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It is possible to build an iPhone application manually, without using xcodebuild nor an Xcode project?

The idea is to build the application using SCons without creating an Xcode project. I know there is the codesign command line tool, that I could use, but before I start reverse engineering the Xcode build process, I was wondering if anybody has experience with this or has done it before.

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Yes, It's possible to write a makefile using gcc. You're going to want to set your GCC to use frameworks from /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS3.1.2.sdk/ (frameworks being in system/library/frameworks, and usr/lib).

As far as specifics, I think you're going to have to work that out yourself - but pay careful consideration to the architecture options in GCC and you should have something working quickly.

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I have something working so far, I will polish it and post it here when finished.
Hi Nicolas. I was wondering if you got something working yet?
making binary objects and linking them is easy, but how do you package all the resources together into a bundle, and how do you sign the resulting app?
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Xcode just wraps gcc/g++ and ld (and yes, codesign). Take a look at any Xcode project build output and you'll see what commands it uses. I believe the key to building an iphone app is the -arch parameter.

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I did that, but there are some command that are "internal" to Xcode, like <com.apple.tools.product-pkg-utility> .

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