xcpretty is a fast and flexible formatter for xcodebuild, which is the command-line tool used to build and test your Xcode projects. When working with Xcode, the default build logs can be quite verbose and difficult to read. xcpretty helps by transforming these logs into a more readable and structured format, making it easier to identify issues and understand the build process. This is particularly useful for continuous integration (CI) environments where clear and concise logs are crucial for debugging and monitoring builds.

Examples:

1. Installing xcpretty

To get started with xcpretty, you need to install it via RubyGems. Open your Terminal and run the following command:

   gem install xcpretty

2. Using xcpretty with xcodebuild

Once installed, you can use xcpretty to format the output of xcodebuild. Here’s a basic example of how to build an Xcode project and format the output using xcpretty:

   xcodebuild -project YourProject.xcodeproj -scheme YourScheme | xcpretty

This command will build the specified project and scheme, then pipe the output to xcpretty for formatting.

3. Generating a JUnit Report

xcpretty can also generate a JUnit XML report, which is useful for integrating with CI tools like Jenkins. To generate a JUnit report, use the following command:

   xcodebuild -project YourProject.xcodeproj -scheme YourScheme | xcpretty -r junit -o build/reports/junit.xml

This will create a JUnit XML report in the specified output directory.

4. Customizing xcpretty Output

xcpretty offers several options to customize its output. For example, you can use the --no-utf option to disable UTF-8 characters in the output, or the --tap option to format the output as TAP (Test Anything Protocol). Here’s how you can use these options:

   xcodebuild -project YourProject.xcodeproj -scheme YourScheme | xcpretty --no-utf

   xcodebuild -project YourProject.xcodeproj -scheme YourScheme | xcpretty --tap

5. Integrating xcpretty with CI Tools

Integrating xcpretty with CI tools like Jenkins or Travis CI can significantly improve the readability of your build logs. Here’s an example of a Travis CI configuration file (.travis.yml) that uses xcpretty:

   language: swift

   os: osx

   osx_image: xcode12.5

   script:

     - xcodebuild -project YourProject.xcodeproj -scheme YourScheme | xcpretty

This configuration will ensure that the build logs in Travis CI are formatted by xcpretty, making them easier to read and debug.