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?

Solution 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

Solution 2

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).

Solution 3

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.

Solution 4

Xcode > Preferences > Locations > Command Line Tools

Select the option matching your version of Xcode.

Solution 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.

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