Xcode Semantic Auto-Incrementing Versioning System

Eric David Smith

Software Engineer / Musician / Entrepreneur

Easily automate your version and build numbers incrementally in Xcode and use git hooks to ensure version consistency. This is a great way to ensure that your versioning is consistent across all of your projects without all the manual hassles.

Xcode Auto Increment

1. Build Number: You can auto-increment the build number using a Run Script Phase in Xcode.

   • Go to your target settings, then Build Phases.
   • Click + to add a New Run Script Phase.
   • Add the following script:

   buildNumber=$(/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print CFBundleVersion" "$INFOPLIST_FILE")
   buildNumber=$(($buildNumber + 1))
   /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :CFBundleVersion $buildNumber" "$INFOPLIST_FILE"
   

2. Version Number: Xcode doesn't have native support for semantic versioning auto-increment, but you can modify the script to fit semantic rules manually.

Git Hooks for Version Consistency

1. Navigate to your git project directory, then go to .git/hooks.
2. Create a file named pre-commit (no file extension).
3. Make it executable: chmod +x pre-commit.
4. Add a script that reads the CFBundleShortVersionString and CFBundleVersion from Info.plist and checks or modifies them as needed.

For example, a simple script could read the Info.plist and prevent a commit if the version number hasn't been incremented.

Below is an example pre-commit shell script that reads the CFBundleShortVersionString and CFBundleVersion from Info.plist. It will prevent the commit if the version is not greater than the previously stored version.

Create a file named .last_version to keep track of the last version.

#!/bin/sh
# pre-commit

# Define the path to your Info.plist file
infoPlistPath="./YourProject/Info.plist"

# Read the current version and build number from Info.plist
currentVersion=$(/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print CFBundleShortVersionString" "$infoPlistPath")
currentBuild=$(/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print CFBundleVersion" "$infoPlistPath")

# Read the last committed version and build number
lastVersion=$(cat .last_version)
lastBuild=$(cat .last_build)

# Logic to check if the version or build number has been incremented
if [[ "$currentVersion" > "$lastVersion" ]] || [[ "$currentBuild" > "$lastBuild" ]]; then
  echo "Version or build number has been incremented."

  # Store the new version and build number
  echo $currentVersion > .last_version
  echo $currentBuild > .last_build

  # Add .last_version and .last_build to the commit
  git add .last_version
  git add .last_build

  exit 0
else
  echo "Error: You must increment the version or build number to commit."
  exit 1
fi

Replace YourProject/Info.plist with the relative path to your project's Info.plist.

This is a simple example and could be extended to follow more complex semantic versioning rules.

By combining Xcode Run Scripts and Git hooks, you can have a robust automated versioning system.

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Eric David Smith

Software Engineer / Musician / Entrepreneur