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Overview of the Build Process

You start the build process by clicking the Build toolbar item in the Xcode project window. During this process, Xcode coordinates the compilation and linking tasks that result in an executable file. It also performs other tasks needed to build an application.

While building a project, Xcode invokes the compiler, passing it the source code files of the project. The compilation of these files produces object files for the architectures specified for the build.

In the linking phase of the build, Xcode executes the static linker, passing it the libraries and frameworks to link against the object files. Frameworks and libraries contain precompiled code that can be used by any application. Linking integrates the code in libraries, frameworks, and object files to produce the application executable file.

Xcode also copies nib files, sound files, image files, and other resources from the project directory to the appropriate locations in the application bundle. An application bundle is a directory that contains the application executable and the resources needed by that executable. This directory appears as a single file in the Finder; it can be double-clicked to launch the application.

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