Release mode on iOS causes DllNotFoundException

[borrrden]

Apple platform

iOS

Framework version

net8.0-*

Affected platform version

dotnet CLI 9.0.102

Description

This is a sort of resurrection of #21594

The issue is that when building Debug, things work fine. When building with default Release configuration a DllNotFoundException happens. A nuget package is providing a native ios framework for use via P/Invoke, and this is where the exception happens. The native library is in fact present in both .app bundles (debug and release). Furthermore, turning on MtouchInterpreter for the .NET assembly that comes with the native framework also seems to make the problem go away. This only happens on an actual device. The simulator is unaffected.

I am the developer of the library in question, and a reproduction repo was provided by a third party that uses our library.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Clone the following repo https://github.com/tele-bird/CouchbaseLiteExample
2. Checkout commit c54380f20dc70b218750e092e1945b34b06f5d21 (HEAD - 1)
3. Change the bundle ID in both the csproj and info.plist to something that you have a provisioning profile for
4. Build the app for release on device dotnet build -f net8.0-ios -c:Release -p:RuntimeIdentifier=ios-arm64
5. Install the app onto an iOS device and click the "Click Me" button
6. Observe the difference in output text between the debug and release configuration

Did you find any workaround?

Adding MtouchInterpreter on the assembly Couchbase.Lite.Enterprise.Support.iOS as done in tele-bird/CouchbaseLiteExample@443bd5b

Relevant logs

No response

[borrrden]

Some additional information that I didn't think to include originally. I use DllImportResolver as follows to redirect "LiteCore" to its equivalent rpath location within the framework:

https://github.com/couchbase/couchbase-lite-net/blob/3.2.1/src/LiteCore/src/LiteCore.Shared/Interop/NativeActivate.cs#L21-L23

It uses the const string DllName as input https://github.com/couchbase/couchbase-lite-net/blob/3.2.1/src/LiteCore/src/LiteCore.Shared/Constants.cs#L24

The DllName is then on each of the P/Invoke entries. In this case the likely culprit is the following line:

https://github.com/couchbase/couchbase-lite-net/blob/3.2.1/src/Couchbase.Lite.Shared/API/Log/FileLogger.cs#L231

which calls to a P/Invoke function

https://github.com/couchbase/couchbase-lite-net/blob/3.2.1/src/LiteCore/src/LiteCore.Shared/Interop/Misc_native.cs#L29

[rolfbjarne]

This is probably a duplicate of #19624.

Can you try some of the suggestions in that issue to see if that works around the problem?

[borrrden]

The exception thrown in that issue is different from what I am seeing, but are you suggesting perhaps that the dead link strip is simply just causing the entire library to be ignored?

[borrrden]

I also noticed that the linked issue is using a static lib. This is a dynamically linked framework if that makes a difference.

[borrrden]

I tried the three workarounds mentioned in the other ticket. The dlsym one didn't work because I realize I have DllImport functions that are not exercised at runtime but are still defined inappropriately outside of a Windows context (the ticket warned that this would fail if that was the case). The other two had no effect.

[borrrden]

For some additional info, I attached a build.log from a release build

Some lines of note:

       _LinkNativeExecutable:
         Tool xcrun execution started with arguments: clang++ -F /Users/jim.borden/Development/CouchbaseLiteExample/MauiApp1/obj/Release/net8.0-ios/ios-arm64/LiteCore.xcframework.zip/LiteCore.xcframework/ios-arm64 -framework LiteCore -mios-version-min=11.0 -isysroot /Applications/Xcode-16.2.0.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS18.2.sdk -arch arm64 <long list of AOT compiled objects...> -framework CFNetwork -framework CloudKit -framework Contacts -framework ContactsUI -framework CoreFoundation -framework CoreGraphics -framework CoreImage -framework CoreLocation -framework CoreText -framework Foundation -framework ImageIO -framework Intents -framework MediaPlayer -framework QuartzCore -framework SafariServices -framework Security -framework SystemConfiguration -framework UIKit -framework WebKit -weak_framework AuthenticationServices -weak_framework LinkPresentation -framework GSS -framework CFNetwork -framework Security -rpath @executable_path/Frameworks /Users/jim.borden/Development/CouchbaseLiteExample/MauiApp1/obj/Release/net8.0-ios/ios-arm64/nativelibraries/main.arm64.o /Users/jim.borden/Development/CouchbaseLiteExample/MauiApp1/obj/Release/net8.0-ios/ios-arm64/nativelibraries/registrar.o -o /Users/jim.borden/Development/CouchbaseLiteExample/MauiApp1/obj/Release/net8.0-ios/ios-arm64/nativelibraries/MauiApp1 -dead_strip -lz -liconv -lcompression -lobjc <long list of -u arguments...>

_CopyDirectoriesToBundle:
         /usr/bin/ditto /Users/jim.borden/Development/CouchbaseLiteExample/MauiApp1/obj/Release/net8.0-ios/ios-arm64/LiteCore.xcframework.zip/LiteCore.xcframework/ios-arm64/LiteCore.framework/ /Users/jim.borden/Development/CouchbaseLiteExample/MauiApp1/bin/Release/net8.0-ios/ios-arm64/MauiApp1.app/Frameworks/LiteCore.framework --arch arm64 

_CodesignAppBundle:
         Tool /usr/bin/codesign execution started with arguments: -v --force --timestamp=none --sign 577294CE08B43E368F332FFA35B5AD2101546BA2 /Users/jim.borden/Development/CouchbaseLiteExample/MauiApp1/bin/Release/net8.0-ios/ios-arm64/MauiApp1.app/Frameworks/LiteCore.framework

build.log