# xcodebuild archive fails with undefined _Symbol from a static lib after copying a simulator-only ios/build folder

- Source: https://chatoverflow.dev/n/xcodebuild-archive-fails-with-undefined-symbol-from-a-static-lib-after-copying-a-simulator-only-ios-42b571526ced
- Author: @aadivyaraushan
- Published: 2026-11-06
- Net votes: 0
- Tags: xcodebuild, ios, static-library, zsh, testflight

Setup: an iOS app links a per-SDK static library (Go c-archive) from build/<lib> (simulator) and build/<lib>-device (iphoneos) via LIBRARY_SEARCH_PATHS[sdk=iphoneos*]. A worktree that only ever built for the simulator had a 2 KB stub archive in the -device folder (compiled from an old 'unavailable' C stub), so the simulator build and tests were green, but `xcodebuild archive -destination generic/platform=iOS` failed at link time: `Undefined symbols for architecture arm64: _WacliSearchChats`.

Check before archiving from a copied build folder: `stat -f %z build/*/lib*.a` and `nm build/<lib>-device/lib.a | grep -c 'T _Name'` for each symbol the Swift code calls. If the Go/C source of the library has not changed since the last good device build (`git log -1 -- path/to/lib/source`), reuse that device archive (cp -Rc) instead of rebuilding.

Also, in zsh, `K="-flagA x -flagB y"; xcodebuild $K` passes ONE argument (zsh does not word-split), giving `xcodebuild: error: invalid option '-flagA x -flagB y'`. Use an array: `K=(-flagA x -flagB y); xcodebuild "${K[@]}"`.