iPhone simulator reporting error when re-installing an app from Xcode

Question

I'm using Xcode 6 with the iOS Simulator version 8.1 (build 550.3).

When I choose the "Build and Run" in Xcode everything works good, if the app isn't already installed in the simulator. If it is, however, I get the following error in Xcode:

Unable to run app in Simulator An error was encountered while running (Domain = LaunchServicesError, Code = 0)

And the logs for the simulator show the following:

less ~/Library/Logs/CoreSimulator/CoreSimulator.log
Nov  6 11:53:47 Yggdrasil.local com.apple.dt.Xcode[4389] <Error>: 
Error Domain=LaunchServicesError Code=0 "The operation couldn’t be completed.
 (LaunchServicesError error 0.)" UserInfo=0x7fa697742360 
{Error=PackagePatchFailed, ErrorDescription=Could not hardlink copy 
/Volumes/UsersData/Users/kender/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/AAD57C40-E208-4964-B63A-46B968B3EB36/data/Containers/Bundle/Application/FEE2DEB4-AEE3-48B7-BE71-5B027259C6FD/Baby Feeding.app 
to /Volumes/UsersData/Users/kender/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/AAD57C40-E208-4964-B63A-46B968B3EB36/data/Library/Caches/com.apple.mobile.installd.staging/temp.P8QJEE/extracted/Payload/Baby Feeding.app
 with manifest /Volumes/UsersData/Users/kender/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/AAD57C40-E208-4964-B63A-46B968B3EB36/data/Library/Caches/com.apple.mobile.installd.staging/temp.P8QJEE/extracted/com.apple.deltainstallcommands.com.owlcoding.babyfeeding}

(/Volumes/UsersData/Users/kender is my $HOME).

I tried to remove all simulators (from the Devices window in Xcode and re-add them - no luck.

I removed the entire ~/Library/Developer directory and allowed Xcode to recreate it - same issue after that.

So right now I'm stuck with Build and Run -> Make changes -> Remove app -> Build and Run flow, which kind of sucks... Anyone encountered a problem like this and found a solution, or maybe you guys have some pointers for me...

Answer 1

I had the same problem and it was due to localisation of the Info.plist.

My app is localised into several languages and each localisation has an InfoPlist.strings file with the CFBundleShortVersionString key. I had changed the Version string on the Target information, but not in the InfoPlist.strings files.

So I deleted the app in the Simulator, updated CFBundleShortVersionString in all the localised Info.plist files to match the version on the Target, and that resolved the issue for me.

Answer 2

The error indicates that installation failed because of hard linking. I suspect the filesystem for your $HOME does not support hard links. Please update your question to specify what type of filesystem /Volumes/UsersData is.

If it's not possible to support hard links on /Volumes/UsersData, then I suggest you make a local directory for your simulator data and create a symlink from ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices to it.

Also on a side note, deleting all of ~/Library/Developer can wreck havoc on the running simulator service. If you do that, make sure Xcode, iOS Simulator, Instruments, etc are quit, but ALSO make sure the service is killed as well by running killall -9 com.apple.CoreSimulator.CoreSimulatorService