How to set Xcode project dependencies with different build configurations? [closed]

Answer 1

In Xcode 11, it appears that if no corresponding configuration is found in the project dependency, the build system falls back to the setting Use {configuration here} for command-line builds under project configurations.

Xcode settings UI

Cleaning, building, and then inspecting my built products directory shows that the dependency is only built for the selected configuration.

Answer 2

I raised a Developer Technical Support ticket with Apple about this, and spoke to the Xcode engineers at WWDC.

Answers to my own questions

how do I configure build settings so that a project with a nonstandard build configuration name (like LocalRelease) can depend on other projects that use only the standard build configuration names?

Answer: cannot be done.

is it in general a bad idea to introduce additional build configurations because they do not allow smooth interaction of dependencies between projects in a shared workspace?

Answer: yes, this is a bad idea.

So creating a new named build configuration is not the smart way to do what I was trying to do. Unfortunately, seems like the "simplest" solution is to embrace xcconfig files and change config files manually for this sort of thing.