Cordova command-line build fails in /tmp on Mac

cordova, ios, linker

Solution

I finally discovered the answer using the `cordova` command-line tools. Cordova has a `-d` flag which is way more verbose than PhoneGap's `-V` flag. The linker was failing with a bunch of errors like

duplicate symbol _OBJC_METACLASS_$_CDVTimer in:
    /private/tmp/buildtest-ios/platforms/ios/build/emulator/libCordova.a(CDVTimer.o)
    /tmp/buildtest-ios/platforms/ios/build/emulator/libCordova.a(CDVTimer.o)

Note that `/tmp` on Mac is a symlink to `/private/tmp`, so these are pointing to the same file. No wonder they're duplicate symbols! So why is it trying to include the same file twice?

I tried creating a new test project in an empty folder `/private/my-new-tmp2/buildtest-ios`. Building it failed with the same error. So apparently something is weird with Cordova's iOS projects and the `Ld` linker in the `/private` directory on Mac OS X 10.9, and I'm the only person who's ever tried this. (As I said, building for Android works fine.)

In case someone else ever runs into the same problem, the solution is to build the project in `/Users/me/some/directory` rather than anywhere in `/tmp` or `/private`. Problem solved.

Problem

I get a linker error building a brand-new PhoneGap app from the command line. It creates a bunch of files, and if I open the created `.xcodeproj` in Xcode, it builds just fine. So what's wrong with my command-line environment? ``` $ phonegap create /tmp/buildtest-ios $ cd /tmp/buildtest-ios $ phonegap -V build ios [phonegap] detecting iOS SDK environment... [phonegap] Checking iOS requirements... [phonegap] using the local environment [phonegap] compiling iOS... [phonegap] Generating config.xml from defaults for platform "ios" [phonegap] Compiling app on platform "ios" via command "/private/tmp/buildtest-ios/platforms/ios/cordova/build" [error] An error occurred while building the ios project.** BUILD FAILED ** The following build commands failed: Check dependencies (1 failure) ** BUILD FAILED ** The following build commands failed: Ld /private/tmp/buildtest-ios/platforms/ios/build/emulator/HelloWorld.app/HelloWorld normal i386 (1 failure) ``` If I run the offending `Ld` command myself from the command line, I get "file not found". Does that mean the compiler failed and the linker error is just a red herring? This is PhoneGap 3.3.0-0.18.0 on Mac OS X 10.9. I can create and build an Android app with this installation, no trouble. I get the exact same behavior if I use `cordova` directly. I've tried it on two Macs with the same symptom.

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