How to build against older iOS versions with the latest Xcode downloads?

Question

I have multiple versions of Xcode installed. I can build my project against older iOS versions by launching old Xcode. But how could I use newer Xcode versions to build against older iOS versions?

In the project settings there's a Base SDK dropdown. It only offers the very latest iOS version for selection.

Under /Developer/Platforms/ there is an iOS.platform folder which contains this:

SDKs/   iPhoneOS3.2.sdk   iPhoneOS4.1.sdk 

And finally, there is an interesting folder called DeviceSupport, which contains a whole bunch of versions ranging from 3.0 to 4.1!

There must be a way to copy SDKs / DeviceSupport files from old Xcode to new Xcode and make the older ones like iOS 4.0 or even 3.0 working. How?

Answer 1

To make an application target that runs on multiple versions of iOS is relatively simple: Set the “Base SDK” in your projects settings to the newest version number of iOS whose features you may want. Set the “iPhone OS Deployment Target” to the oldest version number of iOS that you will support

you will need to install older versions of xcode since the newer simulator will only support the newer ios versions

http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Xcode/Conceptual/XcodeCoexistence/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/Details/Details.html