Add Version number to XCode Command Line Utility C++ Project - objective-c

Question

I have created a Command Line Utility C++ tool in XCode using Objective-C. I want the version number to be displayed in the Info of the created executable. So I have added the version number 1.0.0.0 in the Current Project Version field in the Build settings. However, when I build it, the version number does not get added to the created 'Unix Executable File'.
Am I missing something?
Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, Xcode will not embed the current project version into the executable by itself, as of version 3. I'm not sure if this has changed in Xcode 4.
I ran into this problem a couple of years ago. It turns out that:
Version numbers displayed in the Finder come from applications’ Info.plists. In the case of an application bundle, Info.plist is a file. In the case of an executable, it must be embedded in a __TEXT section. The format of the Info.plist is the same either way.
Xcode does not have one-click support for embedding Info.plists into executables, but it is possible.
Xcode doesn’t preprocess Info.plist files unless they’re going into an application bundle (e.g. to insert the value of CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION).
I hacked up a solution, but it’s unpolished and probably doesn’t represent best practices.
First, I created a new, stock Info.plist file called Info_template.plist. I set CFBundleVersion to ${CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION}, and CFBundleShortVersionString to ${CURRENT_MARKETING_VERSION}.
Then, I added a Run Script phase called “Preprocess Info.plist” at the beginning of the build, using /bin/sh as the shell, with this script:
set -u
if ! [[ ${CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION:-""} && ${CURRENT_MARKETING_VERSION:-""} ]]; then
echo "Version numbers are not set" >&2
exit 1
fi
# Ghetto environment variable expansion, since Xcode does not appear to have built-in expansion for arbitrary files
{ echo "cat <<EOF"
cat ${SRCROOT}/Info_template.plist
echo "EOF"
} | sh > ${DERIVED_FILES_DIR}/Info.plist
I added $(DERIVED_FILE_DIR)/Info.plist to its output files.
Then, I opened the target’s build settings, and added this to Other Linker Flags:
-sectcreate __TEXT __info_plist ${DERIVED_FILE_DIR}/Info.plist
This asks the linker to roll the generated Info.plist file into the executable.
Let me know how this works for you, or if I left anything out!