How to edit (add or delete) the contents of a .ipa file in iPad/iPhone

Question

Is there any way to Edit (add or delete) the contents of a ipa file.

My app contains some resource folders which varies from client to client even though the functionality remains same. We had a idea of creating a single.ipa file and put that in the sever, write some code to unzip it and edit the contents of the file. But, this dint work for us. So, is there anyway in which i can do this officially(without jail breaking it)

Answer 1

Well practically yes you can, but technically no. Your binary is codesigned, which means for this signature to be valid, all files have to be accounted for.

I recommend you create different build targets for different customers.

Answer 2

You should be able to resign your bundle (using the codesign tool) after modifying it. We did this once in a while on a previous project.

Answer 3

Well, You can change the file extension. File.ipa can be changed to File.zip, and then opened, and the contents can be changed. I have had problems installing an edited ipa file on my iDevice though.