Mac SDK: using latest SDK but ensuring backwards compatibility with earlier deployment target

Question

As always when Apple updates OS X, the latest XCode 4.4 dumps the older (10.6) SDK and I find myself needing to use the 10.7 SDK (or 10.8 I suppose) and setting my deploymen

Answer 1

Surely, by now there's a way to either:

• making sure you don't introduce API calls that are not yet available in your deployment target even if though they are defined in the SDK

• detecting such calls during build or static analysis time

No there is not. Yes, you should open a radar (bugreport.apple.com) against it. If you like, you can dupe mine: rdar://11985733

Yes, the only viable solution, despite Apple's recommendation, is to copy the old SDKs and link against them.

I spent quite some time talking with the Xcode team about exactly this issue at WWDC 2012. They agreed that it's broken. There is not currently a plan to fix it. Escalating radar's is how we influence Apple on these things.