Swift/Xcode dependency management approach

Question

I'm looking at configuring SwiftyJSON. The docs state you can configure the library using any of these methods:

1. CocoaPods
2. Carthage
3. Swift Package Manager
4. Manual

What are the pros and cons of these approaches when configuring external libraries?

Answer 1

Here is some points about each of them

1. CocoaPods

Pros

• Most widely used dependency manager.
• Almost every popular libraries, framework vendors provide pod for their library/framework.
• You can try the library and its usage without manually downloading it manually. pod try command

Cons

• You should manage your project with a workspace.
• If any vendor is not adding or updating their library's pod spec, it will be difficult to maintain.

2. Carthage

Pros

• No need to keep the project in a workspace.
• It's not a centralized system, that is no need to wait for the vendor to update/add the library to any centralized repo.

Cons

• Need to add your frameworks to project for the first time.

3. Swift Package Manager

Pros

• Product from creators/maintainers of swift itself.

• No extra workspace created.

• Super easy to integrate. Cons

• Not very popular.

• Still, need to be adopted by the developer community.

4. Manual

Pros

• You have full control.
• You can edit(if the license allows to..).

Cons

• Need manual work to add dependencies.
• Difficult to update libraries.
• Not sure whether we can add Objective-C libs to project using Swift Package Manager.

I would suggest using CocoaPods because its very simple to use and will get enough help and resources from the internet.

In WWDC 2019, Apple introduced Xcode 11 with the built-in feature to use SPM. So it would be easy to use SPM as Cocoapods.