How to Manually Symbolicate a .crash or .ips File in Xcode
When your app crashes, it generates a crash report. These reports are invaluable for diagnosing and fixing bugs, but they are often difficult to interpret in their raw form. To make sense of them, you need to symbolicate them, translating memory addresses and binary data into human-readable method and function names. This guide will walk you through the steps to manually symbolicate a crash report using Xcode tools.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure you have the following:
- Crash report file: The
.crash
or.ips
file — This is typically retrieved from the device or crash reporting service. - dSYM file(.dSYM): The debug symbols file for the specific build that crashed.
- App Binary(.app): The executable file of the app for the build that crashed.
- The
symbolicatecrash
tool, provided by Xcode, is used for symbolication. You can find it within the Xcode app bundle.
Finding dSYM File:
- Open Xcode.
- Go to
Window
>Organizer
. - Select your app under the
Archives
tab. - Choose the specific archive corresponding to the build that crashed.
- Right-click and select
Show in Finder
. - In the Finder window, right-click the
.xcarchive
file and selectShow Package Contents
. - The dSYM file is located in the
dSYMs
folder.
Finding the App Binary:
- In the same
Show Package Contents
window from the.xcarchive
file. - The app binary is located under
Products
>Applications
.
Locate symbolicatecrash
Tool:
The symbolicatecrash
tool, provided by Xcode, is used for symbolication. You can find it within the Xcode app bundle:
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/SharedFrameworks/DVTFoundation.framework/Versions/A/Resources/symbolicatecrash
Step 1: Obtain the Required Files
First, ensure you have all the necessary files and move the .app
, .dSYM
, .crash
, or .ips
files into a folder. Then, copy the symbolicatecrash
file from its location and paste it into the same folder.
Step 2: Open Terminal and Navigate to the Folder
Open Terminal and change directory (cd
) to the folder where you moved your files:
cd /path/to/SymbolicateFolder/
Replace /path/to/SymbolicateFolder/
with the actual path to your folder containing .app
, .dSYM
, .crash
, and symbolicatecrash
files.
Step 3: Set Up Your Environment
Ensure your Xcode environment is properly set up by exporting the DEVELOPER_DIR
environment variable. Next, run the following command in the terminal:
export DEVELOPER_DIR="/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer"
Step 4: Run symbolicatecrash
Now, you can use the symbolicatecrash
tool to symbolicate your crash report. Use the following command syntax:
./symbolicatecrash /path/to/crash_report.crash /path/to/dSYM > symbolicated_report.crash
Ex Command:
./symbolicatecrash ios_crash_report.crash ios_app.dSYM > symbolicated_report.crash
To show Symbolicated logs on terminal screen:
./symbolicatecrash -v /path/to/crash_report.crash /path/to/dSYM
Ex Command:
./symbolicatecrash -v ios_crash_report.crash ios_app.dSYM
Step 5: Verify Symbolication
Check the symbolicated_report.crash
file to ensure that the crash report has been successfully symbolicated. It should now contain human-readable method and function names instead of memory addresses.
Troubleshooting Tips
Ensure Matching Build: Make sure the dSYM file and the app binary match the exact build that generated the crash. Different builds, even minor changes, will result in different dSYM files.
UUID Verification: Verify that the UUIDs in the crash report match those in the dSYM file. You can check the UUIDs using the dwarfdump
tool:
dwarfdump --uuid /path/to/myapp.app.dSYM
Compare this output to the Binary Images
section of the crash report to ensure they match.
Check Paths: Ensure that the paths to the dSYM file and crash report are correct. Relative paths can sometimes cause issues, so use absolute paths where possible.
Manually symbolicate your crash reports to make debugging easier and faster. By following these steps, you can translate cryptic crash logs into readable and actionable information, helping you to quickly identify and fix issues in your app. Happy debugging!
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