Can enabling static_framework in podspec break existing apps?

Question

I'm maintaining a library written in Swift and distributed via CocoaPods. Since version 1.4.0 cocoapods introduced the static_framework=true setting the podspec file. Recently, a user of the library asked me if I could add static_framework=true setting to the podspec file of the library.

Naturally, I'm worried that if I do that it may introduce problems for existing library users. Can anything go wrong with enabling static_framework=true? Are there any possible negative side effect for my library users?

Answer 1

Here are two downsides of using static_framework:

• Any CocoaPods that depend upon a static_framework CocoaPod will also need to be static frameworks.
• Static Frameworks won't be shared across extensions leading to possible code bloat. See here.

And two upsides of using static_framework:

• Allow static library and binary static vendored_framework dependencies.
• Libraries get linked at build time instead of load time.