Command Line Tools not working - OS X El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave

562
votes

I just upgraded from Yosemite to El Capitan (and replicated the problem upgrading from El Capitan to Sierra), and when I try to type for example git status inside a terminal, I get the following error:

xcrun: error: invalid active developer path
 (/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools), missing xcrun at:
 /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/xcrun

I don't have Xcode installed, never did. Anyone have a solution?

15
macosmacos-sierraosx-elcapitanmacos-high-sierra
What does "which git" tell you? ...and maybe "file `which git`"? – Phillip Mills
which git responds to /usr/bin/git, and "file which git" to /usr/bin/git: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64 – rista404
That sounds good. Sorry, I don't know how xcrun is getting into this. – Phillip Mills
I had some similar problems, turns out was related to accepting the license agreement ( during the upgrade I was presented with the license dialogue but it wouldn't respond to clicks and I had to restart) once it was running again I had to start Xcode to accept the license. – TygerKrash
I am getting error in terminal "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)" on 10.11.5 how to fix? – Avijit Nagare

15 Answers

1122
votes

Found the fix for the problem here.

xcode-select --install

This will bring up a prompt to install the necessary command line tools.

85
votes

If you have issues with the xcode-select --install command; e.g. I kept getting a network problem timeout, then try downloading the dmg at developer.apple.com/downloads (Command line tools OS X 10.11) for Xcode 7.1

9
votes

In macOS 10.14 this issue may also occur if you have two or more versions installed. If you like xCode GUI you can do it by going into preferences - CMD + ,, selecting Locations tab and choosing version of Command Line Tools. Please refer to the attached print screen.

enter image description here

7
votes

I tried the solution xcode-select --install but it don't help me, I update from Sierra to High and happened this, my solution:

sudo xcode-select --reset
5
votes

Reassigning the path Xcode is configured with worked for me.

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

You'll then likely be prompted (after trying a command) to agree to the license agreement.

3
votes

For me, after I've removed Xcode, I have to switch active developer path as follows: sudo xcode-select -s /

3
votes

I had the same issue after upgrading to macOS Catalina. This didn't work for me:

xcode-select --install

Downloading and installing Command Line Tools for Xcode 12 did it!

enter image description here

2
votes

I just updated to High Sierra and I couldn't just run xcode-select --install. First, I had to actually install xcode from the app store. Then I ran xcode-select --install. Then I had to run sudo xcodebuild -license, agree to the terms, then I could finally run git commands again.

2
votes

Updated to High Sierra 10.13.2

xcode-select --install ALONE did not work for me.

  1. Download X-code from app store

  2. $xcode-select --install
    a. May need to update after install using softwareupdate in command line. $sudo softwareupdate -i "Command Line Tools (macOS High Sierra version 10.13) for Xcode-9.1"

  3. $sudo xcodebuild -license

2
votes

For Mojave

Uninstall Any old version of Command Line Tools:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

Download and Install Command Line Tools 10.14 Mojave.

1
votes

For those also having issues with heroku command line tools after upgrading, I also had to do the following in my terminal:

xcode-select --install 
brew install heroku/brew/heroku
brew link --overwrite heroku

It seems the upgrade to High Sierra messed with my symlinks in addition to forcing me to reinstall xcode tools. I kept getting 'not a directory' errors: 

▸ stat /Users/mattymc/.local/share/heroku/client/bin/heroku: not a directory  
▸ fork/exec /Users/mattmcinnis/.local/share/heroku/client/bin/heroku: not a directory

Hope that saves someone an hour :)

1
votes

After update to macOS 10.13.3

After updating do macOS 10.13, I had to install "Command Line Tools (macOS 10.13) for Xcode 9.3" downloaded from https://developer.apple.com/download/more/

1
votes

I upgraded mac os to macOS High Sierra - 10.13.3 and faced a similar issue while trying to install watchman (with command - brew install watchman).

ran the command: xcode-select --install, then ran "brew install watchman" - Everything works fine!

1
votes

For the most recent version Mojave version 10.14.1, I use

solved by downloaded from https://developer.apple.com/download/more/ " login by apple id, and download

Command line tool newest stable version.dmg

That makes everything work

the old answer 

xcode-select --install

doesn't work for me.

-1
votes

Even if you do xcode-select --install it was not fixing that for me as it showed some network error. The problem was that it could not connect to the app store. I did the following to fix it.

  1. Open keystore
  2. Go to system root and select certificates.
  3. Open digicert high assurance EV.
  4. Expand the trust section, mark it as never trust.
  5. Restart system now repeat step 1, 2, 3. and mark the trust policy as back to use system defaults.

Your app store should work now and you should be able to run xcode-select --install