Invalid active developer path on MAC OS X after installing Ruby

Question

I get this error:

xcrun: error: invalid active developer path (/Applications/Xcode.app), missing xcrun at: /Applications/Xcode.app/usr/bin/xcrun

This solution works, but the error occurs again after closing my terminal and reopening it; I then have to run the same commands every time I open a new terminal window.

How can I apply these changes such that they will save after closing the terminal window out?

Ilanailangilang

Answer 1

Partial diagnosis: https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg/issues/8781#issuecomment-547248760

It seems that upgrading from one MacOS version to another either uninstalls some dev tools or it moves them to another path, and this breaks compatibility with any tool using the environment variable that points to the old location where the tools were located.

sudo xcode-select --install

Using the install command worked for me, but it is not clear whether this simply downloaded and unpacked files and then skipped installation and simply updated an environment variable or whether it physically installed the files at the expected path. (Or it could have made links to the new folder path).

Testing my theory, I probe the folder structure with ls (I should have done this before using the install command):

rej@Ryans-MacBook-Air:~$ ls /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/
rej@Ryans-MacBook-Air:~$ ls -la /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/
total 243776
drwxr-xr-x  124 root  wheel   3.9K Oct 28 23:03 ./
drwxr-xr-x    7 root  admin   224B Oct 28 23:05 ../
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    64B Oct 28 23:03 2to3@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/2to3
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    68B Oct 28 23:03 2to3-3.7@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/2to3-3.7
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   116K Sep  5 22:51 DeRez*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    31K Sep  5 22:51 GetFileInfo*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    33K Sep  5 22:51 ResMerger*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   126K Sep  5 22:51 Rez*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    31K Sep  5 22:51 SetFile*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    32K Sep  5 22:51 SplitForks*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    41K Sep  5 22:51 ar*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    40K Sep  5 22:51 as*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    27K Sep  5 22:51 asa*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   216K Sep  5 22:51 bison*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   159K Sep  5 22:51 bitcode_strip*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     5B Oct 28 23:03 c++@ -> clang
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  admin    31K Sep  5 22:51 c89*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  admin    31K Sep  5 22:51 c99*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     5B Oct 28 23:03 cc@ -> clang
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    80M Sep  5 22:51 clang*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     5B Oct 28 23:03 clang++@ -> clang
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   125K Sep  5 22:51 cmpdylib*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   154K Sep  5 22:51 codesign_allocate*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    17B Oct 28 23:03 codesign_allocate-p@ -> codesign_allocate
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  admin   3.3K Aug 16 06:55 cpp*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    36K Sep  5 22:51 ctags*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   150K Sep  5 22:51 ctf_insert*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    30M Sep  5 22:51 dsymutil*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    14B Oct 28 23:03 dwarfdump@ -> llvm-dwarfdump
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   477K Sep  5 22:51 dwarfdump-classic*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   211K Sep  5 22:51 dyldinfo*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   239B Sep  5 19:18 easy_install-3.7*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   572K Sep  5 22:51 flex*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   572K Sep  5 22:51 flex++*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     3B Oct 28 23:03 g++@ -> gcc
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   101K Aug 16 07:31 gatherheaderdoc*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  admin    27K Sep  5 22:51 gcc*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     8B Oct 28 23:03 gcov@ -> llvm-cov
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   2.4M Sep  5 22:51 git*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     3B Oct 28 23:03 git-receive-pack@ -> git
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   1.4M Sep  5 22:51 git-shell*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     3B Oct 28 23:03 git-upload-archive@ -> git
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     3B Oct 28 23:03 git-upload-pack@ -> git
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   148K Sep  5 22:51 gm4*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   166K Sep  5 22:51 gnumake*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    98K Sep  5 22:51 gperf*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    33K Sep  5 22:51 hdxml2manxml*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   158K Aug 16 07:31 headerdoc2html*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    73K Sep  5 22:51 indent*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   142K Sep  5 22:51 install_name_tool*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   2.5M Sep  5 22:51 ld*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   230B Aug 16 07:13 lex*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   163K Sep  5 22:51 libtool*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    73K Sep  5 22:51 lipo*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   332K Sep  5 22:51 lldb*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   3.6M Sep  5 22:51 llvm-cov*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   7.9M Sep  5 22:51 llvm-dwarfdump*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   9.8M Sep  5 22:51 llvm-nm*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    11M Sep  5 22:51 llvm-objdump*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    40K Sep  5 22:51 llvm-otool*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   1.6M Sep  5 22:51 llvm-profdata*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   2.9M Sep  5 22:51 llvm-size*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   3.5K Aug 16 07:19 lorder*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   148K Sep  5 22:51 m4*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   166K Sep  5 22:51 make*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   7.7K Aug 16 07:16 mig*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     7B Oct 28 23:03 nm@ -> llvm-nm
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   142K Sep  5 22:51 nm-classic*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   171K Sep  5 22:51 nmedit*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    12B Oct 28 23:03 objdump@ -> llvm-objdump
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    10B Oct 28 23:03 otool@ -> llvm-otool
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   644K Sep  5 22:51 otool-classic*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   138K Sep  5 22:51 pagestuff*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   221B Sep  5 19:18 pip3*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   221B Sep  5 19:18 pip3.7*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    32K Sep  5 22:51 projectInfo*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    66B Oct 28 23:03 pydoc3@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/pydoc3
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    68B Oct 28 23:03 pydoc3.7@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/pydoc3.7
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    67B Oct 28 23:03 python3@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python3
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    74B Oct 28 23:03 python3-config@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python3-config
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    69B Oct 28 23:03 python3.7@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python3.7
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    76B Oct 28 23:03 python3.7-config@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python3.7-config
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    70B Oct 28 23:03 python3.7m@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python3.7m
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    77B Oct 28 23:03 python3.7m-config@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python3.7m-config
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    66B Oct 28 23:03 pyvenv@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/pyvenv
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    70B Oct 28 23:03 pyvenv-3.7@ -> ../../Library/Frameworks/Python3.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/pyvenv-3.7
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     7B Oct 28 23:03 ranlib@ -> libtool
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    70K Sep  5 22:51 resolveLinks*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    85K Sep  5 22:51 rpcgen*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    56K Sep  5 22:51 segedit*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    12B Oct 28 23:03 size@ -> size-classic
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   125K Sep  5 22:51 size-classic*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  admin   138K Sep  5 22:51 stapler*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   126K Sep  5 22:51 strings*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   179K Sep  5 22:51 strip*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   330K Sep  5 22:51 svn*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   118K Sep  5 22:51 svnadmin*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   105K Sep  5 22:51 svnbench*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    64K Sep  5 22:51 svndumpfilter*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    71K Sep  5 22:51 svnfsfs*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    98K Sep  5 22:51 svnlook*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    70K Sep  5 22:51 svnmucc*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    89K Sep  5 22:51 svnrdump*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   122K Sep  5 22:51 svnserve*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    90K Sep  5 22:51 svnsync*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    44K Sep  5 22:51 svnversion*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    90M Sep  5 22:51 swift*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     5B Oct 28 23:03 swift-autolink-extract@ -> swift
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  admin   6.1M Sep  5 22:51 swift-build*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  admin   734K Sep  5 22:51 swift-build-tool*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   687K Sep  5 22:51 swift-demangle*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     5B Oct 28 23:03 swift-format@ -> swift
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  admin   6.1M Sep  5 22:51 swift-package*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  admin   6.1M Sep  5 22:51 swift-run*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    61K Sep  5 22:51 swift-stdlib-tool*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  admin   6.1M Sep  5 22:51 swift-test*
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel     5B Oct 28 23:03 swiftc@ -> swift
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    12M Sep  5 22:51 tapi*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    41K Sep  5 22:51 unifdef*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   2.9K Aug 16 07:19 unifdefall*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    63K Sep  5 22:51 unwinddump*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    49K Sep  5 22:51 vtool*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel    45K Sep  5 22:51 xml2man*
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root  wheel   135B Aug 16 07:22 yacc*

It is apparent that the files are physically located at that folder location and the installer installed missing components. The fact that MacOS's upgrade process uninstalls my development environment is unfriendly and Apple should be reprimanded.

Addax

Answer 2

I started getting the same error after updating to OS X El Capitan.
In my case, all I did was to install it:

sudo xcode-select --install

And it works fine for me.

Deedeeann

xcode-select: error: command line tools are already installed, use "Software Update" to install updates – Canterbury

For command line tools are already installed issue, this should work : 1. removing the old tools ($ 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. – Deedeeann

Have to restart IntelliJ after running this command before it stops displaying this error. – Zincography

Answer 3

The steps below are for OS X 10.10 (Yosemite). Those experiencing this because of an upgrade to 10.11 (El Capitan) seem need to only run sudo xcode-select --install as described in the accepted answer.

I found a suggestion here which indicated

sudo xcode-select -switch /

as the fix. However, this threw an error that the developer path was invalid.

Instead, for me, I modified this to

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

(which is a mixture of the two referenced link solutions) and this worked.

Try using

xcode-select --print-path

to find your developer path if /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/ is still invalid for you.

Ilanailangilang

I'm also getting xcode-select: error: invalid developer directory '/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/' Error,(I'm on MAC El Capitan) – Tungus

@mikedroid Try using 'xcode-select --print-path' to find your path, and then replace the bit after '-switch' with that – Ilanailangilang

I tried using xcode-select --install but it prompted : xcode-select: error: command line tools are already installed, use "Software Update" to install updates – Canterbury

@DanutPralea - Just use sudo Xcode-select -switch /, instead of using the developer path. I'm on Capitan and this worked for me. – Mra

This happens when you change path for Xcode. This solved my issue. – Farhi

Answer 4

I know this is quite old but I got the same issue and then I fixed it by doing couple more extra steps. Problem came when Terminal could not find the actual path of the Command Line Tools.

1. If you had Xcode and then removed it, then Terminal is referring to the Command Line Tools inside the Xcode folder. Try using this command and check what your path is, xcode-select --print-path. This would most likely print /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer.
2. Now to fix this, reinstall the command line tools for xcode. Initially remove any previous installations using sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools.
3. Then install the command line tools sudo xcode-select --install Now the final step, change the path for the CLT to the actual path using sudo xcode-select -switch /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/ this will fix it.

Cuirassier

Answer 5

I resolved the issue with the below steps.

Xcode -> Preferences -> Locations -> Command Line Tools -> Select the command tool matching your Xcode version.

Stenography

Answer 6

I started getting the same error after i update macOS Mojave to macOS Catalina.

I just installed few command lines in Terminal,

1. $ sudo gem install cocoapods
2. $ sudo xcode-select --install
3. $ chsh -s /bin/zsh

Then, goto Xcode -> Preferences -> Locations -> Command Line Tools and confirm you have current Xcode version selected there.

Etana

Answer 7

For me the solution was as easy as reinstalling Xcode.

It was pointed out here: https://superuser.com/a/981126

You can (re)install Xcode via command line like the answer above suggest, or directly from the App Store.

Battalion

Answer 8

I too had the same issue after upgrading to OS X EI Captian. I just installed xcode-select using sudo xcode-select --install

Hollingshead

Answer 9

sudo xcode-select -switch / works for me.

Otisotitis

Answer 10

I had faced the same issue when i removed one of the two Xcode installed.

I have solve this issue by Switching the path using terminal like below

$ sudo xcode-select --switch (drag Xcode here to get a path)

e.g sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode\ 10.1.app

Dent

Answer 11

I got a similar error running Homebrew for the first time after upgrading from macOS Mojave v10.14 to Catalina v10.15.

It's never a good idea to run commands without understanding what's wrong with your installation of Homebrew and what the commands actually do. Your first and best option is to run brew doctor. This command will not only tell you if something is wrong but also how to fix the problem. In my case it showed:

Warning: Your Xcode is configured with an invalid path.
You should change it to the correct path:
  sudo xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode.app

Once you fix the problem(s), run brew doctor again. Basically, repeat the process until you get the all clear message.

In some cases, you get something like:

Unbrewed dylibs/header files/static libraries were found in /usr/local/....

This will happen if you've installed software outside Homebrew that also use the same location to store their files. In many cases, it's safe to ignore these warnings.

Neils