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I'm having Xcode issues when I try to use Homebrew and Git:

xcrun: error: active developer path ("/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer") does not exist, use xcode-select --switch path/to/Xcode.app to specify the Xcode that you wish to use for command line developer tools (or see man xcode-select)

I can type xcode-select and it shows that the command exists. When I type xcode-select -p it shows:

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

but when I do which xcode-select, it gives me:

/usr/bin/xcode-select

I've tried to use the command switch and install again via the Apple Developer site, but none of these options have worked so far... How can I fix this?

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13 Answers 13

Reset to default
887

I tried that, and it didn't work, but I found the answer. I just had to reset the developer's path:

sudo xcode-select --reset

Now everything is normal.

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7 Comments

--reset normally this must be run as root
Thanks. I had uninstalled xcode and installed just the command line tools because I didn't need the whole xcode package on my mac with limited space. However, I was still unable to use commands such as gcc, but after running this command, it works like a charm
I just tried it; now I'm getting "SDK "macosx" cannot be located" lol
--reset works well for me. I need only the xcode cli for php development. So I decided to remove the complete xcode from my mac, then I downloaded only the xcode CLI installer(about 170MB). After I upgrade the installed xcode CLI via app store, and applied sudo xcode-select --reset, I am able to use brewand other command line tools such as git like before. Thanks.
Is there any danger in using --reset?
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237

In my case, I had uninstalled Xcode and then issues with Git CLI started. I solved the problem running the following commands:

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

And then validating a new path with:

sudo xcode-select -p
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4 Comments

Worked for me after uninstalling xcode, saved my day
I was facing issues on Android Studio after I uninstalled XCode. Worked for me. I also had to restart Android Studio after using these commands.
This works for me after having issue with node-gyp on macOS Catalina
i got message can't install the software. with the command i got xcode-select: error: invalid developer directory '/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools'
228

Mostly this error occurs when you have installed a newer version of Xcode. And the command line tools are yet to be initialized.

To resolve this: Go under Xcode Preferences → Locations (tab) → And the bottom options is Command Line Tools. Please select the Xcode version for tools.

Example (for Xcode 10.0 (10A255)): Go under Xcode Preferences → Locations (tab) → And the bottom options is Command Line Tools. Select Xcode 10.0 (10A255).

For more details, please see this image:

Select Command Line Tools

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4 Comments

I already see it as shown in the above image, but I still see the same error on my setup. I even tried resetting. Any idea? I
To do this programmatically (I had the error because I uninstalled Xcode), sudo xcode-select --switch /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools (needs to be run as root)
I had to restart my IDE after I did this and then it worked.
The comment above is what fixed it for me
84

I have faced the same issue as I have uninstalled the Xcode abruptly. Running the below command (from Terminal) helped me to resolve this.

sudo xcode-select -switch /
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2 Comments

Check this link also if you have any other error. github.com/Homebrew/legacy-homebrew/issues/23500
This worked for me. The problem was I uninstalled xcode in my mac. The command line is somehow still tied to xcode. So I went to ~library/Developer and deleted all folders and ran this command.
48

This error is coming because Xcode gets deleted, corrupt or moved. In my case I removed Xcode from my Mac and faced the same issue.

I fixed it by executing two simple steps:

  1. Open Terminal

  2. Simply run the following command

    sudo xcode-select -r

And now the error has been resolved.

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3 Comments

It works for MacOS 12.4
This worked for me. I tried deleting XCode and reinstalling it, and gotxcrun: error: active developer path ("/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer") does not exist.
Thank you for showing remove That ...... app from that ....... OSx
36

Use this:

sudo xcode-select -switch /

This should solve the problem.

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2 Comments

Check this link also if you have any other error. github.com/Homebrew/legacy-homebrew/issues/23500
xcode-select: error: missing argument to '-switch' Usage: xcode-select [options]
19

Do what the error suggests. Try that:

xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app

That should do the trick.

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1 Comment

--switch must be run as root
7

For me it helps to install Xcode CLI,

xcode-select --install

after uninstalling Xcode (I don't develop for the OS X or iOS).

Then I could successfully build the downloaded source with make.

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3

Try the error suggestion:

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

And then test the Git executable path.

Enter image description here

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2

In my case such error occurred after I has tried to symbolicate crash report, and according to a manual, entered command export DEVELOPER_DIR=”/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer”

I tried some proposed here solutions but nothing helped.

Then I realized that I have added an environment variable DEVELOPER_DIR to my terminal and this led to error: "xcrun: error: missing DEVELOPER_DIR path:"

Then I've just reboot my terminal, that cleaned the environment variable and the error disappeared.

(FYI: environment variables may be checked with printenv command in terminal)

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2

I had the same problem and had to remove Developer tools completely, and reinstall:

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

Tip: because Xcode had been improperly uninstalled, I had to manually (re)move the Xcode app, too:

mv /Applications/Xcode.app/ /Applications/Xcode.app.bak
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1 Comment

The installation of the xcode gui app definitely was part of the issue for me. I got rid of it and re-installed xcode-select from scratch and everything started working.
1

Use this command:

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

Check this out

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3 Comments

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app (space before --) - did not work anyway
Works as expected, sudo xcode-select --switch path/to/Xcode.app is also written in the XCode errors report.
Please review Why not upload images of code/errors when asking a question? (e.g., "Images should only be used to illustrate problems that can't be made clear in any other way, such as to provide screenshots of a user interface.") and do the right thing (it covers answers as well, including textual output). Thanks in advance.
0

For my MacBook Pro M1 Apple silicon for the case, I already tried all the previous answers and it was not solved.

I have solved it by the discussion in Unable to install Xcode command line developer tools.

There is have two options to solve, in my case...

  1. I have uninstalled Xcode, because I don't need it again
  2. install standalone mode, but it doesn’t work: "can't install the software"
  3. It was solved by trying to download it manually by command line tools. Check on the discussion thread for the link file (741.5 MB).
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