Do you want to uninstall XCode? There are simple steps for uninstalling advanced versions of Xcode. Removing the old model of Xcode is covered as well, this is a full guide to uninstall Xcode from any Mac besides model and Mac OS X release.
Xcode is Apple’s developer that suite for Mac OS X or iOS. Also, it’s important if you want to write apps for OS and installing it adds lots of other essential utilities besides main IDE itself. The extra features include things like the Interface Builder, Quartz Composer, iPhone Simulator, Dashcode, gcc, python, dtrace, Perl, Ruby, and much more that use beyond core iOS and Mac OS X development. Also, it adds valuable utilities to administrators or tweakers toolkits.
Installing Xcode is like downloading or installing it from the Mac App Store, but what if you like to erase Xcode?
How to remove Xcode depends on what model you are trying to delete from the Mac. We cover deleting the latest model of Xcode first, then cover removing the older versions of the app as well.
How To Uninstall Xcode 10/9/8, etc from Mac OS X
If you want to uninstall the latest model of Xcode is much like removing any other app from the Mac:
Step 1:
Move to the /Applications/ folder and locate the “Xcode” application
Step 2:
Drag “XCode” to the Trash and empty the trash after right-tapping on the Trash icon and select ‘Empty Trash’
Then you might want to remove the user Developer tools folder, found at the following location. Remember it includes user developer data, so don’t want this if you have projects and other data in Xcode that you can’t back up elsewhere or you alternatively care about:
The directory is ~/Library/Developer/, the user folder should contain “Xcode” and “CoreSimulator” folders:
Step 1:
Head over to the user home directory and move to Library
Step 2:
Then visit the “Developer” folder and remove it
Trashing those folders with the apps should back up about 11GB of disk space from OS X or Mac will no longer have Xcode. After installed command-line tools, they can’t be impacted by removing Xcode itself.
Update: Our readers claims that Xcode 4.3 simplifies the process after bundling Xcode into a single application. Therefore, this article is most relevant to older models. XCode 4.3 and later models also uninstall like any other Mac app, whereas older models of XCode needs the manual process outlined below.
Fully Uninstall Xcode from Mac OS X
Keep in mind that uninstalling Xcode is quite different for earlier releases of the app. The below directions are still valid for all models of Xcode, however, and you’ll find that it is not the same as uninstalling general Mac apps. Because Xcode has a larger footprint, so if you want to uninstall Xcode you want to venture into the command line.
This will delete everything pertaining to Xcode from a Mac:
Step 1:
Head over to the Terminal and launch it. Here you found in /Applications/Utilities/ and input the following:
sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=all
Step 2:
Confirm the admin password and allow the scripts to execute.
Remember to Remove the Install Xcode Application
After you uninstall Xcode, the real Install Xcode app is still sitting in your /Applications/ folder as downloaded from the Mac App Store. Remember to remove this too alternatively you are wasting the disk space of 1.8GB.
Reason To Uninstall Xcode?
The main reason is that Xcode takes up a lot of storage space, generally, a minimum of 7GB of disk space is consumed after the installation. Also, the installer app is another 1.8GB, that’s a lot of storage disk space capacity consume by something that is potentially getting no use.
Now here are the basic process of uninstalling everything to do with Xcode and why some people would advantage from doing so. We’ll move to some more particular information and some other uninstall choices that could be essential to some users.
Initially, the above uninstall command with -mode=all execute 3 scripts making the uninstallation process simpler. However, for those who are anxious those separate scripts are:
/Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools
/Library/Developer/4.1/uninstall-devtools
/Developer/Library/uninstall-developer-folder
These don’t want to run independently, although you must pick to do so if you wanted to, more on that below.
If you like to uninstall parts of Xcode besides everything, use the commands below. These are not important if you execute the above –mode=all command.
Methods To Uninstall Xcode:
Uninstall Unix Development Toolkit
If you only like to erase the command line side of things, you can do so with this command:
sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=unixdev
This is linked to the above-mentioned “/Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools” script. Personally, I think the Unix toolkit is one of the most essential aspects of installing Xcode.
Uninstall Developer Folder and Contents Only
This will keep other features of Xcode intact but will erase everything within the /Developer directory:
sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=xcodedir
Basically, the command is a shortcut to the earlier mentioned “/Developer/Library/uninstall-developer-folder” script. If you wish to ditch the /Developer directory, execute this command besides manually removing it through the Finder.
System Support
Well, uninstall Xcode’s system support only (not recommended):
sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools --mode=systemsupport
This command just execute the following scripts: “/Library/Developer/Shared/uninstall-devtools” and “/Library/Developer/4.1/uninstall-devtools”
Data files locations
The set of Xcode related data, that you might want to backup or remove if you are uninstalling Xcode from a Mac, are the following files or locations:
/Application/Xcode.app
-
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode
-
~/Library/Developer
-
~/Library/MobileDevice
-
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist
-
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist
-
/System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeExtensionSupport.bom
-
/System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeExtensionSupport.plist
-
/System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeSystemResources.bom
-
/System/Library/Receipts/com.apple.pkg.XcodeSystemResources.plist
You can also remove those files as well, but still if you care about securing your environment then consider recovering the data before manually erasing Xcode apps, files, and components.
Conclusion:
Here’s all about “Uninstall XCode”. Those major tricks should resolve your issues. If you think that it is helpful then do let us know your suggestions in the comment section below. Do you know any other method that you think we can’t mention in this article? Comment us below and stay tuned with us! If you still find any issue then ask us!
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