Static Linking with Swift, Xcode6-Beta

Static Linking with Swift, XCode6-Beta

To answer my own question after some discussion in the comments, it is simply not possible to build static libraries that include Swift code yet. I'm writing this as of Beta 4, and the release notes still say, under "Known issues in Xcode 6 beta 4":

Xcode does not support building static libraries that include Swift code. (17181019)

Static Library and Swift

As of Xcode 9 beta 4, Xcode natively supports static libraries with Swift sources.

Why do we have this confusing setup about Static Library and Framework in Xcode

There are many concepts that must be clear

Libraries have two categories based on how they are linked to the executable file

1. Static library .a, .so. link at compile time. wiki
2. Dynamic libraries .dylib .dll etc. link at runtime. only apple can use it for iOS for some safe reason, we cannot build this.

ps, a special kind in apple platform

Text Based .dylib stubs — .tbd

Framework

Framework is a package that can contain resources such as dynamic libraries, strings, headers, images, storyboards etc.
vs Libraries, Framework has more features

Framework also has static and dynamic

iOS 8 later, we can use a dynamic framework, why Apple releases this. maybe Extension and App share code
this Dynamic Framework for iOS is named embedded frameworks, because when we build the app copy the framework in app bundle.
so the embedded framework is different from system dynamic Frameworks like UIKit.Framework

Why there's no "Dynamic Library" option?

the embedded library is allowed with the Framework option, but dynamic framework shared in muti app is also not allowed

Given that we can already link framework statically, why do we still need a "Static Library"? (isn't StaticFramework = StaticLibrary + Bundle? )

well, Xcode not only support Objective-c and Swift, but also support C, C++ which may use the static library

Linking the correct variant of an iOS static library using Xcode

Ok, so when linking against a static iOS library, you need to know that:

1. It does not matter which .a file you add in the Build Phases - Link Binary With Libraries panel. Any of the four .a files will do, it only takes the file name, not its path.

2. To actually differentiate between library variants for Debug/Release Device/Simulator, you need to specify the correct library paths in the Build Settings - Library Search Paths.

Finding the right way to include static libraries in Xcode

I solved my problem by including sqlite3.c and sqlite3.h from sqlite.org so every wrapper works fine.

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