macOS: linker crash "unsupported reference (alias of) to class-ref" (ClassRefToGotConverter) linking FirebaseCore + FirebaseFirestore frameworks on Xcode 27

[ChristophePretty]

Environment

• Firebase C++ SDK: 13.12.0 (its macOS frameworks/darwin distribution wraps the underlying Firebase Apple SDK; "macOS SDKs are now built using Xcode 26.2" per the C++ SDK release notes starting around 13.8.0)
• Xcode: 27.0 (27A266a)
• clang: Apple clang version 21.0.0 (clang-2100.3.34.2)
• ld: version 27037.1 (new/default linker)
• macOS: 26.6.2 (build 25G83)
• Architecture: arm64 (Apple Silicon)
• MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET: 15.7
• Frameworks linked: firebase.framework, firebase_firestore.framework, firebase_auth.framework, firebase_analytics.framework, firebase_functions.framework, firebase_messaging.framework, firebase_remote_config.framework (the macOS desktop frameworks bundled by the Firebase C++ SDK, which wrap the Apple SDK)

What happens

Linking a macOS desktop app against firebase.framework + firebase_firestore.framework fails with a linker crash (not a normal "undefined symbol" error — the linker itself asserts and aborts):

ld: unsupported reference (alias of) to class-ref from '_f_b_OBJC_CLASSLIST_REFERENCES_$_' (firebase_firestore.framework/firebase_firestore[arm64][1145](9c7b11ffbad0c92d0adcf47d138d4f4c_error_apple.mm.o))
ld: unsupported reference (alias of) to class-ref from '_OBJC_CLASSLIST_REFERENCES_$_' (firebase.framework/firebase[arm64][181](2821dc7f0f996caf95294ccbe3bb0f98_locale_apple.mm.o))
0  0x10222f670  __assert_rtn + 252
1  0x1021813f0  ___ZN2ld4pass22ClassRefToGotConverter9transformEv_block_invoke_2 + 0
2  0x1825254c8  _dispatch_client_callout2 + 16
3  0x1825201a4  _dispatch_apply_invoke3 + 336
4  0x1825254b0  _dispatch_client_callout + 16
5  0x18250e630  _dispatch_once_callout + 32
6  0x18251f2f4  _dispatch_apply_invoke + 248
7  0x1825254b0  _dispatch_client_callout + 16
8  0x182542d6c  _dispatch_channel_invoke.cold.9 + 28
9  0x18251dadc  _dispatch_root_queue_drain + 708
10  0x18251e120  _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 184
11  0x1826c3e84  _pthread_wqthread + 232
ld: Assertion failed: (0 && "unsupported references to class-ref"), function changeClassRefUseToGotUse, file ObjC.cpp, line 1151.
clang++: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

It appears an Objective-C class reference is aliased across two separate framework binaries — one class-ref inside firebase_firestore.framework's error_apple.mm.o and one inside firebase.framework's locale_apple.mm.o — and the linker's new ClassRefToGotConverter pass hard-asserts instead of handling it.

What we've tried

1. -ld_classic — no longer has any effect on Xcode 27: ld: warning: -ld_classic is no longer supported and will be ignored. Same crash occurs anyway.
2. No special linker flags at all — same crash. This confirms it's not specific to -ld_classic; the default linker crashes on its own.
3. -Xlinker -dead_strip -Xlinker -allow_dead_duplicates (suggested as a workaround for a related issue in FirebaseAnalytics build error with -ld_classic, -ObjC and iOS 17.6 on Xcode 26 Beta firebase-ios-sdk#15284) — this does avoid the crash, but as a side effect the linker silently discards unrelated, legitimate symbols from other static libraries linked into the same binary (we saw Undefined symbol errors reappear afterward for FreeType, ICU, and other unrelated libraries), so it's not a safe workaround.

Expected behavior

The prebuilt macOS frameworks should link without crashing the linker, ideally without requiring -allow_dead_duplicates (which has known correctness risks per Apple's own linker docs).

Related issue

This looks closely related to firebase/firebase-ios-sdk#15284 (FirebaseAnalytics + -ld_classic on iOS), but reproduces here on macOS desktop with the default (non-classic) linker, so it isn't limited to -ld_classic usage.

Question for the Firebase team

Is this a duplicate/aliased symbol artifact from how firebase.framework and firebase_firestore.framework are packaged for macOS (e.g., the same translation unit/class getting folded into an alias across two separate framework binaries)? Has this been reproduced internally on Xcode 27, and is there a recommended workaround in the meantime (e.g. pinning to an older SDK release built with an earlier Xcode)?

[Wizermil]

I was able to recompile and launch my app on macos using this patch in merge_libraries.py

diff -r a/scripts/merge_libraries.py b/scripts/merge_libraries.py
--- a/scripts/merge_libraries.py	2026-09-15 17:58:19.774195820 +0200
+++ b/scripts/merge_libraries.py	2026-09-15 17:58:20.097696752 +0200
@@ -529,6 +529,17 @@
       if FLAGS.platform == "darwin" and ('[' in symbol or ']' in symbol):
         continue
 
+      # Ignore Mach-O assembler temporary labels. Every real C or C++ symbol is
+      # emitted with a leading underscore, so a name beginning with 'l' or 'L' is
+      # a compiler-generated label (ltmp*, lCPI*, lJTI*, l_.str, l___PRETTY_*)
+      # that the linker discards while forming atoms. Renaming one turns it into a
+      # second real symbol at the address of the atom it labelled; where that atom
+      # is an Objective-C class reference, ld aborts in changeClassRefUseToGotUse
+      # with "unsupported reference (alias of) to class-ref". -ld_classic used to
+      # skip that pass and no longer exists as of Xcode 27.
+      if FLAGS.platform in ("darwin", "ios") and symbol[:1] in ("l", "L"):
+        continue
+
       all_symbols.add(symbol)
 
       addr = m.group("addr")

[paulb777]

Transferred to #1920

[a-maurice]

Thanks for all the details, we will try to get this addressed soon.