UPDATE: 9/27/19 – Apple Just released Xcode 11.1 GM Seed (11A1027) to developers. – mrmacintosh.com/whats-new-in-xcode-11-1-gm-seed-11a1027/
UPDATE: 9/20/19 – Xcode 11 is now available in the Mac App Store. What’s new ? Updated article here > mrmacintosh.com/xcode-11-11a420a-is-now-available-in-the-mac-app-store-whats-new/
UPDATE: 9/17/19 –Apple has released the 2nd seed of Xcode 11. You can find the change notes here > mrmacintosh.com/whats-new-in-xcode-11-gm-seed-2-11a420a/
Today Apple released Xcode 11 GM to Developers.
The Xcode 11 Gold Master version of Xcode is ready! Usually GM or Gold Master means that this Build Version is the final shipping version. Apple still may release another update so don’t bank on this being the final version.
This article is meant to save you time going through the notes to find what is new and what is still leftover from the last beta. I went through both Beta 7 and the new New Xcode 11 GM (11A419c) release notes to find all the changes. I also included the entire patch notes list as an archive. When Apple releases new patch notes the previous patch notes are overwritten and taken down.
Summary of New Xcode 11 GM Seed 1 Patch Notes
- 26 New Features
- 25 New Resolved issues
- 15 New Known Issues
- 2 New Deprecations
A Full List of changes is listed below, along with the full patch notes list.
Link to Apple’s Xcode 11 Developer Documentation
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode_release_notes
Xcode 11 Beta 7 Patch Notes Changes – mrmacintosh.com/whats-new-in-xcode-11-beta-7-11m392r/
How to Download Xcode 11 Beta
- Sign up as an Apple Developer (Yearly $100)
- Contact your Apple SE to join AppleSeed for IT
Xcode 11 GM Seed 2 Patch Notes Changes
The new Xcode 11 is available in the Mac App Store and includes SDKs for iOS 13, macOS Catalina 10.15, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13. Xcode 11 supports development for devices running iOS 13.1. Xcode 11 supports on-device debugging for iOS 8 and later, tvOS 9 and later, and watchOS 2 and later. Note that Xcode 11 requires a Mac running macOS Mojave 10.14.4 or later.
1. New Features in Xcode 11 GM
Asset Catalog – Xcode can find assets in your workspace/project using the Find navigator. The Asset Catalog Editor also supports Find and Replace, and you can rename assets using Replace. (14279237)
Build System – Xcode uses response files by default to pass input files to the Swift compiler. To turn this behavior off, set USE_SWIFT_RESPONSE_FILE to NO. (50852028)
Build System – Projects may now use custom build rules by setting the ‘Process Header Files’ (APPLY_RULES_IN_COPY_HEADERS) build setting to YES. (48185100)
Build System – An XCFramework makes it possible to bundle a binary framework or library for multiple platforms —including iOS devices, iOS simulators, and Mac Catalyst — into a single distributable .xcframework bundle that your developers can use within their own applications. An .xcframework bundle can be added to an Xcode target’s Link Libraries phase and Xcode uses the right platform’s version of the included framework or library at build time. Creation of frameworks is supported from the command line using xcodebuild -create-xcframework. Frameworks or libraries bundled in an XCFramework should be built with the Build Libraries for Distribution build setting set to YES. (49948269)
Create ML – A Tabular Regressor template is now available, joining Image Classification, Sound Classification, Activity Classification, Tabular Classification, Word Tagger and Text Classification. (54005628)
Debugging – Override system settings like appearance, dynamic type, and accessibility options for the debugged process using Environment Overrides, accessible from the debug bar. (45848655)
Debugging – Xcode can prefer using Wi-Fi to connect to a Watch when installing or debugging an app. (50313856)NoteThe iPhone-Watch pair must be on the same 2.4 GHz network. Networks that block peer-to-peer connections cannot be used.
Debugging – LLDB’s Python scripting is now based on Python 3. If you are using Python extensions that aren’t compatible with Python 3, they will break. To help with the transition, you can run in Python 2 mode by setting a default:defaults write com.apple.dt.lldb DefaultPythonVersion 2 Python 2 support will be removed in the future. (47806994)
Debugging – Swift Decimal values have a data formatter in LLDB, making them display in a readable way. (38983073)
Localization – The manual page for genstrings documents its behavior in more detail. (19709369)
Organizer – The new Metrics organizer shows battery life and performance analytics for your app to help you drive optimizations. Metrics are reported for your app when distributed on the App Store and after sufficient field use. The available metrics are battery drain, launch time, hang rate, memory, and disk writes. You can filter data by device and usage characteristics. (43028903)
Playgrounds – SwiftUI live views and inline results in playgrounds are supported. (42226387)
Server – Xcode Server now supports Mac Catalyst apps. (50602873)
Simulator – Metal is available in iOS 13 and tvOS 13 simulators when running on macOS 10.15. Metal code is executed on the host Mac GPU, and is significantly faster than simulated OpenGL code. (System APIs in watchOS 6.0 simulators are also GPU accelerated.)The APIs in SceneKit, CoreAnimation, and other system frameworks abstract many differences between GPUs, reducing the need for device-specific code. When running on earlier versions of macOS or in an environment where Metal is not available, simulators continue to use software rendered OpenGL. If your Mac has multiple GPUs, use the File menu in Simulator to select which GPU to use. If the GPU in use becomes unavailable, any simulators using it automatically shut down. (18430676)
Simulator – Xcode no longer creates every available iOS simulator device by default. Instead a set of the most commonly used devices are created. To create other devices — or multiple instances of a device — open the Devices window, select Simulators, click the + button, enter a name, and select the relevant device type and OS version. In Terminal, execute the xcrun simctl create command, for example xcrun simctl create “My iPhone 7” “iPhone 7” iOS13.0. (49428617)
Simulator – iOS 13, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 simulators now have a dyld shared cache. This improves simulator launch times and reduces the number of open file handles used by simulator processes. If you report an issue you believe is related to the shared cache, include a simctl diagnose and the output of launching your program with DYLD_PRINT_LIBRARIES=1. (13632739)NoteA missing symbol crash may now mention the shared cache but this is not a shared cache bug. The message is merely informing you that the shared cache was consulted when searching for the symbol.
Source Editor – Xcode 11’s source editor introduces a mini-map of the file. The mini-map includes legible text for Mark:, highlighted lines with errors and warnings, source control changes, breakpoints, and highlighted Find results. The mini-map is enabled by default and can be turned off per editor. (35939517, 46064742, 46064809, 46064921, 46064981, 47127500, 47208960, 47516881)
Source Editor – Added options to control the indentation of case labels inside switch statements. This can be controlled separately for Swift and C-family languages under Preferences -> Text Editing -> Indentation. (9441571)
Source Editor – Added an option for controlling indentation inside the C++ namespace and external C blocks in Preferences > Text Editing > Indentation. (20700010)
Source Editor – Pasted text is no longer re-indented by default, though the initial whitespace is adjusted to match the surrounding text. This can be controlled with Preferences > Text Editing > Indentation. (16047992)
Source Editor – Added support for syntax coloring YAML files. (19942196)
Swift – The @frozen attribute for structures and enumerations is now available. (SE-0260, 36597490)
Swift – More thorough checking has been implemented for restrictions around escaping closures capturing in-out parameters or values of noescape type. While most code isn’t affected, there are edge cases where the Swift 5.0 compiler accepted code that violated these restrictions. (SR-8546, SR-9043, 43355341)An example of invalid code which was incorrectly accepted by the Swift 5.0 compiler is an @escaping closure that calls a local function that references an in-out parameter from an outer scope:struct BadCaptureExample { var escapingClosure: () -> () mutating func takesInOut(_ x: inout Int) { func localFunction() { x += 1 } escapingClosure = { localFunction() } } } The compiler now correctly diagnoses the above code by pointing out that the capture of x by localFunction() is invalid, since localFunction() is referenced from an @escaping closure.This also addresses certain cases where the compiler incorrectly diagnosed certain code as invalid, when in fact no violation of restrictions had taken place. For example:func takesNoEscape(_ fn: () -> ()) { func localFunction() { fn() } { localFunction() }() }
Swift Packages – Xcode now supports creating and working with Swift packages, as well as adding, removing, and managing package dependencies. The package management support in Xcode is built on top of the open source Swift Package Manager project. (22427200)
Testing – XCTest includes augmented performance testing capabilities with the new measure(metrics:options:block:) method and related methods. The metrics argument requires a list of objects conforming to the XCTMetric protocol. You can either implement your own custom metrics or use XCTClockMetric, XCTOSSignpostMetric, XCTCPUMetric, XCTMemoryMetric, or XCTStorageMetric. (49430032)The following shows an example performance test that measures the CPU and Memory impact of sorting a list:func testExample() { // Measures the CPU and memory impact of sorting the input list. measure(metrics: [XCTCPUMetric(), XCTMemoryMetric()]) { sortedList = qsort(list: self.fiftyNumbersFrom0to100) } }
Testing – When running tests using a test plan, it is now possible to configure which targets to include in code coverage results via the test plan’s code coverage setting. (53504451)
2. New Resolved Issues in Xcode 11 GM
General – Fixed an issue where issue text may appear light when using a light theme with a dark system appearance. (48230278)
Create ML – Non-ASCII characters can be used as training labels for Image Classification and Sound Classification. (53594243)
Debugging– Breakpoints support the VoiceOver command to open the shortcut menu. (44940944)
Debugging – Redeclaring self in Swift code works properly with LLDB. (39611934)
Debugging – The Swift REPL and LLDB’s python scripting work properly when the python binary in PATHisn’t the system one. (40961425)
Interface Builder – Fixed an issue where system colors in XIB files set to deploy before iOS 13.0 wouldn’t adapt to the system appearance at runtime. (54362252)
Debugging – Resolved an issue that prevented running a Watch App that has the ‘Supports Running Without iOS App Installation’ setting on a pre-watchOS 6.0 device or simulator. (54104164)
Simulator – Fixed an issue that could cause Simulator to crash or become unresponsive following clipboard-related actions in other applications if automatic pasteboard synchronization is enabled. (54011137)
Simulator – Changing the audio in a simulated device while a video is playing in Safari won’t mute the audio of the video. (51207286)
Source Editor – Fixed an issue where double clicking on a C++ destructor name would also select the tilde (~). (6368356)
Source Editor – Makefiles are now correctly recognized, and are always indented using tab characters. (16975247)
Source Editor – Fixed an issue where changing a file’s tab width would not update the display. (52026893)
Source Editor – When full lines are selected, typing a delimiter now places the delimiters on separate lines, shifting the selection to the right. (52077437)
Source Editor – Fixed a problem where double-clicking text containing words separated by periods in comments would select too much. (11541526)
Source Editor – Double-clicking the quotes of a Swift string containing interpolations now selects the whole string. (24470374)
Source Editor – Improved the recognition of functions in shell script files. (52478049)
Source Editor – Improved performance and correctness when parsing XML and HTML files. (50672550)
Source Editor – Improved the syntax coloring for man page files. (52035097)
Swift – Static libraries are now always force-loaded in their entirety during linking, fixing most “unable to demangle” runtime errors. (47598583)
Swift – If a type has the same name as its containing module, importing that module from a module interface works properly. (19481048, 48445154)
SwiftUI – The #if/#endif compiler conditionals surrounding PreviewProvider types have been removed from SwiftUI templates. PreviewProviders aren’t properly removed from built products when archived. (51539802)
SwiftUI – Xcode Previews work when your built products (derived data) are on a separate volume from your home directory. (54327360)
SwiftUI – Switching run destinations will show the correct device in Xcode Previews. (54006837)
SwiftUI – Fixed an issue preventing Xcode Previews from working for macOS apps with App Sandbox enabled. (51088926)
Testing – The unit test discovery mechanism is more efficient for large projects. The test navigator gets populated faster after reopening a project. (32567980)
3. New Known Issues in Xcode 11 GM
General – When building an Objective-C iOS File Provider application extension that implements the URLForItemWithPersistentIdentifier method, Xcode emits a warning saying that this callback method is deprecated and won’t be called. This warning is incorrect; the method isn’t deprecated, and is called at the appropriate times. (54487300)
Asset Catalog – Named colors in the asset catalog won’t be found at runtime when running on iOS 11. (54325712)
Command Line Tools – When using the Command Line Tools as the active Developer directory, some users may experience random crashes in the Swift compiler. (53582696)Workaround: Execute the command sudo rm -f /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/lib/swift/macosx/libswift*.dylib in Terminal.
Create ML – Apps importing the Create ML framework may not launch if they are compiled by Xcode 11. This doesn’t impact existing apps. (53795065) Workaround: Add the file libswiftCreateML.tbd in the ‘Link Library with Libraries’ section.
Reality Composer – The Rename menu item isn’t enabled when scene, object, or behavior is selected. (54274819)Workaround: You can rename scenes and objects using the Name field in the Properties inspector. You can rename behaviors by right-clicking the behavior and selecting Rename from the contextual menu.
Simulator – iCould Drive isn’t supported in iOS 13.0 and earlier simulator runtimes when running on macOS Catalina 10.15. Logging into iCloud on impacted simulators will result in birdterminating and relaunching in a cycle. (51392951)Workaround: Log out of iCloud in impacted simulators to halt the crash cycle.
Simulator – Simulated devices running iOS 13 may fail to enable an external display or CarPlay display, instead displaying a black window. (53966664)Workaround: Close the window and try again. If that fails restart the affected simulator.
Simulator – When running UI tests in a simulated device on a macOS host with slow hardware the test runner process may get killed by the CPU watchdog. (54136015)Workaround: Free up resources so the simulated device has faster I/O. You can also extend the watchdog timeouts by setting a user default in the relevant simulator. Boot the simulator, then run:xcrun simctl spawn defaults write com.apple.springboard FBLaunchWatchdogScale 2 This must be set on each simulator. Erasing a simulator will reset this setting.
Simulator – Attempting to create an MIDINetworkSession in a simulated device running iOS 13 won’t succeed. (54484923)
SwiftUI – The attribute inspector doesn’t allow specifying flexible frames. (51310989)Workaround: Use the source editor to work with the frame inspector when specifying flexible size information.
SwiftUI – Text view doesn’t display properly in tvOS playgrounds. (54148259)
SwiftUI – SwiftUI has an API that lets you change the value type of Binding to AnyHashable:let someBinding: Binding = … let typeErasedBinding = Binding(someBinding) Attempting to use this API fails at compile time with a linker error on watchOS 6. (53769896)
SwiftUI – Apps containing SwiftUI inside a Swift package crash on launch on devices running iOS versions earlier than iOS 13. (53706729)Workaround: When back-deploying to an OS that doesn’t contain the SwiftUI framework, add -weak_framework SwiftUI to the Other Linker Flags setting in the Build Settings tab. See Frameworks and Weak Linking for more information on weak linking a framework. Note that this workaround doesn’t apply when using dynamically-linked Swift packages which import SwiftUI.
SwiftUI – Xcode Previews fast turnaround may not work in some files. (48091832)Workaround: If you encounter issues using Xcode Previews, you can try disabling hot-swapping per file using the Editor > Previews menu. You will still be able to use previews, but without the faster turnaround that hot-swapping provides.
Swift Compiler – Applying multiple property wrappers to a property could cause the compiler to synthesize accessors with the wrong ABI. This feature has been disabled to prevent incompatible ABI changes from occurring in the future. (53428736)
4. New Deprecations in Xcode 11 GM
Command Line Tools – Command line support for Subversion will be removed in a future release. (50195246, 50231958, 50266910, 51740851, 52528748)
Debugging – Starting in macOS 10.15, the Quartz Composer framework is marked as deprecated, but remains present for compatibility purposes. Transition to frameworks such as Core Image, SceneKit, or Metal if your app is using Quartz Composer. (50911608)
