Feature request: Using iTMSTransporter instead of xcrun altool for `publish` subcommand

[marianhlavac]

This might be a stupid question, as I don't understand the upload process to App Store Connect too deeply, but I was wondering, if it's possible to publish the ipa packages using iTMSTransporter.

This will enable use of publish subcommand on other systems and will remove the requirement of running the publish command on macOS systems, as the tool can be run on Linux and Windows systems.

The motivation is primary to "off-load" the uploading process to Linux machines, which are much cheaper to run, especially when waiting for the post-processing on Apple server. When doing iOS builds, the app could be built on macOS machine, the ipa package can be uploaded as CI artifact and the pipeline could continue on Linux machine, picking up the IPA from artifacts and performing lengthy upload at much cheaper rate.

It could be implemented as an experimental flag parameter: app-store-connect publish --use-itms-transporter. Using this flag will basically replace xcrun altool calls with iTMSTransporter (ofc with other required changes).

Relevant resources

• https://help.apple.com/itc/transporteruserguide/?lang=en#/apdAa073cb45
• https://medium.com/ynap-tech/using-apples-itms-transporter-api-to-upload-builds-to-testflight-60dba18b07bc

[priitlatt]

@marianhlavac, thank you for bringing up this feature request. We'll add this to our roadmap as it genuinely can be a useful thing to have.
However, since it requires quite a bit of development effort I cannot give any deadlines or estimates as of now regarding when this feature will be released.

[marianhlavac]

I cannot give any deadlines or estimates as of now regarding when this feature will be released

That's understandable. Thanks for the consideration.