How to parse the Info.plist file from an ipa

Question

I want to write a program to get app details, e.g. app name, version, bundle identifier, from an ipa file. However this file is not a plain text file, it's encoded in some way and my program cannot parse it.

Is there any way to decode this file?

UPDATE

To clarify the question, I'm writing a python program to get app details from ipa files that I exported from Xcode.

Answer 1

For those without Apple Developer logins, here's the two answers from the accepted answer's link (you have to login to see it):

• use PlistBuddy
  • /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :CFBundleIdentifier" yourBinaryOrXmlPlist.plist
• There are also many other ways to parse binary plist files. For example, I'm using Python and there is a library called biplist, which is exactly used to read and write binary plist files and support both Python 2 and 3. Also, the 'plistlib' in Python 3.4 supports binary plist manipulation with new APIs.

Answer 2

Got the answer from the Apple's developer forum:

PlistBuddy is what you're looking for:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :CFBundleIdentifier" yourBinaryOrXmlPlist.plist

Answer 3

Here is the solution i found out in python : Since .plist files are binary-encoded so, you will need a python libary that could read files with binary format. For this particular example i use plistlib. NOTE: You get .app file when you unzip .ipa file.

from zipfile import ZipFile 
import plistlib 
with ZipFile("/content/sample_data/Experience Abu Dhabi.app.zip", 'r') as zObject: 
zObject.extractall( 
    path="/content/sample_data/temp") 
path = "/content/sample_data/temp/Experience Abu Dhabi.app/Info.plist"
with open(path, 'rb') as f:
    data = plistlib.load(f)
print(data)

Answer 4

It's easy if you have a macbook.
Then follow this guideline: http://osxdaily.com/2011/04/07/extract-and-explore-an-ios-app-in-mac-os-x/

1. Rename from file.ipa -> file.zip
2. Unzip file.zip
3. Go to Payload folder
4. Right click Application file -> Show Package Contents
5. See Info.plist

Answer 5

On a mac you can do it with the ootb plutil:

# Convert a binary plist to XML
plutil -convert xml1 info.plist
 
# Convert XML back to binary
plutil -convert binary1 info.plist

For more details enter man plutil in the terminal.

If you want to parse a text or binary .plist file programatically, for example with python, then you can use plistlib — a standard library module:

import plistlib

with open ('/etc/bootpd.plist', 'rb') as plist:
    conf = plistlib.load(plist)
    print(conf['dhcp_enabled'])

Answer 6

My Python version: https://gist.github.com/noamtm/a8ddb994df41583b64f8

In my research, the tricky bit was parsing a binary plist, since python's PlistLib can't read it:

from Foundation import NSData, NSPropertyListSerialization 
# Use PyObjC, pre-installed in Apple's Python dist.
def parse_plist(info_plist_string):
  data = NSData.dataWithBytes_length_(info_plist_string, len(info_plist_string))
  return NSPropertyListSerialization.propertyListWithData_options_format_error_(data, 0, None, None)

Answer 7

1. Rename from file.ipa -> file.zip
2. Unzip file.zip Go to Payload folder
3. Right click Application file -> Show Package Contents
4. Right click 'Info.plist' using xcode

Answer 8

A double click on the plist will open from XCode.