[TIMOB-25371] iOS : Ad Hoc distribution, generate the Appname.plist file for over-the-air installation

GitHub Issue	n/a
Type	New Feature
Priority	n/a
Status	Open
Resolution	Unresolved
Affected Version/s	n/a
Fix Version/s	n/a
Components	iOS
Labels	adhoc, cb-tooling
Reporter	nicolomonili
Assignee	Unknown
Created	2017-10-04T10:29:01.000+0000
Updated	2020-01-30T21:40:54.000+0000

Description

It's possibile to distribute an iOS App from Safari with a simple link, this only if the ipa generated is an adhoc distribution. I use this option instead of using TestFlight, so the app will expire after 10 months (when the adhoc distribution certificate expire) and not after 3 months as the Testflight builds. To do this i did this:

Titanium > Package > iOS Adhoc/Enterprise . Titanium generates these files : Appname.ipa, DistributionSummary.plist, ExportOptions.plist and Packaging.log

In a webserver with https/ssl enabled i have created an html file with a link with this url:

itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=https://url/testfolder/Appname.plist

In the same folder (testfolder) i put: Appname.ipa, Appname.plist, the 2 images and the html file.

Titanium doesn't generate the Appname.plist file for over-the-air installation. This is the file that is needed (with the same name of the ipa -> Appname.plist)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>items</key>
	<array>
		<dict>
			<key>assets</key>
			<array>
				<dict>
					<key>kind</key>
					<string>software-package</string>
					<key>url</key>
					<string>URL OF THE IPA FILE</string>
				</dict>
				<dict>
					<key>kind</key>
					<string>full-size-image</string>
					<key>needs-shine</key>
					<true/>
					<key>url</key>
					<string>URL OF THE ICON@2x</string>
				</dict>
				<dict>
					<key>kind</key>
					<string>display-image</string>
					<key>needs-shine</key>
					<true/>
					<key>url</key>
					<string>URL OF THE IMAGE 512x512px </string>
				</dict>
			</array>
			<key>metadata</key>
			<dict>
				<key>bundle-identifier</key>
				<string>com.blablabla.appname</string>
				<key>bundle-version</key>
				<string>1.0</string>
				<key>kind</key>
				<string>software</string>
				<key>title</key>
				<string>Appname</string>
			</dict>
		</dict>
	</array>
</dict>
</plist>

So the question is if this file can also be generated automatically when we do an adhoc distribution. On stackoverflow i found this image of xCode 9 (see attachment)

Attachments

File	Date	Size
xcode9.png	2017-10-04T11:49:44.000+0000	44542

Comments

Hans Knöchel 2017-10-05

Looks like a cool addition to the existing Ad-Hoc builds, moving to TIMOB for further investigation in the future. Feel free to submit a PR to integrate this into the core more quickly! *EDIT*: Looks like a simple new flag: {quote} The export options property list file includes all of the choices made during the distribution workflow and can be passed to xcodebuild using the -exportOptionsPlist flag. The property list file includes new properties (signingStyle, signingCertificate, and provisioningProfiles) for specifying manual signing. See xcodebuild -help for the full list of supported ExportOptions keys. {quote}

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