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We need mono builds for iOS in debug mode, speed + line numbers for internal testing.

Discussion in 'iOS and tvOS' started by trooper, Dec 29, 2019.

  1. trooper

    trooper

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Posts:
    748
    Dear Unity,

    Please restore the mono build feature for debug only builds. The amount of time saved not having to compile IL2CPP and the ability to report line numbers is absolutely invaluable on Android.

    I know mono+unity is basically dead for all platforms but having to wait 40+ minutes for our IL2CPP iOS builds to complete is seriously impacting our bottom line and it's now a rule that we always build Android/Mono first and just pray there are no platform specific iOS bugs we have to deal with (the praying never works...)

    Is mono completely disconnected now that it can't be brought back? Is there a way it can be hacked in?
     
  2. Neonlyte

    Neonlyte

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2013
    Posts:
    513
    In my experience it does not take that long to build IL2CPP for iOS if you enable script-only development build and "Append" to the Xcode project, but your project may be bigger than what I have.

    The problem is that the old mono does not have 64-bit support which is why they favored IL2CPP in the first place. If you build any old mono-backed Unity project for any devices iOS 11 or newer (which apple removed all 32-bit support), your app will not build in Xcode, or run on the device.

    Depending on the Unity version, they also have to add .NET 4.X support for mono.

    Given that they have removed Mono for quite a long time, it not going to be easy to add it back in, not to mention that new runtimes are also needed.

    What kind of issues have been requiring you to frequently iterate builds on-device?
     
  3. trooper

    trooper

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Posts:
    748
    @Neonlyte I assumed that it wasn't Xcode complaining but just Apple's policies not allowing Mono to run on iOS. Fully aware that the 64bit issue is what stops it from actually being used as a release build.

    Most problems we deal with on device are with plugins, fb, game center, notifications, firebase, analytics etc and smaller libraries. But there are often times input issues, dealing with specific notched screens, optimizing per device (can get a bit further with that using remote variables but still good to build quickly).

    The unity export portion of the build is around 10 minutes, similar to android but the xcode build can take 25+ minutes so we end up with 40-50 minutes depending on whether someone added a bunch of textures. We are using SSD and admittedly our workstations are old 2012 2.7GHZ iMac, but I didn't really see a big change in compilation speed when we upgraded our windows workstations (NVMe did make a huge difference though).

    I'd like to see line numbers come back and a faster way to iterate on device.