'xcode-select active developer directory error

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:^[1]

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

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

xcode-select --install
Change the active directory:

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

This worked for me (git).

Solution 2:^[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.

Solution 3:^[3]

Xcode > Preferences > Locations > Command Line Tools

Select the option matching your version of Xcode.

Solution 4:^[4]

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.

Solution 5:^[5]

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

sudo xcode-select --reset

Solution 6:^[6]

Type this in your terminal

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

Solution 7:^[7]

Just in case you're using xcode beta:

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

Solution 8:^[8]

I had to run this first

sudo xcode-select --reset

then

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

and then it worked.

Solution 9:^[9]

Download Xcode from App Store.

Go to Xcode preferences/Locations/CommandlineTools

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

Solution 10:^[10]

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

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

Solution 11:^[11]

Please follow the steps below :

The latest version of Xcode can be downloaded from https://developer.apple.com/xcode/download/
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
Now unlike other downloaded applications, on extraction, Xcode doesn't give the option to move it to Applications
Note the XCODE-ACTUAL-LOCATION or move it to the Applications
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

Solution 12:^[12]

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!

Solution 13:^[13]

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

  #!/bin/bash
  exit 0

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/xcodebuild

Solution 14:^[14]

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

Solution 15:^[15]

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

From here:

$ cd /usr/bin

$ sudo mv xcodebuild xcodebuild.orig (A backup just in case)

$ vim xcodebuild

Paste the following:

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

$ sudo chmod +x xcodebuild

Solution 16:^[16]

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

Pay attention to the "\" to escape the space

Solution 17:^[17]

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:

"xcode-select --print-path" is equal to "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer"
"/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform" exists
"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

Solution 18:^[18]

For context, today is Jan 28, 2019.

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

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

Solution 19:^[19]

Simple reinstall xcode-select

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

Solution 20:^[20]

Manually installing Command LineTool worked for me.

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

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

Solution 21:^[21]

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.

Solution 22:^[22]

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.

Solution 23:^[23]

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.

Solution 24:^[24]

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!

Solution 25:^[25]

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.

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution	Source
Solution 1	Indamix
Solution 2	jay.tech66
Solution 3	shim
Solution 4	chunkyguy
Solution 5
Solution 6	kometen
Solution 7	Andrey Deineko
Solution 8	Hamoonist
Solution 9	Rahul Shenoy
Solution 10	Madbreaks
Solution 11	Nikhil Maheshwari
Solution 12
Solution 13	javamonk
Solution 14	nyedidikeke
Solution 15	JBis
Solution 16	turibbio
Solution 17	bummi
Solution 18	Community
Solution 19	Semir Hodzic
Solution 20	Abdullah Aden
Solution 21	Languoguang
Solution 22	Jaeseok An
Solution 23
Solution 24	Mark Richman
Solution 25	Sweet Chilly Philly

'xcode-select active developer directory error

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