[iOS] Linker error: libpng symbols not found — missing -lpng16 in OTHER_LDFLAGS

[codemountain]

What were you trying to do?

Build an iOS app using php artisan native:run ios on both physical and simulator

What happened?

Build fails with linker errors. libphp.a (GD extension) references png_* symbols but libpng
is not linked in the generated Xcode project.

Affects both simulator (Debug-iphonesimulator) and device (Debug-iphoneos) targets.

How to reproduce the bug

1. php artisan native:install ios --force
2. php artisan native:run ios
3. Build fails at linker stage

Debug Output

"_png_create_read_struct", referenced from:
_php_gd_gdImageCreateFromPngCtx in libphp.a(gd_png.o)
"_png_write_info", referenced from:
_php_gd_gdImagePngCtxEx in libphp.a(gd_png.o)
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture arm64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1

Missing symbols include: png_create_read_struct, png_create_write_struct,
png_destroy_read_struct, png_destroy_write_struct, png_get_IHDR, png_get_PLTE,
png_read_image, png_write_image, png_write_info, png_write_end, and ~15 more.

The static libraries exist but aren't linked:

$ ls nativephp/ios/Libraries/iphonesimulator/libpng*
libpng.a
libpng16.a

$ ls nativephp/ios/Libraries/iphoneos/libpng*
libpng.a
libpng16.a

$ ls nativephp/ios/Include/libpng16/
png.h pngconf.h pnglibconf.h

But project.pbxproj only links -lresolv:

OTHER_LDFLAGS = (
"$(inherited)",
"-lresolv",
);

Which operating systems have you seen this occur on?

macOS

Which platforms were you trying to build for?

iOS (Simulator)

Notes

• nativephp/mobile: v3.1.x-dev (mobile-air repo)
• macOS: Darwin 24.6.0
• Xcode: Latest (ran xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch before build)
• CocoaPods: Installed successfully, issue is in the Xcode project template
• Suggested fix: Add -lpng16 to OTHER_LDFLAGS in the generated project.pbxproj