PLCrashReporter

PLCrashReporter is a reliable open source library that provides an in-process live crash reporting framework for use on iOS, macOS and tvOS. The library detects crashes and generates reports to help your investigation and troubleshooting with the information of application, system, process, thread, etc. as well as stack traces.

The easiest way to use PLCrashReporter is by using AppCenter. However, if you want to use PLCrashReporter directly, grab the latest release at releases page.

Features

• Uses only supported and public APIs/ABIs for crash reporting.
• The most accurate stack unwinding available, using DWARF and Apple Compact Unwind frame data.
• First released in 2008, and used in hundreds of thousands of apps. PLCrashReporter has seen a tremendous amount of user testing.
• Does not interfere with debugging in lldb/gdb
• Backtraces for all active threads are provided.
• Provides full register state for the crashed thread.

Prerequisites

• Xcode 11 or above.
• Minimum supported platforms: iOS 11, macOS 10.9, tvOS 11, Mac Catalyst 13.0.

Decoding Crash Reports

Crash reports are output as protobuf-encoded messages, and may be decoded using the CrashReporter library or any Google Protocol Buffers decoder.

In addition to the in-library decoding support, you may use the included plcrashutil binary to convert crash reports to apple's standard iPhone text format:

plcrashutil convert --format=iphone example_report.plcrash

You can use atos command-line tool to symbolicate the output. For more information about this tool, see Adding Identifiable Symbol Names to a Crash Report. Future library releases may include built-in re-usable formatters, for outputting alternative formats directly from the phone.

Adding PLCrashReporter to your project

PLCrashReporter can be added to your app via CocoaPods, Carthage, Swift Package Manager, or by manually adding the binaries to your project.

Integration via Cocoapods

1. Add the following line to your Podfile:

   pod 'PLCrashReporter'

2. Run pod install to install your newly defined pod and open the project's .xcworkspace.

Integration via Swift Package Manager

1. From the Xcode menu, click File > Swift Packages > Add Package Dependency.
2. In the dialog that appears, enter the repository URL: https://github.com/microsoft/plcrashreporter.git.
3. In Version, select Up to Next Major and take the default option.

Integration via Carthage

1. Add the following line to your Cartfile:

   github "microsoft/plcrashreporter"

2. Run carthage update --use-xcframeworks to fetch dependencies.
3. In Xcode, open your application target's General settings tab. Drag and drop CrashReporter.xcframework from the Carthage/Build folder into the Frameworks, Libraries and Embedded Content section. For iOS and tvOS, set Embed to Do not embed. For macoS, set Embed to Embed and Sign.

NOTE: Carthage integration doesn't build the dependency correctly in Xcode 12 with flag "--no-use-binaries" or from a specific branch. To make it work, refer to this instruction.

Integration by copying the binaries into your project

1. Download the PLCrashReporter frameworks provided as a zip file.
2. Unzip the file and you'll see a folder called PLCrashReporter that contains subfolders for all supported platforms.
3. Add PLCrashReporter to the project in Xcode:
   • Make sure the Project Navigator is visible (⌘+1).
   • Now drag & drop PLCrashReporter.framework (or PLCrashReporter.xcframework) from the Finder into Xcode's Project Navigator.
   • A dialog will appear, make sure your app target is checked and click Finish.

   NOTE: PLCrashReporter xcframework contains static binaries for iOS and tvOS, and dynamic binaries for macOS. When adding the framework to your project make sure that in Frameworks, Libraries and Embedded Content section Embed is selected to Do not embed for iOS and tvOS and Embed and Sign for macOS. PLCrashReporter-Static-{version}.zip is an exception - it contains static frameworks for all platforms.

Example

The following example shows a way how to initialize crash reporter. Please note that enabling in-process crash reporting will conflict with any attached debuggers so make sure the debugger isn't attached when you crash the app.

Objective-c

@import CrashReporter;

...

// Uncomment and implement isDebuggerAttached to safely run this code with a debugger.
// See: https://github.com/microsoft/plcrashreporter/blob/2dd862ce049e6f43feb355308dfc710f3af54c4d/Source/Crash%20Demo/main.m#L96
// if (![self isDebuggerAttached]) {

// It is strongly recommended that local symbolication only be enabled for non-release builds.
// Use PLCrashReporterSymbolicationStrategyNone for release versions.
PLCrashReporterConfig *config = [[PLCrashReporterConfig alloc] initWithSignalHandlerType: PLCrashReporterSignalHandlerTypeMach
                                                                   symbolicationStrategy: PLCrashReporterSymbolicationStrategyAll];
PLCrashReporter *crashReporter = [[PLCrashReporter alloc] initWithConfiguration: config];

// Enable the Crash Reporter.
NSError *error;
if (![crashReporter enableCrashReporterAndReturnError: &error]) {
    NSLog(@"Warning: Could not enable crash reporter: %@", error);
}
// }

Checking collected crash report can be done in the following way:

if ([crashReporter hasPendingCrashReport]) {
    NSError *error;

    // Try loading the crash report.
    NSData *data = [crashReporter loadPendingCrashReportDataAndReturnError: &error];
    if (data == nil) {
        NSLog(@"Failed to load crash report data: %@", error);
        return;
    }

    // Retrieving crash reporter data.
    PLCrashReport *report = [[PLCrashReport alloc] initWithData: data error: &error];
    if (report == nil) {
        NSLog(@"Failed to parse crash report: %@", error);
        return;
    }

    // We could send the report from here, but we'll just print out some debugging info instead.
    NSString *text = [PLCrashReportTextFormatter stringValueForCrashReport: report withTextFormat: PLCrashReportTextFormatiOS];
    NSLog(@"%@", text);

    // Purge the report.
    [crashReporter purgePendingCrashReport];
}

Swift

import CrashReporter

...
// Uncomment and implement isDebuggerAttached to safely run this code with a debugger.
// See: https://github.com/microsoft/plcrashreporter/blob/2dd862ce049e6f43feb355308dfc710f3af54c4d/Source/Crash%20Demo/main.m#L96
// if (!isDebuggerAttached()) {

  // It is strongly recommended that local symbolication only be enabled for non-release builds.
  // Use [] for release versions.
  let config = PLCrashReporterConfig(signalHandlerType: .mach, symbolicationStrategy: .all)
  guard let crashReporter = PLCrashReporter(configuration: config) else {
    print("Could not create an instance of PLCrashReporter")
    return
  }

  // Enable the Crash Reporter.
  do {
    try crashReporter.enableAndReturnError()
  } catch let error {
    print("Warning: Could not enable crash reporter: \(error)")
  }
// }

Checking collected crash report can be done in the following way:

  // Try loading the crash report.
  if crashReporter.hasPendingCrashReport() {
    do {
      let data = try crashReporter.loadPendingCrashReportDataAndReturnError()

      // Retrieving crash reporter data.
      let report = try PLCrashReport(data: data)

      // We could send the report from here, but we'll just print out some debugging info instead.
      if let text = PLCrashReportTextFormatter.stringValue(for: report, with: PLCrashReportTextFormatiOS) { 
        print(text)
      } else {
        print("CrashReporter: can't convert report to text")
      }
    } catch let error {
      print("CrashReporter failed to load and parse with error: \(error)")
    }
  }

  // Purge the report.
  crashReporter.purgePendingCrashReport()

Building

Prerequisites

• A Mac running macOS compliant with Xcode requirements.
• Xcode 11 or above.

Also, next optional tools are used to build additional resources:

• Doxygen to generate the documentation. See the official Doxygen repository for more information or use Homebrew to install it.
• GraphViz to generate the documentation. See the official GraphViz website for more information or use Homebrew to install it.
• protobuf-c to convert Protocol Buffer .proto files to C descriptor code. See the official protobuf-c repository for more information or use Homebrew to install it.

Building

• Open a new window for your Terminal.

• Go to PLCrashReporter's root folder and run

  xcodebuild -configuration Release -target 'CrashReporter'

  to create binaries for all platforms.

Updating protobuf-c

To update the protobuf-c dependency:

1. Download the latest protobuf-c.h and protobuf-c.c files from the protobuf-c GitHub repository.
2. Replace the existing files in Dependencies/protobuf-c with the downloaded ones.
3. Run the script:

./Dependencies/protobuf-c/generate-pb-c.sh

Contributing

We are looking forward to your contributions via pull requests.

To contribute to PLCrashReporter, you need the tools mentioned above to build PLCrashReporter for all architectures and protobuf-c to convert Protocol Buffer .proto files to C descriptor code.

Code of Conduct

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact [email protected] with any additional questions or comments.