XCODE-SELECT(1) BSD General Commands Manual XCODE-SELECT(1)
NAME
xcode-select - Manages the active developer directory for Xcode and BSD
tools.
SYNOPSIS
xcode-select [-h|--help] [-s|--switch <path>] [-p|--print-path]
[-v|--version]
DESCRIPTION
xcode-select controls the location of the developer directory used by
xcrun(1), xcodebuild(1), cc(1), and other Xcode and BSD development
tools. This also controls the locations that are searched for by man(1)
for developer tool manpages.
This allows you to easily switch between different versions of the
Xcode tools and can be used to update the path to the Xcode if it is
moved after installation.
Usage
When multiple Xcode applications are installed on a system (e.g.
/Applications/Xcode.app, containing the latest Xcode, and
/Applications/Xcode-beta.app containing a beta) use xcode-select
--switch path/to/Xcode.app to specify the Xcode that you wish to use
for command line developer tools.
After setting a developer directory, all of the xcode-select provided
developer tool shims (see FILES) will automatically invoke the version
of the tool inside the selected developer directory. Your own scripts,
makefiles, and other tools can also use xcrun(1) to easily lookup tools
inside the active developer directory, making it easy to switch them
between different versions of the Xcode tools and allowing them to
function properly on systems where the Xcode application has been
installed to a non-default location.
OPTIONS
-h, --help
Prints the usage message.
-s <path>, --switch <path>
Sets the active developer directory to the given path, for
example /Applications/Xcode-beta.app. This command must be run
with superuser permissions (see sudo(8)), and will affect all
users on the system. To set the path without superuser
permissions or only for the current shell session, use the
DEVELOPER_DIR environment variable instead (see ENVIRONMENT).
-p, --print-path
Prints the path to the currently selected developer directory.
This is useful for inspection, but scripts and other tools
should use xcrun(1) to locate tool inside the active developer
directory.
-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.
-v, --version
Prints xcode-select version information.
--install
Opens a user interface dialog to request automatic installation
of the command line developer tools.
ENVIRONMENT
DEVELOPER_DIR
Overrides the active developer directory. When DEVELOPER_DIR is set,
its value will be used instead of the system-wide active developer
directory.
Note that for historical reason, the developer directory is
considered to be the Developer content directory inside the Xcode
application (for example
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer). You can set the
environment variable to either the actual Developer contents
directory, or the Xcode application directory -- the xcode-select
provided shims will automatically convert the environment variable
into the full Developer content path.
EXAMPLES
xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
Select /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer as the active
developer directory.
xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app
As above, selects /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer as the
active developer directory. The Developer content directory is
automatically inferred by xcode-select.
/usr/bin/xcodebuild
Runs xcodebuild out of the active developer directory.
/usr/bin/xcrun --find xcodebuild
Use xcrun to locate xcodebuild inside the active developer
directory.
env DEVELOPER_DIR="/Applications/Xcode-beta.app" /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Execute xcodebuild using an alternate developer directory.
FILES
/usr/bin/xcrun
Used to find or run arbitrary commands from the active developer
directory. See xcrun(1) for more information.
/usr/bin/actool /usr/bin/agvtool /usr/bin/desdp /usr/bin/genstrings
/usr/bin/ibtool /usr/bin/ictool /usr/bin/opendiff /usr/bin/pip3
/usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/sdef /usr/bin/sdp /usr/bin/stapler
/usr/bin/xcodebuild /usr/bin/xcscontrol /usr/bin/xcsdiagnose
/usr/bin/xctrace /usr/bin/xed
Runs the matching Xcode tool from with the active developer
directory.
/usr/bin/DeRez /usr/bin/GetFileInfo /usr/bin/ResMerger /usr/bin/Rez
/usr/bin/SetFile /usr/bin/SplitForks /usr/bin/ar /usr/bin/as
/usr/bin/asa /usr/bin/bm4 /usr/bin/bison /usr/bin/c89 /usr/bin/c99
/usr/bin/clang++ /usr/bin/clang /usr/bin/clangd /usr/bin/cmpdylib
/usr/bin/codesign_allocate /usr/bin/cpp /usr/bin/ctags
/usr/bin/ctf_insert /usr/bin/dsymutil /usr/bin/dwarfdump
/usr/bin/dyld_info /usr/bin/flex++ /usr/bin/flex /usr/bin/g++
/usr/bin/gatherheaderdoc /usr/bin/gcc /usr/bin/gcov
/usr/bin/git-receive-pack /usr/bin/git-shell
/usr/bin/git-upload-archive /usr/bin/git-upload-pack /usr/bin/git
/usr/bin/gm4 /usr/bin/gnumake /usr/bin/gperf /usr/bin/hdxml2manxml
/usr/bin/headerdoc2html /usr/bin/indent /usr/bin/install_name_tool
/usr/bin/ld /usr/bin/lex /usr/bin/libtool /usr/bin/lipo /usr/bin/lldb
/usr/bin/lorder /usr/bin/m4 /usr/bin/make /usr/bin/mig /usr/bin/nm
/usr/bin/nmedit /usr/bin/objdump /usr/bin/otool /usr/bin/pagestuff
/usr/bin/ranlib /usr/bin/resolveLinks /usr/bin/rpcgen /usr/bin/segedit
/usr/bin/size /usr/bin/strings /usr/bin/strip /usr/bin/swift
/usr/bin/swiftc /usr/bin/unifdef /usr/bin/unifdefall /usr/bin/vtool
/usr/bin/xml2man /usr/bin/yacc
Runs the matching BSD tool from with the active developer directory.
SEE ALSO
xcrun(1), xcodebuild(1)
HISTORY
The xcode-select command first appeared in Xcode 3.0.
Mac OS X June 24, 2019 XCODE-SELECT(1)