[net11.0] Strip CoreCLR/R2R frameworks in Debug on devices by kotlarmilos · Pull Request #25360 · dotnet/macios

kotlarmilos · 2026-05-07T11:19:48Z

Description

PR #24678 enabled stripping of R2R composite framework, which took effect for Release device builds. In Debug device builds the strip was bypassed because the Debug-default in Xamarin.Shared.props set the global $(NoSymbolStrip)=true, which then propagated onto every `_PostProcessingItem.

This PR removes the Debug-default rule entirely. iOS/tvOS device builds now always strip native binaries and a dSYM bundle is generated for symbolication, regardless of configuration. Simulator builds remain unstripped.

Size saving in Debug on a device is ~50% of the overall app bundle.

Behavior

Configuration	Target	Stripped?	dSYM?
Debug	Device	yes	yes
Release	Device	yes	yes
Debug	Simulator	no	no
Release	Simulator	no	no

Follow-up to #24678. PR #24678 added the CoreCLR runtime frameworks and the R2R composite framework to @(_PostProcessingItem) so they would be stripped, which took effect for Release device builds. In Debug device builds the strip was bypassed because the Debug-default in Xamarin.Shared.props set the global $(NoSymbolStrip)=true, which then propagated onto every _PostProcessingItem with empty %(NoSymbolStrip) metadata, causing _NativeStripItems to filter all items out. Remove the Debug-default rule entirely. iOS/tvOS device builds now always strip native binaries and a dSYM bundle is generated for post-mortem symbolication, regardless of Configuration. Simulator builds remain unstripped so the live debugger keeps symbols on disk. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Removes the MSBuild default that disabled native symbol stripping in Debug configurations, so iOS/tvOS device builds strip CoreCLR/R2R frameworks (and other native binaries collected for post-processing) consistently across Debug/Release while keeping simulator builds unstripped.

Changes:

Remove the Debug-configuration default that set $(NoSymbolStrip)=true.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
msbuild/Xamarin.Shared/Xamarin.Shared.props	Drops the Debug default for `NoSymbolStrip`, allowing post-processing strip/dSYM behavior to apply in Debug device builds.

Copilot's findings

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

msbuild/Xamarin.Shared/Xamarin.Shared.props:146

PR title says stripping affects “simulator builds”, but this file still explicitly disables stripping for simulator builds via the ComputedPlatform != iPhone condition. If simulator builds are intended to remain unstripped (as described), consider updating the PR title to avoid confusion; otherwise adjust the simulator default here.

		<!-- Disable stripping for simulator builds by default -->
		<NoSymbolStrip Condition="'$(NoSymbolStrip)' == '' And ('$(_PlatformName)' == 'iOS' Or '$(_PlatformName)' == 'tvOS' Or '$(_PlatformName)' == 'watchOS') And '$(ComputedPlatform)' != 'iPhone'">true</NoSymbolStrip>
		<NoSymbolStrip Condition="'$(NoSymbolStrip)' == ''">false</NoSymbolStrip>

Files reviewed: 1/1 changed files
Comments generated: 0

vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2026-05-07T11:57:14Z

✅ [PR Build #281f423] Build passed (Detect API changes) ✅

Pipeline on Agent
Hash: 281f423756efcaceeb4ed59610f19b98a5973236 [PR build]

vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2026-05-07T12:03:34Z

✅ [PR Build #281f423] Build passed (Build packages) ✅

Pipeline on Agent
Hash: 281f423756efcaceeb4ed59610f19b98a5973236 [PR build]

rolfbjarne · 2026-05-07T12:06:40Z

@kotlarmilos is there a build speed difference between stripping and not stripping?

Also there's a reason stripping is off by default: #20235 - but we could always enable it for CoreCLR and see if we get fewer struggling customers or not.

vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2026-05-07T12:10:14Z

✅ API diff for current PR / commit

NET (empty diffs)

iOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
tvOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
MacCatalyst: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
macOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )

✅ API diff vs stable

NET (empty diffs)

iOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
tvOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
MacCatalyst: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )
macOS: vsdrops gist ( No breaking changes )

ℹ️ Generator diff

Generator Diff: vsdrops (html) vsdrops (raw diff) gist (raw diff) - Please review changes)

Pipeline on Agent
Hash: 281f423756efcaceeb4ed59610f19b98a5973236 [PR build]

vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2026-05-07T12:17:39Z

✅ [PR Build #281f423] Build passed (Build macOS tests) ✅

Pipeline on Agent
Hash: 281f423756efcaceeb4ed59610f19b98a5973236 [PR build]

kotlarmilos · 2026-05-07T13:20:09Z

@kotlarmilos is there a build speed difference between stripping and not stripping?

Also there's a reason stripping is off by default: #20235 - but we could always enable it for CoreCLR and see if we get fewer struggling customers or not.

Native strip binaries target is around 500ms, but the signing is 100ms faster due to smaller libaries. There is a significant size saving, about 50% of the overall app bundle. Regarding symbols, I understand it was a problem before. Could we just point to https://github.com/dotnet/skills/tree/main/tests/dotnet-diag/apple-crash-symbolication?

vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 · 2026-05-07T14:08:03Z

🔥 [CI Build #281f423] Test results 🔥

Test results

❌ Tests failed on VSTS: test results

1 tests crashed, 7 tests failed, 171 tests passed.

Failures

❌ dotnettests tests (macOS)

1 tests failed, 0 tests passed.

Failed tests

DotNet tests: Failed (Execution failed with exit code 1)
- Xamarin.Tests.DotNetProjectTest.BuildAndExecuteAppWithNativeDyna...: 'dotnet build' failed with exit code 1
  Full command: /Users/builder/azdo/_work/1/s/macios/builds/downloads/dotnet-sdk-11.0.100-p...

Html Report (VSDrops) Download

❌ introspection tests

6 tests failed, 3 tests passed.

Failed tests

introspection/iOS - simulator/Debug: LaunchTimedOut
introspection/iOS - simulator/CoreCLR: LaunchTimedOut
introspection/iOS - simulator/Debug (ARM64): LaunchTimedOut
introspection/tvOS - simulator/Debug: LaunchTimedOut
introspection/tvOS - simulator/CoreCLR: LaunchTimedOut
introspection/tvOS - simulator/Debug (ARM64): LaunchTimedOut

Html Report (VSDrops) Download

❌ windows tests

🔥 Failed catastrophically on VSTS: test results - windows (no summary found).

Html Report (VSDrops) Download

Successes

✅ cecil: All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ dotnettests (iOS): All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ dotnettests (MacCatalyst): All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ dotnettests (Multiple platforms): All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ dotnettests (tvOS): All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ framework: All 2 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ fsharp: All 4 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ generator: All 5 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ interdependent-binding-projects: All 4 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ linker: All 44 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ monotouch (iOS): All 19 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ monotouch (MacCatalyst): All 25 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ monotouch (macOS): All 18 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ monotouch (tvOS): All 19 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ msbuild: All 2 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ sharpie: All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ xcframework: All 4 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ xtro: All 1 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download

macOS tests

✅ Tests on macOS Sonoma (14): All 5 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ Tests on macOS Sequoia (15): All 5 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download
✅ Tests on macOS Tahoe (26): All 5 tests passed. Html Report (VSDrops) Download

Linux Build Verification

✅ Linux build succeeded

Pipeline on Agent
Hash: 281f423756efcaceeb4ed59610f19b98a5973236 [PR build]

kotlarmilos force-pushed the dev/strip-coreclr-r2r-debug branch 3 times, most recently from 5a65c1c to b74dd00 Compare May 7, 2026 11:30

kotlarmilos force-pushed the dev/strip-coreclr-r2r-debug branch from b74dd00 to 281f423 Compare May 7, 2026 11:33

kotlarmilos added this to the .NET 11 milestone May 7, 2026

kotlarmilos self-assigned this May 7, 2026

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kotlarmilos marked this pull request as ready for review May 7, 2026 11:39

kotlarmilos requested a review from mauroa as a code owner May 7, 2026 11:39

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings May 7, 2026 11:39

kotlarmilos requested a review from rolfbjarne as a code owner May 7, 2026 11:39

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of kotlarmilos May 7, 2026 11:40 View session

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kotlarmilos changed the title ~~[net11.0] Strip CoreCLR/R2R frameworks in Debug and simulator builds~~ [net11.0] Strip CoreCLR/R2R frameworks in Debug on devices May 7, 2026

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 commented May 7, 2026

✅ [PR Build #281f423] Build passed (Detect API changes) ✅

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 commented May 7, 2026

✅ [PR Build #281f423] Build passed (Build packages) ✅

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rolfbjarne commented May 7, 2026

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 commented May 7, 2026

✅ API diff for current PR / commit

✅ API diff vs stable

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 commented May 7, 2026

✅ [PR Build #281f423] Build passed (Build macOS tests) ✅

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vs-mobiletools-engineering-service2 commented May 7, 2026

🔥 [CI Build #281f423] Test results 🔥

Test results

Failures

❌ dotnettests tests (macOS)

Failed tests

❌ introspection tests

Failed tests

❌ windows tests

Successes

macOS tests

Linux Build Verification

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kotlarmilos commented May 7, 2026 •

edited

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