Mono: the runtime packages for .NET 6+ do not contain the runtime as a .framework for iOS/tvOS/watchOS

[rolfbjarne]

Description

The mono runtime packages (for instance Microsoft.NETCore.App.Runtime.ios-x64) only contain the native libraries as static libraries (.a) and dynamic libraries (.dylib). We also need a .framework version of the native libraries, because this is crucial to keep app size down for apps that contains app extensions, otherwise the mono runtime will end up duplicated in the main app + every app extension (because Apple doesn't allow .dylibs in the App Store, only .frameworks).

$ ls -la  ~/.nuget/packages/microsoft.netcore.app.runtime.ios-x64/5.0.0-preview.6.20264.1/runtimes/ios-x64/native             
total 76456
drwxr-xr-x  15 rolf  staff       480 May 19 16:19 .
drwxr-xr-x   4 rolf  staff       128 May 19 16:19 ..
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff   3084160 May 14 09:27 System.Private.CoreLib.dll
drwxr-xr-x   5 rolf  staff       160 May 19 16:19 cross
drwxr-xr-x   3 rolf  staff        96 May 19 16:19 include
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff   2894936 May 14 09:38 libSystem.IO.Compression.Native.a
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff    917376 May 14 09:38 libSystem.IO.Compression.Native.dylib
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff    363120 May 14 09:38 libSystem.Native.a
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff     69380 May 14 09:38 libSystem.Native.dylib
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff     26936 May 14 09:38 libSystem.Net.Security.Native.a
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff     15784 May 14 09:38 libSystem.Net.Security.Native.dylib
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff    150008 May 14 09:38 libSystem.Security.Cryptography.Native.Apple.a
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff     32164 May 14 09:38 libSystem.Security.Cryptography.Native.Apple.dylib
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff  26937688 May 14 09:22 libmono.a
-rwxr--r--   1 rolf  staff   4642932 May 14 09:26 libmono.dylib

For the record, this is what Mono currently provides:

$ curl -LO https://xamjenkinsartifact.azureedge.net/mono-sdks/xcode-11C29/ios-release-Darwin-be2226b5a1c57df065efc4c1cf008d581e5cec7d.7z
$ $ 7z l *7z | grep [.]framework
2020-09-16 15:09:44 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/ios-sim/Mono.framework
2020-09-16 15:09:27 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/ios-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM
2020-09-16 15:09:27 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/ios-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents
2020-09-16 15:09:27 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/ios-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources
2020-09-16 15:09:38 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/ios-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF
2020-09-16 15:09:27 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/ios/Mono.framework
2020-09-16 15:09:19 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/ios/Mono.framework.dSYM
2020-09-16 15:09:19 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/ios/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents
2020-09-16 15:09:19 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/ios/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources
2020-09-16 15:09:22 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/ios/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF
2020-09-16 15:09:44 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/tvos-sim/Mono.framework
2020-09-16 15:09:38 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/tvos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM
2020-09-16 15:09:38 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/tvos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents
2020-09-16 15:09:38 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/tvos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources
2020-09-16 15:09:38 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/tvos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF
2020-09-16 15:09:27 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/tvos/Mono.framework
2020-09-16 15:09:22 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/tvos/Mono.framework.dSYM
2020-09-16 15:09:22 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/tvos/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents
2020-09-16 15:09:22 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/tvos/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources
2020-09-16 15:09:22 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/tvos/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF
2020-09-16 15:09:44 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/watchos-sim/Mono.framework
2020-09-16 15:09:41 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/watchos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM
2020-09-16 15:09:41 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/watchos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents
2020-09-16 15:09:41 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/watchos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources
2020-09-16 15:09:41 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/watchos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF
2020-09-16 15:09:27 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/watchos/Mono.framework
2020-09-16 15:09:23 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/watchos/Mono.framework.dSYM
2020-09-16 15:09:23 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/watchos/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents
2020-09-16 15:09:23 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/watchos/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources
2020-09-16 15:09:27 D....            0            0  ios-frameworks/watchos/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF
2020-09-16 15:09:38 ....A          643               ios-frameworks/ios-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:38 ....A     28972956               ios-frameworks/ios-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:44 ....A         1908               ios-frameworks/ios-sim/Mono.framework/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:27 ....A     10532656               ios-frameworks/ios-sim/Mono.framework/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:22 ....A          643               ios-frameworks/ios/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:22 ....A     33142227               ios-frameworks/ios/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:27 ....A         1908               ios-frameworks/ios/Mono.framework/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:19 ....A     10540152               ios-frameworks/ios/Mono.framework/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:38 ....A          643               ios-frameworks/tvos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:41 ....A     15960352               ios-frameworks/tvos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:44 ....A         1874               ios-frameworks/tvos-sim/Mono.framework/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:27 ....A      5365408               ios-frameworks/tvos-sim/Mono.framework/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:22 ....A          643               ios-frameworks/tvos/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:23 ....A     12138651               ios-frameworks/tvos/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:27 ....A         1874               ios-frameworks/tvos/Mono.framework/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:19 ....A     29800816               ios-frameworks/tvos/Mono.framework/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:41 ....A          643               ios-frameworks/watchos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:44 ....A     12545190               ios-frameworks/watchos-sim/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:44 ....A         1871               ios-frameworks/watchos-sim/Mono.framework/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:27 ....A      5342572               ios-frameworks/watchos-sim/Mono.framework/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:27 ....A          643               ios-frameworks/watchos/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:27 ....A     20102394               ios-frameworks/watchos/Mono.framework.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF/Mono
2020-09-16 15:09:27 ....A         1871               ios-frameworks/watchos/Mono.framework/Info.plist
2020-09-16 15:09:19 ....A     58716912               ios-frameworks/watchos/Mono.framework/Mono

[ghost]

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[EgorBo]

@rolfbjarne isn't .framework just a folder with dylib + plist inside? (+install_name_tool)

[ghost]

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[rolfbjarne]

@rolfbjarne isn't .framework just a folder with dylib + plist inside? (+install_name_tool)

Yes, pretty much, you can create the .framework from the .dylib from the command line (it's a bit more than just cp, but it can be done).

[spouliot]

Here's some (work-in-progress) docs about what we had (legacy), what we have now (for dotnet) and what we need (for dotnet) in order to complete features (like app extensions).

https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/Binary-Code-Sharing-BKep8SE0rebrstXGdUu5LtsVAg-qcp79iqZZzQnGwRZ85y7a

[rolfbjarne]

This might not be as urgent as we thought, it might be enough to fix #52989 for now (we'll still need this fix, but it's possible that fixing #52989 will unblock our bump to P5 at least).