there are some many people Jailbreaking there devices.
Correction to the previous answer:
Your question makes perfect sense
iOS (and Mac OS) are based on linux. Sometimes, when downloading apps for a jailbroken iphone onto your PC, these files will be have a deb extension because of this.
try this page for a couple of methods:
http://xsellize.com/topic/32674-converting-cydia-applications-to-ipa-format/
If someone wants to convert an ipa to deb I am 90% sure it is because they are not able to perform sideloading (e.g. I failed with ideviceinstaller), and they want to install the package with Cydia without the need of sideloading.
Tools:
rullinoiz/ipa2deb
Un1Gfn-obj/ios/ipa2deb.sh - written by me based on the previous one
alamshafil/ipa2deb - C# - Windows - GUI - I haven't tried it
TL;DR of how they work:
Create a DEBIAN/control and fill in some package info
Unpack ipa to a directory (ipa is kinda equivalent to zip)
Repack the directory with dpkg -b or dpkg-deb