An Apple Library Primer

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Apple’s library technology has a long and glorious history, dating all the way back to the origins of Unix. This does, however, mean that it can be a bit confusing to newcomers. This is my attempt to clarify some terminology.

If you have any questions or comments about this, start a new thread and tag it with Linker so that I see it.

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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
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An Apple Library Primer

Apple’s tools support two related concepts:

  • Platform — This is the platform itself; macOS, iOS, iOS Simulator, and Mac Catalyst are all platforms.

  • Architecture — This is a specific CPU architecture used by a platform. arm64 and x86_64 are both architectures.

A given architecture might be used by multiple platforms. The most obvious example of this arm64, which is used by all of the platforms listed above.

Code built for one platform will not work on another platform, even if both platforms use the same architecture.

Code is usually packaged in either a Mach-O file or a static library. Mach-O is used for executables, dynamic libraries, bundles, and object files. These can have a variety of different extensions; the only constant is that .o is always used for a Mach-O containing an object file. Use otool and nm to examine a Mach-O file. Use vtool to quickly determine the platform for which it was built. Use size to get a summary of its size. Use dyld_info to get more details about a dynamic library.

IMPORTANT All the tools mentioned here are documented in man pages; for information on how to access that documentation, see Reading UNIX Manual Pages.

The term Mach-O image refers to a Mach-O that can be loaded and executed without further processing. That includes executables, dynamic libraries, and bundles, but not object files.

A dynamic library has the extension .dylib. You may also see this called a shared library.

A framework is a bundle structure with the .framework extension that has both compile-time and run-time roles:

  • At compile time, the framework combines the library’s headers and its stub library (stub libraries are explained below).

  • At run time, the framework combines the library’s code, as a Mach-O dynamic library, and its associated resources.

The exact structure of a framework varies by platform. For the details, see Placing Content in a Bundle.

macOS supports both frameworks and standalone dynamic libraries. Other Apple platforms support frameworks but not standalone dynamic libraries.

Historically these two roles were combined, that is, the framework included the headers, the dynamic library, and its resources. These days Apple ships different frameworks for each role. That is, the macOS SDK includes the compile-time framework and macOS itself includes the run-time one. Most third-party frameworks continue to combine these roles.

A static library is an archive of one or more object files. It has the extension .a. Use ar, libtool, and ranlib to inspect and manipulate these archives.

The static linker, or just the linker, runs at build time. It combines various inputs into a single output. Typically these inputs are object files, static libraries, dynamic libraries, and various configuration items. The output is most commonly a Mach-O image, although it’s also possible to output an object file. The linker may also output metadata, such as a link map (see Using a Link Map to Track Down a Symbol’s Origin).

The linker has seen three major implementations:

  • ld — This dates from the dawn of Mac OS X.

  • ld64 — This was a rewrite started in the 2005 timeframe. Eventually it replaced ld completely. If you type ld, you get ld64.

  • ld_prime — This was introduced with Xcode 15. This isn’t a separate tool. Rather, ld now supports the -ld_classic and -ld_new options to select a specific implementation.

Note During the Xcode 15 beta cycle these options were -ld64 and -ld_prime. I continue to use those names because the definition of new changes over time (some of us still think of ld64 as the new linker ;–).

The dynamic linker loads Mach-O images at runtime. Its path is /usr/lib/dyld, so it’s often referred to as dyld, dyld, or DYLD. Personally I pronounced that dee-lid, but some folks say di-lid and others say dee-why-el-dee.

The dynamic linker has seen 4 major revisions. See WWDC 2017 Session 413 (referenced below) for a discussion of versions 1 through 3. Version 4 is basically a merging of versions 2 and 3.

The dyld man page is chock-full of useful info, including a discussion of how it finds images at runtime.

One of the most common points of confusion with dynamic linker is the way that the dynamic linker identifies dynamic libraries. There are two standard approaches to this, as described in Dynamic Library Identification.

Xcode 15 introduced the concept of a mergeable library. This a dynamic library with extra metadata that allows the linker to embed it into the output Mach-O image, much like a static library. Mergeable libraries have many benefits. For all the backstory, see WWDC 2023 Session 10268 Meet mergeable libraries. For instructions on how to set this up, see Configuring your project to use mergeable libraries.

If you put a mergeable library into a framework structure you get a mergeable framework.

Xcode 15 also introduced the concept of a static framework. This is a framework structure where the framework’s dynamic library is replaced by a static library.

Note It’s not clear to me whether this offers any benefit over creating a mergeable framework.

Earlier versions of Xcode did not have proper static framework support. That didn’t stop folks trying to use them, which caused all sorts of weird build problems.

A universal binary is a file that contains multiple architectures for the same platform. Universal binaries always use the universal binary format. Use the file command to learn what architectures are within a universal binary. Use the lipo command to manipulate universal binaries.

A universal binary’s architectures are either all in Mach-O format or all in the static library archive format. The latter is called a universal static library.

A universal binary has the same extension as its non-universal equivalent. That means a .a file might be a static library or a universal static library.

Most tools work on a single architecture within a universal binary. They default to the architecture of the current machine. To override this, pass the architecture in using a command-line option, typically -arch or --arch.

An XCFramework is a single document package that includes libraries for any combination of platforms and architectures. It has the extension .xcframework. An XCFramework holds either a framework, a dynamic library, or a static library. All the elements must be the same type. Use xcodebuild to create an XCFramework. For specific instructions, see Xcode Help > Distribute binary frameworks > Create an XCFramework.

Historically there was no need to code sign libraries in SDKs. If you shipped an SDK to another developer, they were responsible for re-signing all the code as part of their distribution process. Xcode 15 changes this. You should sign your SDK so that a developer using it can verify this dependency. For more details, see WWDC 2023 Session 10061 Verify app dependencies with digital signatures and Verifying the origin of your XCFrameworks.

A stub library is a compact description of the contents of a dynamic library. It has the extension .tbd, which stands for text-based description (TBD). Apple’s SDKs include stub libraries to minimise their size; for the backstory, read this post. Stub libraries currently use YAML format, a fact that’s relevant when you try to interpret linker errors. Use the tapi tool to create and manipulate these files. In this context TAPI stands for a text-based API, an alternative name for TBD. Oh, and on the subject of tapi, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention tapi-analyze!

Mach-O uses a two-level namespace. When a Mach-O image imports a symbol, it references the symbol name and the library where it expects to find that symbol. This improves both performance and reliability but it precludes certain techniques that might work on other platforms. For example, you can’t define a function called printf and expect it to ‘see’ calls from other dynamic libraries because those libraries import the version of printf from libSystem.

To help folks who rely on techniques like this, macOS supports a flat namespace compatibility mode. This has numerous sharp edges — for an example, see the posts on this thread — and it’s best to avoid it where you can. If you’re enabling the flat namespace as part of a developer tool, search the ’net for dyld interpose to learn about an alternative technique.

WARNING Dynamic linker interposing is not documented as API. While it’s a useful technique for developer tools, do not use it in products you ship to end users.

Apple platforms use DWARF. When you compile a file, the compiler puts the debug info into the resulting object file. When you link a set of object files into a executable, dynamic library, or bundle for distribution, the linker does not include this debug info. Rather, debug info is stored in a separate debug symbols document package. This has the extension .dSYM and is created using dsymutil. Use symbols to learn about the symbols in a file. Use dwarfdump to get detailed information about DWARF debug info. Use atos to map an address to its corresponding symbol name.

Over the years there have been some really good talks about linking and libraries at WWDC, including:

Note The older talks are no longer available from Apple, but you may be able to find transcripts out there on the ’net.

Historically Apple published a document, Mac OS X ABI Mach-O File Format Reference, or some variant thereof, that acted as the definitive reference to the Mach-O file format. This document is no longer available from Apple. If you’re doing serious work with Mach-O, I recommend that you find an old copy. It’s definitely out of date, but there’s no better place to get a high-level introduction to the concepts. The Mach-O Wikipedia page has a link to an archived version of the document.

For the most up-to-date information about Mach-O, see the declarations and doc comments in <mach-o/loader.h>.

Revision History

  • 2024-03-02 Updated the discussion of static frameworks to account for Xcode 15 changes. Removed the link to WWDC 2018 Session 415 because it no longer works )-:

  • 2024-03-01 Added the WWDC 2023 session to the list of sessions to make it easier to find. Added a reference to Using a Link Map to Track Down a Symbol’s Origin. Made other minor editorial changes.

  • 2023-09-20 Added a link to Dynamic Library Identification. Updated the names for the static linker implementations (-ld_prime is no more!). Removed the beta epithet from Xcode 15.

  • 2023-06-13 Defined the term Mach-O image. Added sections for both the static and dynamic linkers. Described the two big new features in Xcode 15: mergeable libraries and dependency verification.

  • 2023-06-01 Add a reference to tapi-analyze.

  • 2023-05-29 Added a discussion of the two-level namespace.

  • 2023-04-27 Added a mention of the size tool.

  • 2023-01-23 Explained the compile-time and run-time roles of a framework. Made other minor editorial changes.

  • 2022-11-17 Added an explanation of TAPI.

  • 2022-10-12 Added links to Mach-O documentation.

  • 2022-09-29 Added info about .dSYM files. Added a few more links to WWDC sessions.

  • 2022-09-21 First posted.

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