Reinstall Xcode Command Line Tools Catalina

Turns out I was on an older version of clang despite both of us running the same version of macOS Catalina. Though you install the command line tools using xcode-select -install, there’s no way to force a reinstall with the tool as rerunning the command will tell you xcode-select: error: command line tools are already installed, use. How to install the Command Line Tools on macOS Catalina. Build C, C programs from Terminal. I don’t intend to install the large Xcode from the appstore. So I’ve tried to delete the existing installation of the command line tools with. Sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer. But the problem is still present. Many people suggest to go to the developer.apple.com page and to search manually for the Xcode command line tools.

2020-12-06

The Question :

I am trying to update Xcode from the command line. Initially I tried running:

which resulted in this message:

Reinstall Xcode Command Line Tools Catalina

So the question remains, is there a way to update Xcode from the command line?

  • ehow.com/how_12225687_update-xcode-terminals.html try this
  • @RohitPradhan does that work?
  • @psjv …not tried yet,
  • So obviously you can install from the app store… However I have a hunch that using a terminal command will be faster and more effecient than using the appstore (GUI?). Can anyone build on this idea? I put GUI in paranthesis because i dont know if im using the right terminology.

The Answer 1

Command
493 people think this answer is useful
Reinstall

What you are actually using is the command to install the Xcode command line tools – xcode-select --install. Hence the error message you got – the tools are already installed.

The command you need to update Xcode is softwareupdate command [args ...]. You can use softwareupdate --list to see what’s available and then softwareupdate --install -a to install all updates or softwareupdate --install <product name> to install just the Xcode update (if available). You can get the name from the list command.

As it was mentioned in the comments here is the man page for the softwareupdate tool.

2019 Update

A lot of users are experiencing problems where softwareupdate --install -a will in fact not update to the newest version of Xcode. The cause for this is more than likely a pending macOS update (as @brianlmerritt pointed out below). In most cases updating macOS first will solve the problem and allow Xcode to be updated as well.

Updating the Xcode Command Line Tools

A large portion of users are landing on this answer in an attempt to update the Xcode Command Line Tools. The easiest way to achieve this is by removing the old version of the tools, and installing the new one.

A popup will appear and guide you through the rest of the process.

The Answer 2

I had the same issue and I solved by doing the following:

  1. removing the old tools ($ sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools)
  2. install xcode command line tools again ($ xcode-select --install).

After these steps you will see a pop to install the new version of the tools.

The Answer 3

I encountered the same issue when I uninstalled the complete version of Xcode to reinstall the CLI version. My fix was:

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

The Answer 4

Just type the commands

Reinstall

Reference: https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/104296

The Answer 5

Reinstall Xcode Command Line Tools Catalina Download

I got this error after deleting Xcode. I fixed it by resetting the command line tools path with sudo xcode-select -r.

Before:

After:

The Answer 6

After installing Command Line Tools (with xcode-select --install), type:

You should be able to run git now:

The Answer 7

The Answer 8

Xcode::Install is a simple cli software that allow you to install/select a specific Xcode version.

Line

You can install it using gem install xcode-install
Then you will be able to install a specific version with xcversion install 9.4.1
And if you have more than one version installed, you can switch version with xcversion select 9.4

You can find more information at https://github.com/KrauseFx/xcode-install

The Answer 9

@Vel Genov’s answer is correct, except when the version of Xcode can’t be updated because it is the latest version for your current version of Mac OS. If you know there is a newer Xcode (for example, it won’t load an app onto a device with a recent version of iOS) then it’s necessary to first upgrade Mac OS.

Further note for those like me with old Mac Pro 5.1. Upgrading to Mojave required installing the metal gpu (Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 560 in my case) but make sure only HDMI monitor is installed (not 4K! 1080 only). Only then did install Mojave say firmware update required and shut computer down. Long 2 minute power button hold and it all upgraded fine after that!

Catalina update – softwareupdate --install -a won’t upgrade xcode from command line if there is a pending update (say you selected update xcode overnight)

The Answer 10

I was trying to use the React-Native Expo app with create-react-native-app but for some reason it would launch my simulator and just hang without loading the app. The above answer by ipinak above reset the Xcode CLI tools because attempting to update to most recent Xcode CLI was not working. the two commands are:

This process take time because of the download.I am leaving this here for any other would be searches for this specific React-Native Expo fix.

The Answer 11

Hello I solved it like this:

Install Application> Xcode.app> Contents> Resources> Packages> XcodeSystemResources.pkg.

The Answer 12

I was facing the same problem, resolved it by using the following command.

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

After running the above command then xcode-select -p command showed the following.

/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

The Answer 13

xCode version 11.2.1 is necessary for building app in iPad 13.2.3, When I directly try to upgrade from xcode 11.1 to 11.2.1 through App Store it get struck, So after some research , I found a solution to upgrade by removing the existing xcode from the system

So here I am adding the steps to upgrade after uninstalling existing xcode.

  1. Go to Applications and identify Xcode and drag it to trash.
  2. Empty trash to permenently delete Xcode.
  3. Now go to ~/Library/Developer/ folder and remove the contents completely Use sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/ to avoid any permission issue while deleting
  4. Lastly remove any cache directory associated with xcode in the path ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode/*
  5. After completing the above steps you can easly install xcode from App Store, which will install the current latest version of xcode

Note: Please take a backup of your existing projects before making the above changes

Reinstall Xcode Command Line Tools Catalina Free

The Answer 14

Reinstall Xcode Command Line Tools Catalina

To those having this issue after update to Catalina, just execute this command on your terminal