Why is viewDidLoad called twice when the rootViewController property of UIWindow is set?

There were already a couple of similar questions, but it wasn’t exactly the same as in my case. Just start a new view based project, add viewDidLoad and awakeFromNib with NSLog statements and do the following changes in MainWindow.xib:

• Remove the view controller connection in the application delegate.
• Connect UIWindow’s rootViewController delegate to the App View Controller instance.

The stack trace from the first call:

#0     0x000025c0 in -[foozaViewController viewDidLoad] at /Users/rafael/Downloads/fooza/fooza/foozaViewController.m:38
#1     0x000cd089 in -[UIViewController view] ()
#2     0x00040d42 in -[UIWindow addRootViewControllerViewIfPossible] ()
#3     0x0079d5e5 in -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) setValue:forKey:] ()
#4     0x00050ff6 in -[UIView(CALayerDelegate) setValue:forKey:] ()
#5     0x0021930c in -[UIRuntimeOutletConnection connect] ()
#6     0x00d418cf in -[NSArray makeObjectsPerformSelector:] ()
#7     0x00217d23 in -[UINib instantiateWithOwner:options:] ()
#8     0x00219ab7 in -[NSBundle(UINSBundleAdditions) loadNibNamed:owner:options:] ()
#9     0x0001f17a in -[UIApplication _loadMainNibFile] ()
#10     0x0001fcf4 in -[UIApplication _runWithURL:payload:launchOrientation:statusBarStyle:statusBarHidden:] ()
#11     0x0002a617 in -[UIApplication handleEvent:withNewEvent:] ()
#12     0x00022abf in -[UIApplication sendEvent:] ()
#13     0x00027f2e in _UIApplicationHandleEvent ()
#14     0x01004992 in PurpleEventCallback ()
#15     0x00dac944 in __CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_SOURCE1_PERFORM_FUNCTION__ ()
#16     0x00d0ccf7 in __CFRunLoopDoSource1 ()
#17     0x00d09f83 in __CFRunLoopRun ()
#18     0x00d09840 in CFRunLoopRunSpecific ()
#19     0x00d09761 in CFRunLoopRunInMode ()
#20     0x0001f7d2 in -[UIApplication _run] ()
#21     0x0002bc93 in UIApplicationMain ()
#22     0x000020d9 in main ()

And here’s the trace from the second call:

#0     0x000025c0 in -[foozaViewController viewDidLoad] at /Users/rafael/Downloads/fooza/fooza/foozaViewController.m:38
#1     0x00002555 in -[foozaViewController awakeFromNib] ()
#2     0x00217f26 in -[UINib instantiateWithOwner:options:] ()
#3     0x00219ab7 in -[NSBundle(UINSBundleAdditions) loadNibNamed:owner:options:] ()
#4     0x0001f17a in -[UIApplication _loadMainNibFile] ()
#5     0x0001fcf4 in -[UIApplication _runWithURL:payload:launchOrientation:statusBarStyle:statusBarHidden:] ()
#6     0x0002a617 in -[UIApplication handleEvent:withNewEvent:] ()
#7     0x00022abf in -[UIApplication sendEvent:] ()
#8     0x00027f2e in _UIApplicationHandleEvent ()
#9     0x01004992 in PurpleEventCallback ()
#10     0x00dac944 in __CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_SOURCE1_PERFORM_FUNCTION__ ()
#11     0x00d0ccf7 in __CFRunLoopDoSource1 ()
#12     0x00d09f83 in __CFRunLoopRun ()
#13     0x00d09840 in CFRunLoopRunSpecific ()
#14     0x00d09761 in CFRunLoopRunInMode ()
#15     0x0001f7d2 in -[UIApplication _run] ()
#16     0x0002bc93 in UIApplicationMain ()
#17     0x000020d9 in main ()

Is this desired behavior or a bug? Should we still use the more traditional way of connecting an outlet to the root view controller in the application delegate to maintain a sane viewDidLoad/viewDidUnload ratio or should we ignore Apple’s rules and do not call super in awakeFromNib and use the new rootViewController property of UIWindow?

It looks like a bug, because it’s only reproducible in Xcode 4. I will file a bug.

See also http://shurl.at/5u (Apple Developer Forums)