If you're working with Objective-C/C++ (i.e. mixing both languages) in an iPhone/Mac application you may come across some strange errors in the build process due to a configuration issue.

error: bits/c++config.h: No such file or directory

[caption id="attachment_1005" align="aligncenter" width="457" caption="Too many build failures"][/caption]

One of my projects, Texture Evolution was a Mac application that referenced a C++ Mac library. About 6 months ago I ran into an issue where my build would fail. It may have been related to an update to Xcode, but I'm not entirely sure. After a lot of time, frustration, Google'ing, and project configuration changes I came across a solution.

Today I ran into the same problem and couldn't quite remember how to fix it for my Doxygen Xcode documentation Target that references the C++ Mac library. I wasted more time trying to figure it out again, so here's the breakdown.

The Problem:

Using iostream.h or other STL from C++ and compiling with the Base SDK set to 10.4 and GCC 4.0.

/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS4.1.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.0.0/iostream:43:0 /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS4.1.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.0.0/iostream:43:28: error: bits/c++config.h: No such file or directory

/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS4.1.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.0.0/iosfwd:45:0 /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS4.1.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.0.0/iosfwd:45:29: error: bits/c++locale.h: No such file or directory

/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS4.1.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.0.0/iosfwd:46:0 /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS4.1.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.0.0/iosfwd:46:25: error: bits/c++io.h: No such file or directory

(11,000+ other errors)

The Solution:

Set the Base SDK to Mac OS X 10.5 and GCC to 4.2. You'll need to make changes to project using the library as well as the libraries Target/Project settings. When you make changes make sure the Target properties displays "All Configurations" (i.e. Debug/Release/Release Adhoc/Release AppStore) so that you fix it for all of your build types. Double check and make sure that your static libraries and your project Targets have matching configurations.

[caption id="attachment_1000" align="aligncenter" width="461" caption="Using Base SDK: Mac OS X 10.5 and GCC 4.2"][/caption]

Why?

It may be a simple configuration issue, but I'm not really sure. For some reason when I use GCC 4.0 it builds against arm and uses the iPhone SDK, but when I use GCC 4.2 it uses the Mac SDK. The library is explicitly targeting Mac OS X 10.4, but it doesn't seem to work when it's targeting GCC 4.0. Here's the comparison build output:

Base SDK Mac OS X 10.4, GCC 4.0

CompileC /Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug-CompileC /Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug-iphoneos/MacEvolutionLib.build/Objects-normal/armv6/Canvas.o ../../source/Canvas.cpp normal armv6 c++ com.apple.compilers.gcc.4_0
cd /Users/paulsolt/dev/ArtworkEvolution/Xcode/ArtworkEvolution
setenv LANG en_US.US-ASCII
setenv PATH "/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/usr/bin:/Developer/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"
/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/usr/bin/gcc-4.0 -x c++ -arch armv6 -fmessage-length=0 -pipe -Wno-trigraphs -fpascal-strings -O0 -Wreturn-type -Wunused-variable -isysroot /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS4.1.sdk -mfix-and-continue -gdwarf-2 -mthumb -miphoneos-version-min=3.2 -iquote /Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug-iphoneos/MacEvolutionLib.build/MacEvolutionLib-generated-files.hmap -I/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug-iphoneos/MacEvolutionLib.build/MacEvolutionLib-own-target-headers.hmap -I/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug-iphoneos/MacEvolutionLib.build/MacEvolutionLib-all-target-headers.hmap -iquote /Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug-iphoneos/MacEvolutionLib.build/MacEvolutionLib-project-headers.hmap -F/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/Debug-iphoneos -I/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/Debug-iphoneos/include -I/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug-iphoneos/MacEvolutionLib.build/DerivedSources/armv6 -I/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug-iphoneos/MacEvolutionLib.build/DerivedSources -fvisibility=hidden -c /Users/paulsolt/dev/ArtworkEvolution/Xcode/ArtworkEvolution/../../source/Canvas.cpp -o /Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug-iphoneos/MacEvolutionLib.build/Objects-normal/armv6/Canvas.o

Base SDK Mac OS X 10.5, GCC 4.2

CompileC /Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug/MacEvolutionLib.build/Objects-normal/x86_64/Canvas.o /Users/paulsolt/dev/ArtworkEvolution/Xcode/ArtworkEvolution/../../source/Canvas.cpp normal x86_64 c++ com.apple.compilers.gcc.4_2
cd /Users/paulsolt/dev/ArtworkEvolution/Xcode/ArtworkEvolution
setenv LANG en_US.US-ASCII
/Developer/usr/bin/gcc-4.2 -x c++ -arch x86_64 -fmessage-length=0 -pipe -Wno-trigraphs -fpascal-strings -fasm-blocks -O0 -Wreturn-type -Wunused-variable -isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.5.sdk -mfix-and-continue -mmacosx-version-min=10.5 -gdwarf-2 -iquote /Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug/MacEvolutionLib.build/MacEvolutionLib-generated-files.hmap -I/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug/MacEvolutionLib.build/MacEvolutionLib-own-target-headers.hmap -I/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug/MacEvolutionLib.build/MacEvolutionLib-all-target-headers.hmap -iquote /Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug/MacEvolutionLib.build/MacEvolutionLib-project-headers.hmap -F/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/Debug -I/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/Debug/include -I/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug/MacEvolutionLib.build/DerivedSources/x86_64 -I/Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug/MacEvolutionLib.build/DerivedSources -fvisibility=hidden -c /Users/paulsolt/dev/ArtworkEvolution/Xcode/ArtworkEvolution/../../source/Canvas.cpp -o /Users/paulsolt/dev/xcode_build_output/ArtworkEvolution.build/Debug/MacEvolutionLib.build/Objects-normal/x86_64/Canvas.o

Notes:

GCC 4.2 is required for 10.5, if you try and use the Base SDK of 10.4 and GCC 4.2 you'll get this error.

GCC 4.2 is not compatible with the Mac OS X 10.4 SDK