xcode-select active developer directory error

Question

Saw the following error when running an npm install which required node-gyp... but could be triggered by anything which requires xcode-select.

xcode-select: error: tool 'xcodebuild' requires Xcode, but active developer directory '/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools' is a command line tools instance

What is the problem?

Answer 1

This problem happens when xcode-select developer directory was pointing to /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools when a full regular Xcode was required (happens when CommandLineTools are installed after Xcode)

Solution:

1. Install Xcode (get it from https://appstore.com/mac/apple/xcode) if you don't have it yet.
2. Accept the Terms and Conditions.
3. Ensure Xcode app is in the /Applications directory (NOT /Users/{user}/Applications).
4. Point xcode-select to the Xcode app Developer directory using the following command:
   sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Note: Make sure your Xcode app path is correct.

• Xcode: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
• Xcode-beta: /Applications/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer

Answer 2

I was having an issue while trying to install packages using npm. I got the error: "sudo xcode-select -s /Applications//Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/"

To fix this

• I opened Xcode.
• Preferences
• Locations
• Selected the Command Lin Tools: Xcode 6.1.1

Now when installing packages with npm I no longer get errors.

Answer 3

Other solution for those who don't want to install Xcode:

1. Install Command Line Tools (if you haven't already):

   xcode-select --install

2. Change the active directory:

   sudo xcode-select -switch /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

This worked for me (git).

Answer 4

Xcode > Preferences > Locations > Command Line Tools

Select the option matching your version of Xcode.

Answer 5

Simply run sudo xcode-select -r which should automatically reset the path.

 -r, --reset
              Unsets any user-specified developer directory, so that the developer directory will be found via the default search mechanism. This command must  be
              run with superuser permissions (see sudo(8)), and will affect all users on the system.

Answer 6

I just ran the following command and the issue was resolved for me:

sudo xcode-select --reset

Answer 7

if you installed XCode already, All you have to do is to...

• Open XCode
• Go To Xcode → Preferences → Locations
• From the Command Line Tools Select your Xcode

Answer 8

Type this in your terminal

xcode-select --install
sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcodebuild -license accept

Answer 9

I had to run this first

sudo xcode-select --reset

then

sudo xcode-select -switch /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

and then it worked.

Answer 10

Just in case you're using xcode beta:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-Beta.app/Contents/Developer

Answer 11

1. Download Xcode from App Store.

2. Go to Xcode preferences/Locations/CommandlineTools

   You just have to set it to the Xcode version. It automatically points to '/Application/Xcode.app'

Answer 12

I was having the same problem in high sierra. running the following command solved it

npm explore npm -g -- npm install node-gyp@latest

Answer 13

All I did which worked is run the command on the terminal:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Answer 14

Simple reinstall xcode-select

sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
xcode-select --install

Answer 15

Please follow the steps below :

1. The latest version of Xcode can be downloaded from https://developer.apple.com/xcode/download/
2. It will be downloaded in the 'Downloads' unless specified otherwise. Please make sure to check the path where you have downloaded and extracted the Xcode
3. Now unlike other downloaded applications, on extraction, Xcode doesn't give the option to move it to Applications
4. Note the XCODE-ACTUAL-LOCATION or move it to the Applications
5. Note if you have downloaded Xcode or Xcode-beta

Based on 4 and 5, execute one of the commands (Do not execute all of them without reading above description):

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcode-select -s /[XCODE-ACTUAL-LOCATION]/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcode-select -s /[XCODE-ACTUAL-LOCATION]/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer

Answer 16

Install Xcode from App Store. After installing run xcodebuild with root privileges i.e. sudo xcodebuild and accept the language. After this npm install bcrypt worked like a charm!

Answer 17

Without Xcode: create file /usr/local/bin/xcodebuild with content to cheat XcodeSelect

  #!/bin/bash
  exit 0

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/xcodebuild

Answer 18

In case you are using Xcode beta, run

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer 

instead of

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Answer 19

I was able to solve this error without installing the full Xcode application. You must, however, have xcode command line tools installed.

From here:

1. $ cd /usr/bin
2. $ sudo mv xcodebuild xcodebuild.orig (A backup just in case)
3. $ vim xcodebuild
4. Paste the following:

#!/bin/bash
if [[ $1 == '-version' ]]; then
  echo "Xcode 10.2.1"
  echo "Build version 10E1001"
else
  /usr/bin/xcodebuild.bak $@
fi

5. $ sudo chmod +x xcodebuild

Answer 20

XCode2: sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode\ 2.app/Contents/Developer

Pay attention to the "\" to escape the space

Answer 21

I had two instance of Xcode installed xcode.app and xcode-beta.app When I tried to create a build with netbeans it showed me the error "supported version of xcode and command line tools not found netbeans"

I followed the following steps:

1. "xcode-select --print-path" is equal to "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer"
2. "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform" exists
3. "xcodebuild -version" starts with "Xcode"

after 1 I found that it is pointing me to xcode-beta.app

so here is the solution which worked like a charm:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Answer 22

For context, today is Jan 28, 2019.

On my Mac, I did two things to resolve this problem:

1. Run the following command in your terminal:
   sudo xcode-select --install

2. Restart your Mac.

Until I restarted the computer, the problem kept occurring in my Android Studio. After reboot, it was working just fine. Also note that I did not execute any --switch commands as others are doing. I hope this helps.

Answer 23

Manually installing Command LineTool worked for me.

1. I stalled xcode through App Store
2. Still could not download Homebrew
3. I installed Command Line Tool manually through link.
4. Bing Bang Boom

https://developer.apple.com/download/more/?=command%20line%20tools

Answer 24

For those using a newer version of Xcode (I'm using 14.3), you need to install command Line tools. I suggest two ways.

1. Either run this command on terminal:

   xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch xcode-select --install

2. Or download the installable DMG file (command line tools for Xcode 14.3) from this link and install it.

I stumbled upon this issue when trying to install brew on macOS 13.3.

Answer 25

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode 10.app/Contents/Developer

languoguangs-iMac:/ languoguang$ sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode 10.app/Contents/Developer
xcode-select: error: invalid argument '10.app/Contents/Developer'
Usage: xcode-select [options]

Print or change the path to the active developer directory. This directory
controls which tools are used for the Xcode command line tools (for example, 
xcodebuild) as well as the BSD development commands (such as cc and make).

Options:
  -h, --help                  print this help message and exit
  -p, --print-path            print the path of the active developer directory
  -s <path>, --switch <path>  set the path for the active developer directory
  --install                   open a dialog for installation of the command line developer tools
  -v, --version               print the xcode-select version
  -r, --reset                 reset to the default command line tools path
languoguangs-iMac:/ languoguang$ sudo xcode-select -s "/Applications/Xcode 10.app/Contents/Developer"

because my Xcode name in Application is "Xcode 10",

sudo xcode-select -s "/Applications/Xcode 10.app/Contents/Developer"

works.

Answer 26

In my case,

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer 

didn't work because my Xcode had some special name. eg) Xcode_11.2.0_beta_2_stackoverflow.app

cd /applications
ls

Then I found my Xcode name, then replace it with

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/{myXcodeName}.app/Contents/Developer 

It worked for me.

Answer 27

None of the above worked for me. I originally installed Command Line Tools separately, and then all of Xcode. What worked for me was to uninstall Command Line Tools as shown here. Then, when trying to run xcode-select again, I was asked to reinstall them.

*By the way, the very reason why I found this thread was because I had installed some libraries (particularly gcc) with macports, presumably using the old Command Line Tools, and then I installed the full Xcode midway into development. So anyways, for my case, I had to reinstall macports after removing the stand-alone Command Line Tools, reinstalling them, reinstalling gcc, and then my compilation worked.

Answer 28

There are only two steps required, and the full XCode.app is not required at all:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools
xcode-select --install

At this point the "Installing Softwre" dialog pops up:

That's it!

Answer 29

None of the above solutions helped me. I was working on an old project, and I had the latest version of NodeJs installed globally (v14.x) on my computer.

No node version above 10.1.x worked for me and when testing I received the same error as above.

Solution

• I installed "n" which is a nodeJs version manager like nvm
• I downgraded my nodeJs version to 9.x
• npm install now works.

I will now need to update my versions, or Specify my node version in my package.json.

Answer 30

The simple fix that worked for me is drag and drop Xcode.app from the current location (In my case it was in downloads) to Applications.