Tag builds fail Library Tests against the released iOS-only XCFramework

Every release tag build fails :swift: Library Tests. Releases publish correctly — this is a false failure on a build that runs after the release is done — but it leaves every tag build red.

Latest: build 2574 (v0.20.0-alpha.0), 134 instances of:

ios/Sources/GutenbergKit/Sources/EditorViewController.swift:4:8: error: no such module 'GutenbergKitResources'

Cause

A release spans two builds:

1. Trunk build (NEW_VERSION set) runs against resourcesMode = .local, so swift test compiles local sources and passes. It then publishes the XCFramework, rewrites Package.swift to .release(version:checksum:), and pushes the tag.
2. Tag build, triggered by that push, now resolves GutenbergKitResources to the published XCFramework.

make test-swift-library is plain swift test, which builds for the host platform — arm64 macOS, since Package.swift declares platforms: [.iOS(.v17), .macOS(.v14)]. But build_xcframework.sh builds only iphoneos and iphonesimulator. Unpacking the published v0.20.0-alpha.0 artifact confirms it: ios-arm64 and ios-arm64_x86_64-simulator, both SupportedPlatform: ios. No macOS slice, so SwiftPM finds no match and the module doesn't exist. The zip and checksum are otherwise valid.

:swift: iOS Simulator Tests passes on the same build — it targets a simulator destination that does have a slice.

History

Introduced by #502, which made the release lane rewrite Package.swift to .release. Tag commits previously kept .local and passed. First affected release is v0.17.1; v0.16.0 (build 2312) is the last passing tag build.

Why the job matters

test-swift-library isn't redundant with iOS Simulator Tests. It was added in #476 specifically to build where canImport(UIKit) is false:

The existing swift test job runs xcodebuild -sdk iphonesimulator, where canImport(UIKit) is always true — so iOS-only conditional code is never exercised against macOS, and it's possible to break the host-platform build […] without CI noticing.

24+ files under ios/Sources/ sit behind #if canImport(UIKit) gates, and the macOS build is the only thing validating them. Any fix that stops building for the host gives up that coverage.

Suggested fix

Keep resourcesMode = .local for CI validation and flip to .release only in the published manifest.

The mismatch is that a manifest rewritten for consumers is handed to a test job that needs sources. Splitting the two resolves it directly: the tag build keeps compiling real source on macOS (preserving #476's coverage), while consumers still resolve the prebuilt binary from CDN. This would move the rewrite in update_swift_package / publish_release_to_github (fastlane/Fastfile) so the .release manifest lands only on the tagged commit, not on the tree CI tests.

Tradeoff: CI then never exercises the exact manifest consumers resolve, so this wants a separate lightweight resolve-check against the published tag.

Alternatives considered:

• Add a macOS slice to build_xcframework.sh. Correct if macOS is genuinely supported, but the script is iOS-shaped throughout — resolve_slice_dir globs ios-*, link_dylib hardcodes -apple-ios targets, and verify_framework_plist asserts MinimumOSVersion, which isn't the right key for macOS. Adds build time and artifact size on every release for a slice nothing currently consumes.
• Drop .macOS(.v14). Cheapest, and makes the manifest honest, but it removes the host-platform build entirely and so discards the #if canImport(UIKit) coverage #476 added. Not recommended.

Related

build-xcframework has depends_on: swift-test-library — the job that builds the XCFramework waits on one that, on tag builds, can only pass if a valid XCFramework already exists. Never exercised (trunk's .local makes the test pass, and tag builds don't publish), but worth untangling alongside this.

Start with make test-swift-library and the release-manifest flow in fastlane/Fastfile, then inspect Package.swift and build_xcframework.sh to understand the host-platform test and published slices. Verify the behavior on a tag build and ensure CI retains macOS source coverage while the published manifest still resolves the release artifact; review the build-xcframework dependency while testing.