If you work with more then one Apple Developer account, keeping provisioning certificates and profiles straight can be a real pain.

Apple does a lot right, but this is one part of the development process that is, frankly, shit.

Naming conventions when generating a certificate request can go a long way to minimizing the drama.

If these conventions, or similar ones, are used, there is reduced confusion when examining the certificates in Xcode and the Keychain App.

User Email Address

Development Certificate use the developer name email address:
johnny.appleseed@somecompany.com

Distribution Certificate, Apple Push Notification Services Certificate and Passbook pass Certificate all should use a generic company email address:
developer@somecompany.com

Common Name

Should indicate type and app and will appear next to the certificate in the Keychain App.

Distribution Certificate, Provisioning Portal owner:
Some Company iOS Distrubution Certificate

Development Certificates, developer name, type and Provisioning Portal owner in brackets:
Johnny Appleseed iOS Development Certificate (Some Company)

Apple Push Notification Services Certificate, developer name, type and Provisioning Portal owner in brackets:
Johnny Appleseed Development APNS (Some Company)

Passbook pass Certificate, pass name and Provisioning Portal owner in brackets:
Demo Pass Type Pass Certificate (Some Company)

Export From Key Chain.app

iPhone Developer Export:
iPhone Developer Johnny Appleseed (Some Company) Cert and Key.p12

iPhone Distribution Export:
iPhone Distribution Some Company Cert and Key.p12

Tagged iOS | Posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2012 | Comments Off on iOS Provisioning Naming Conventions