To expand on the networking and C socket programming knowledge I picked up in uni, I wanted to try implement a P2P VoIP feature for use in some future game ideas. After researching for some audio codecs, “Speex” seemed like a fitting option for the project.

But how will I use this library in my future Xcode Projects? 🤔

After some trial and error these are the steps I used to build a framework file.


Downloading Speex

  • Download the .git source of Speex (comes with macosx folder with an Xcode project file).

    https://git.xiph.org/?p=speex.git;a=summary I downloaded the version under: tags -> Speex-1.2.0 -> snapshot. (a tar.gz file) …some other versions are available here also.

    Dev release also available on Github: https://github.com/xiph/speex

  • Unpack the tar.gz file.
  • Navigate to folder in terminal.
  • Create the config.h file by following the INSTALL file. (Don’t need to run make/make install)
./autogen.sh

If you do not have ‘automake’ installed you will get a “can’t run alocal” error here. I installed this with homebrew - brew install automake (this will allow you to run the ./configure as you would normally to create a config.h file).

./configure

The folder should now contain a config.h file, we need to compile the framework. This config.h file configures compile options for the Speex source and header files.


Building the .framework

  • Open the Xcode project file found here: (I am using Xcode Version 8.2.1 (8C1002)

    macosx/Speex.xcodeproj

  • Copy the created config.h file into the open Xcode project.
  • Find the prefix header file inside the Xcode project Source/Speex_Prefix.pch
  • Add the line #define HAVE_CONFIG_H

This tells the other header and source files that a config.h file is available to be used when compiling.

The prefix header file (.pch) should already be added to the Speex.framework target in the build settings.

TARGETS -> Speex -> Build Settings -> Apple LLVM 8.0 - Language -> Prefix Header


Try to build the framework and you will receive an error: “The run destination My Mac is not valid for Running the scheme “Speex”.

  • Select the desired Base SDK for the project:

    PROJECT -> Build Settings -> Architectures -> Base SDK -> Select SDK

    in my case Latest macOS (macOS 10.12)

  • Build the framework again. (you will notice there is a choice for either My Mac (64-bit) or My Mac (32-bit) when you build.


You should now have successfully built the Speex.framework file. 👏


Using the .framework

  • Saving built framework for convenience (optional):

After build has finished (assuming no major errors occurred)… Navigate to your Speex-1.2.0 folder -> macosx -> Build -> Products -> Development -> Speex.framework. I copied my framework file and added it to /Library/Frameworks/ (where I have other installed framework files for ease of access).

  • Using the .framework in your Xcode projects:

    Under project settings -> SELECT TARGET -> Build Phases -> Link binary with libraries

    Add Other… (select the Speex.framework file)


You should then be able to use the framework in your projects like so:

#include <speex/speex.h>