Plugin: Set minimum iOS deployment target

[GitToTheHub]

Hi,

I wanted to ask, if i can set a minimum iOS deployment target needed for a plugin?

Regards,

Manuel

[breautek]

I think you're looking for the deployment-target preference, which will set the deployment target (which is Apple's terminology for minimum iOS version for your app project).

<platform name="ios">
  <preference name="deployment-target" value="13.0" />
</platform>

[GitToTheHub]

Can i set this in a plugin.xml?

[GitToTheHub]

Thanks. I want to just give out an error, when the user tries to use a plugin, when the ios deployment-target of the config.xml is too low, but i guess thats not possible?

[breautek]

You could maybe have a prepare hook to read the config.xml.

but im not sure if there is a way to get the cordova default value in the situation where the preference is not set at all. And naturally the default value can change across cordova ios versions...

This kinda brings up a good point though. Perhaps there is a need to declare "engine" compatibility for ios deployment targets/android api levels.

[GitToTheHub]

Ok the only possibility would be to define a deployment-target in the config.xmlby the plugin like @erisu noted and then check it by the prepare hook. But it would be really better, if a plugin could configure these requirements and cordova checks it :)

[erisu]

If you simply want to terminate the build and notify the app user that their deployment-target is too low, you can use a hook script, as suggested by @breautek.

Example Script:

const path = require('node:path');

const semver = require('semver');
const xcode = require('xcode');
const { ConfigParser } = require('cordova-common');
const CordovaPlatform = require('cordova-ios');

const MINIMUM_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET = '15.0';

module.exports = context => {
    const projectRoot = context.opts.projectRoot;
    const platformPath = path.join(projectRoot, 'platforms', 'ios');
    const iosProject = new CordovaPlatform('ios', platformPath);
    const cfg = new ConfigParser(iosProject.locations.configXml);

    // Get Deployment Target from config.xml.
    let deploymentTarget = cfg.getPreference('deployment-target', 'ios');

    if (!deploymentTarget) {
        const target = path.basename(iosProject.locations.xcodeCordovaProj);
        const xcodeProject = xcode.project(iosProject.locations.pbxproj);
        xcodeProject.parseSync();

        // Get Deployment Target from pbxproj
        deploymentTarget = xcodeProject.getBuildProperty('IPHONEOS_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET', undefined, target);
    }

    if (compareDeploymentTarget(deploymentTarget)) {
        throw new Error(`The project's deployment-target "${deploymentTarget}" is too low. Should be greater then ${MINIMUM_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET}`);
    }
}

const compareDeploymentTarget = (current) => semver.lt(
    // Converting the current deployment target to a semver format to compare with.
    semver.coerce(current)?.version || '0.0.0',
    semver.coerce(MINIMUM_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET)?.version
);

Required NPM Packages:

You'll need to install the following dependencies:

• semver
• xcode
• cordova-common

These packages are included with cordova-ios, but it's recommended to install them separately to avoid potential issues if cordova-ios updates or removes them.

Then set the script to run before the build (before_build).

The prepare step should have already been completed and if the user sets a deployment-target in their config.xml, it should be available in the platform's config.xml.

If it's missing, the script will retrieve the default value from pbxproj.

[GitToTheHub]

Hi,

thanks @erisu. I'll write it just in the readme what is the minimum iOS deployment-target. This is a little bit much to just check the minimum ios target and I'm honest, I don't have much experience with hooks and setting other dependencies :D.
But cool solution anyways :)

Regards,

Manuel