xcode-select -switch doesn't work: active developer path does not exist

Question

I have installed Xcode 5 developer preview 3. Before it i had developer preview 2 and now, sometimes in my terminal I see error, for example when I try to autocomplete some commands by tab:

error: active developer path ("/Applications/Xcode5-DP2.app/Contents/Developer") does not exist, use xcode-select to change

I try to change this directory by executing command:

sudo xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode5-DP3.app/Contents/Developer

Now xcode has correct path because command

sudo xcode-select -print-path

shows me result:

 /Applications/Xcode5-DP3.app/Contents/Developer

but I still see the same error in terminal, see attached: https://dzwonsemrish7.cloudfront.net/items/120Z1S0b1Q302w3J453U/Screen%20Shot%202013-07-24%20at%2016.34.23.png?v=45e9961b

You cannot discuss that here I'm afraid until it's released. — trojanfoe, Jul 25 '13 at 08:10
It's a courtesy to the community to pick an accepted answer. — SmileBot, Jul 28 '14 at 14:46

score 46 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 08 '13 at 10:59

46

It happened to me once: xcode-select -print-path did stick to the same value and wasn't changing. It appeared that it was always equal to DEVELOPER_DIR environment variable. According to the manpage of xcode-select:

When DEVELOPER_DIR is set, its value will be used instead of the value last passed to -switch xcode_path

So, unsetting DEVELOPER_DIR makes xcode-select -switch working.

answered Sep 08 '13 at 10:59

Roland

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correct, however the difference is that xcode-select will set the current location of the Xcode.app folder globally across all users. The DEVELOPER_DIR is merely an override as in any development environment, different users could be using different versions i.e. one developer may develop using Xcode 4.x for Mountain Lion and another on 5.x for Mavericks :) – Adrian Sluyters Oct 01 '13 at 10:29
4

`unset DEVELOPER_DIR` fixed it for me. Thanks – respectTheCode Feb 20 '17 at 14:17

score 32 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 15 '14 at 15:19

32

Try changing the path in xcode itself. enter image description here

answered Mar 15 '14 at 15:19

SmileBot

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score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 05 '21 at 08:38

3

If you do a:

man xcode-select

It tells you to set the path with:

xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-DP4.app

As I've just switched to DP4 to test. That worked for me. I didn't see it point to any of the .app contents. I guess this was probably changed from previous versions...

edited Feb 05 '21 at 08:38

Community

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answered Jul 31 '13 at 09:01

Adrian Sluyters

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 10 '15 at 07:54

1

If you are running beta release. Path should be look like this.

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

answered Nov 10 '15 at 07:54

Iqbal Malik

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 09 '20 at 19:41

1

Sometimes, space characters don't allow to take path correctly. So you may prefer to use \ character to include space into the path like below;

$ sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode\ 10.2.app/Contents/Developer

answered Apr 09 '20 at 19:41

oguzhan

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 16 '16 at 15:44

I've got this error after I change the name of Xcode app. I changed Xcode app to Xcode8.1.app. Then I run command

sudo xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode8.1.app/Contents/Developer

and now everything work as beginning.

Not sure are you in my case and your problem is solved or not. Maybe help another one.

xcode-select -switch doesn't work: active developer path does not exist

6 Answers6

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