Flutter: pod install step fails when running with `--local-engine` on newly-created project

[cbracken]

Steps to Reproduce

1. flutter create foobar
2. cd foobar
3. Open ios/Runner.xcworkspace and set up signing
4. flutter run --local-engine ios_debug_unopt -d mydevice -v

Output:

[ +592 ms
] Launching lib/main.dart on the Doom Melon in debug mode...

[   +1 ms] /Users/cbracken/.homebrew/bin/idevicesyslog
[   +2 ms] Building Runner.app for 956919950000126a7f5aaf03cbd5fbc18ac75e65
[   +7 ms] xcodebuild -version
[ +101 ms
] Exit code 0 from: xcodebuild -version
[        ] Xcode 8.3
           Build version 8E162
[   +1 ms] python -c import six
[  +33 ms] Trying to resolve native pub services.
[   +1 ms] Looking for YAML at 'pubspec.yaml'
[  +37 ms] No services specified in the manifest
[        ] Found 0 service definition(s).
[        ] Copying service frameworks to '/Users/cbracken/src/text_input/ios/Frameworks'.
[        ] Creating service definitions manifest at 'ios/ServiceDefinitions.json'
[  +39 ms] pod --version
[ +362 ms
] pod --version
[ +360 ms
] Exit code 0 from: pod --version
[        ] 1.2.0
[   +1 ms] Running pod install...

[   +1 ms] [ios/] pod install
[ +663 ms
] Analyzing dependencies
                    Fetching podspec for `Flutter` from `/Users/cbracken/src/flutter/engine/src/out/ios_debug_unopt`
                    [!] No podspec found for `Flutter` in `/Users/cbracken/src/flutter/engine/src/out/ios_debug_unopt`
[   +2 ms] 'flutter run' took 4061ms.
Error running pod install: Exit code 1 from: pod install

#0      throwToolExit (package:flutter_tools/src/base/common.dart:29)
#1      _runPodInstall (package:flutter_tools/src/ios/mac.dart:365)
<asynchronous suspension>
#2      buildXcodeProject (package:flutter_tools/src/ios/mac.dart:156)
<asynchronous suspension>
#3      IOSDevice.startApp (package:flutter_tools/src/ios/devices.dart:205)
<asynchronous suspension>
#4      HotRunner.run (package:flutter_tools/src/run_hot.dart:200)
<asynchronous suspension>
#5      RunCommand.runCommand (package:flutter_tools/src/commands/run.dart:281)
<asynchronous suspension>
#6      FlutterCommand.verifyThenRunCommand (package:flutter_tools/src/runner/flutter_command.dart:151)
<asynchronous suspension>
#7      RunCommand.verifyThenRunCommand (package:flutter_tools/src/commands/run.dart:196)
<asynchronous suspension>
#8      FlutterCommand.run (package:flutter_tools/src/runner/flutter_command.dart:121)
#9      CommandRunner.runCommand (package:args/command_runner.dart:194)
<asynchronous suspension>
#10     FlutterCommandRunner.runCommand (package:flutter_tools/src/runner/flutter_command_runner.dart:261)
<asynchronous suspension>
#11     CommandRunner.run.<anonymous closure> (package:args/command_runner.dart:109)
#12     Future.Future.sync (dart:async/future.dart:208)
#13     CommandRunner.run (package:args/command_runner.dart:109)
#14     FlutterCommandRunner.run (package:flutter_tools/src/runner/flutter_command_runner.dart:157)
#15     run.<anonymous closure> (package:flutter_tools/executable.dart:140)
<asynchronous suspension>
#16     AppContext._run (package:flutter_tools/src/base/context.dart:76)
<asynchronous suspension>
#17     AppContext.runInZone.<anonymous closure> (package:flutter_tools/src/base/context.dart:66)
#18     _rootRun (dart:async/zone.dart:1120)
#19     _CustomZone.run (dart:async/zone.dart:1001)
#20     runZoned (dart:async/zone.dart:1465)
#21     AppContext.runInZone (package:flutter_tools/src/base/context.dart:65)
#22     run (package:flutter_tools/executable.dart:113)
<asynchronous suspension>
#23     main (package:flutter_tools/executable.dart:66)
<asynchronous suspension>
#24     main (file:///Users/cbracken/src/flutter/flutter/packages/flutter_tools/bin/flutter_tools.dart:8)
#25     _startIsolate.<anonymous closure> (dart:isolate-patch/isolate_patch.dart:263)
#26     _RawReceivePortImpl._handleMessage (dart:isolate-patch/isolate_patch.dart:151)


[  +46 ms] ensureAnalyticsSent: 38ms
[   +1 ms] exiting with code 1

[cbracken]

/cc @jakobr-google is there something I need to do here on the engine side?

Based on ios/Podfile, it looks like we're looking for a podspec for Flutter in $FLUTTER_FRAMEWORK_DIR. When I run without --local-engine, that env var appears to point at the cached engine location (bin/cache/artifacts/engine/ios), where I see a Flutter.podspec. When running with a local engine, it's pointing at the engine's build dir (in my case, /Users/cbracken/src/flutter/engine/src/out/ios_debug_unopt), where I don't see that file.

I was able to hack around this by adding a symlink'ed Flutter.podspec in my local engine dir, but it'd be nice for this to work automatically. (Unless I'm missing a step somewhere?)

[jakobr-google]

Yes, we should copy shell/platform/darwin/ios/framework/Flutter.podspec to the engine's build dir when we build. I missed that when I added the file. The buildbot recipe uploads the file, which is why you see it in the cache.

[nisdis]

Hi,
I had the same issue recently, however, I used a different approach.
I needed to update pods with pod update

Which got to to this error:

Please set FLUTTER_FRAMEWORK_DIR to the directory containing Flutter.framework

[!] Invalid 'Podfile' file: Please set FLUTTER_FRAMEWORK_DIR to the directory containing Flutter.framework.

 #  from /path-to/flutter/examples/platform_view/ios/Podfile:5
 #  -------------------------------------------
 #  if ENV['FLUTTER_FRAMEWORK_DIR'] == nil
 >    abort('Please set FLUTTER_FRAMEWORK_DIR to the directory containing Flutter.framework')
 #  end
 #  -------------------------------------------

After a bit of search on DuckDuckGo I tried this for a solution

export FLUTTER_FRAMEWORK_DIR=/path-to/flutter/bin/cache/artifacts/engine/ios

and reran pod update and flutter run

This seemed to work!

Is there a better method to solve this ?

Thanks