245 lines
9.7 KiB
Markdown
245 lines
9.7 KiB
Markdown
[](https://cocoapods.org/pods/gRPC)
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# gRPC for Objective-C
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gRPC Objective C library provides Objective C API for users to make gRPC calls on iOS or OS X
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platforms. Currently, the minimum supported iOS version is 7.0 and OS X version is 10.9 (Mavericks).
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While gRPC doesn't require the use of an IDL to describe the API of services, using one simplifies
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usage and adds some interoperability guarantees. Here we use [Protocol Buffers][], and provide a
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plugin for the Protobuf Compiler (_protoc_) to generate client libraries to communicate with gRPC
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services.
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- [Write your API declaration in proto format](#write-protos)
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- [Integrate a proto library in your project](#cocoapods)
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- [Use the generated library in your code](#use)
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- [Use gRPC without Protobuf](#no-proto)
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- [Alternatives to the steps above](#alternatives)
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- [Install protoc with the gRPC plugin](#install)
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- [Install protoc and the gRPC plugin without using Homebrew](#no-homebrew)
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- [Integrate the generated gRPC library without using Cocoapods](#no-cocoapods)
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<a name="write-protos"></a>
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## Write your API declaration in proto format
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For this you can consult the [Protocol Buffers][]' official documentation, or learn from a quick
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example [here](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/tree/master/examples#defining-a-service).
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<a name="cocoapods"></a>
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## Integrate a proto library in your project
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Install [Cocoapods](https://cocoapods.org/#install).
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You need to create a Podspec file for your proto library. You may simply copy the following example
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to the directory where your `.proto` files are located, updating the name, version and license as
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necessary. You also need to set the `pods_root` variable to the correct value, depending on where
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you place this podspec relative to your Podfile.
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```ruby
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Pod::Spec.new do |s|
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s.name = '<Podspec file name>'
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s.version = '0.0.1'
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s.license = '...'
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s.authors = { '<your name>' => '<your email>' }
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s.homepage = '...'
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s.summary = '...'
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s.source = { :git => 'https://github.com/...' }
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s.ios.deployment_target = '7.1'
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s.osx.deployment_target = '10.9'
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# Base directory where the .proto files are.
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src = '.'
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# We'll use protoc with the gRPC plugin.
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s.dependency '!ProtoCompiler-gRPCPlugin', '~> 1.0'
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# Pods directory corresponding to this app's Podfile, relative to the location of this podspec.
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pods_root = '<path to your Podfile>/Pods'
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# Path where Cocoapods downloads protoc and the gRPC plugin.
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protoc_dir = "#{pods_root}/!ProtoCompiler"
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protoc = "#{protoc_dir}/protoc"
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plugin = "#{pods_root}/!ProtoCompiler-gRPCPlugin/grpc_objective_c_plugin"
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# Directory where you want the generated files to be placed. This is an example.
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dir = "#{pods_root}/#{s.name}"
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# Run protoc with the Objective-C and gRPC plugins to generate protocol messages and gRPC clients.
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# You can run this command manually if you later change your protos and need to regenerate.
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# Alternatively, you can advance the version of this podspec and run `pod update`.
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s.prepare_command = <<-CMD
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mkdir -p #{dir}
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#{protoc} \
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--plugin=protoc-gen-grpc=#{plugin} \
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--objc_out=#{dir} \
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--grpc_out=#{dir} \
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-I #{src} \
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-I #{protoc_dir} \
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#{src}/*.proto
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CMD
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# The --objc_out plugin generates a pair of .pbobjc.h/.pbobjc.m files for each .proto file.
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s.subspec 'Messages' do |ms|
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ms.source_files = "#{dir}/*.pbobjc.{h,m}"
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ms.header_mappings_dir = dir
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ms.requires_arc = false
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# The generated files depend on the protobuf runtime.
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ms.dependency 'Protobuf'
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end
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# The --objcgrpc_out plugin generates a pair of .pbrpc.h/.pbrpc.m files for each .proto file with
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# a service defined.
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s.subspec 'Services' do |ss|
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ss.source_files = "#{dir}/*.pbrpc.{h,m}"
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ss.header_mappings_dir = dir
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ss.requires_arc = true
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# The generated files depend on the gRPC runtime, and on the files generated by `--objc_out`.
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ss.dependency 'gRPC-ProtoRPC'
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ss.dependency "#{s.name}/Messages"
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end
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s.pod_target_xcconfig = {
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# This is needed by all pods that depend on Protobuf:
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'GCC_PREPROCESSOR_DEFINITIONS' => '$(inherited) GPB_USE_PROTOBUF_FRAMEWORK_IMPORTS=1',
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# This is needed by all pods that depend on gRPC-RxLibrary:
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'CLANG_ALLOW_NON_MODULAR_INCLUDES_IN_FRAMEWORK_MODULES' => 'YES',
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}
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end
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```
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The file should be named `<Podspec file name>.podspec`.
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Note: If your proto files are in a directory hierarchy, you might want to adjust the _globs_ used in
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the sample Podspec above. For example, you could use:
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```ruby
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s.prepare_command = <<-CMD
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...
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`find . -name *.proto -print | xargs`
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CMD
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...
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ms.source_files = "#{dir}/*.pbobjc.{h,m}", "#{dir}/**/*.pbobjc.{h,m}"
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...
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ss.source_files = "#{dir}/*.pbrpc.{h,m}", "#{dir}/**/*.pbrpc.{h,m}"
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```
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Once your library has a Podspec, Cocoapods can install it into any XCode project. For that, go into
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your project's directory and create a Podfile by running:
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```sh
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pod init
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```
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Next add a line to your Podfile to refer to your library's Podspec. Use `:path` as described
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[here](https://guides.cocoapods.org/using/the-podfile.html#using-the-files-from-a-folder-local-to-the-machine):
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```ruby
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pod '<Podspec file name>', :path => 'path/to/the/directory/of/your/podspec'
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```
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You can look at this [example Podfile][].
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Finally, in your project's directory, run:
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```sh
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pod install
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```
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<a name="use"></a>
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## Use the generated library in your code
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Please check the [example apps][] for examples of how to use a generated gRPC library.
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<a name="no-proto"></a>
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## Use gRPC without Protobuf
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This [tests file](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/tree/master/src/objective-c/tests/GRPCClientTests.m)
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shows how to use the generic gRPC Objective-C client without generated protobuf files.
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<a name="alternatives"></a>
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## Alternatives to the steps above
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<a name="install"></a>
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### Install _protoc_ with the gRPC plugin
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Although it's not recommended (because it can lead to hard-to-solve version conflicts), it is
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sometimes more convenient to install _protoc_ and the gRPC plugin in your development machine,
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instead of letting Cocoapods download the appropriate versions for you. To do so, on Mac OS X or
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later, install [homebrew][].
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The run the following command to install _protoc_ and the gRPC _protoc_ plugin:
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```sh
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$ curl -fsSL https://goo.gl/getgrpc | bash -
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```
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This will download and run the [gRPC install script][].
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<a name="no-homebrew"></a>
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### Install _protoc_ and the gRPC plugin without using Homebrew
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First install v3 of the Protocol Buffers compiler (_protoc_), by cloning
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[its Git repository](https://github.com/google/protobuf) and following these
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[installation instructions](https://github.com/google/protobuf#c-installation---unix)
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(the ones titled C++; don't miss the note for Mac users).
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Then clone this repository and execute the following commands from the root directory where it was
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cloned.
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Compile the gRPC plugins for _protoc_:
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```sh
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make grpc_objective_c_plugin
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```
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Create a symbolic link to the compiled plugin binary somewhere in your `$PATH`:
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```sh
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ln -s `pwd`/bins/opt/grpc_objective_c_plugin /usr/local/bin/protoc-gen-objcgrpc
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```
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(Notice that the name of the created link must begin with "`protoc-gen-`" for _protoc_ to recognize
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it as a plugin).
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If you don't want to create the symbolic link, you can alternatively copy the binary (with the
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appropriate name). Or you might prefer instead to specify the plugin's path as a flag when invoking
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_protoc_, in which case no system modification nor renaming is necessary.
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<a name="no-cocoapods"></a>
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### Integrate the generated gRPC library without using Cocoapods
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You need to compile the generated `.pbobjc.*` files (the enums and messages) without ARC support,
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and the generated `.pbrpc.*` files (the services) with ARC support. The generated code depends on
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v0.12+ of the Objective-C gRPC runtime library and v3.0.0-alpha-4+ of the Objective-C Protobuf
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runtime library.
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These libraries need to be integrated into your project as described in their respective Podspec
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files:
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* [Podspec](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/blob/master/gRPC.podspec) for the Objective-C gRPC runtime
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library. This can be tedious to configure manually.
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* [Podspec](https://github.com/google/protobuf/blob/master/Protobuf.podspec) for the
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Objective-C Protobuf runtime library.
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[Protocol Buffers]:https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/
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[homebrew]:http://brew.sh
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[gRPC install script]:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grpc/homebrew-grpc/master/scripts/install
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[example Podfile]:https://github.com/grpc/grpc/blob/master/examples/objective-c/helloworld/Podfile
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[example apps]: https://github.com/grpc/grpc/tree/master/examples/objective-c
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## Use gRPC with OpenSSL
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gRPC uses BoringSSL as its dependency, which is a fork of OpenSSL and export a number of symbols
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that are the same as OpenSSL. gRPC avoids conflicts of these symbols by renaming BoringSSL symbols.
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If you need gRPC to use OpenSSL instead of BoringSSL (e.g. for the benefit of reducing the binary
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size of your product), you need to make a local `gRPC-Core` podspec and tweak it accordingly:
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- Copy the version of `/gRPC-Core.podspec` you wish to use from Github into the repository of your
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app;
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- In your `Podfile`, add the following line:
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```
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pod `gRPC-Core`, :podspec => "." # assuming gRPC-Core.podspec is in the same directory as your Podfile
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```
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- Remove [the
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macro](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/blob/b24b212ee585d376c618235905757b2445ac6461/gRPC-Core.podspec#L186)
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`GRPC_SHADOW_BORINGSSL_SYMBOLS` to disable symbol renaming;
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- Substitude the `BoringSSL-GRPC`
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[dependency](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/blob/b24b212ee585d376c618235905757b2445ac6461/gRPC-Core.podspec#L184)
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to whatever pod of OpenSSL your other libraries use.
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These steps should allow gRPC to use OpenSSL and drop BoringSSL dependency. If you see any issue,
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file an issue to us.
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