Fix crash when sorting project references with missing PBXFileElement.name

[Ant-tree]

Fix crash when sorting project references with missing PBXFileElement.name

Resolves tuist/XcodeProj#1055

PBXProjEncoder.sortProjectReferences force-unwraps PBXFileElement.name when sorting PBXProject.projectReferences. However, name can legitimately be nil in pbxproj files generated by Xcode (where the display label is derived from path). This caused a runtime crash during encoding.

Short description

When PBXOutputSettings.projReferenceFormat == .xcode, PBXProjEncoder sorts PBXProject.projectReferences alphabetically by the referenced project name. If the referenced PBXFileElement has name == nil, encoding crashes with:

XcodeProj/PBXProjEncoder.swift:491: Fatal error: Unexpectedly found nil while unwrapping an Optional value

Solution

Use a stable "display name" for sorting that matches Xcode’s behavior:

• Prefer name when present
• Fallback to path when name is nil (and finally "" as a last resort)

This prevents crashes while keeping sorting deterministic.

Implementation ‍‍

• Updated PBXProjEncoder.sortProjectReferences to compute a display key using name ?? path ?? ""
• Preserved case-insensitive ordering to match the existing intent

Testing

• Reproduced the crash before the change on a project containing project references where the PBXFileReference omits name
• Verified encoding succeeds after the change and output ordering is stable
• All tests pass locally

[dosubot]

Related Documentation

Checked 1 published document(s) in 1 knowledge base(s). No updates required.

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[Ant-tree]

@dosubot could you review this PR? It fixes a crash in PBXProjEncoder when PBXFileElement.name is nil by falling back to path.

[dosubot]

The fix is correct and aligns with best practices: replacing the force-unwrapping of PBXFileElement.name with a fallback to name ?? path ?? "" prevents crashes and maintains stable, case-insensitive sorting of project references. This approach is consistent with Xcode's behavior and other parts of the codebase, and no side effects are expected as long as the fallback is used consistently see supporting details.

To ensure robustness, it's important to add or update tests that cover encoding projects where PBXFileReference.name is nil and only path is set, so the fallback logic is exercised and future regressions are prevented see implementation context.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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