Sequoia 15.7.2. Why do I receive notifications about updating Command Line Tools for Xcode 26.1? Do I have Xcode (how do I find out)? Should I install the update (I deselected it when I updated to 15.7.2)? The only options appear to be “Install Tonight” and “Remind me later” (which lasts about three days).
Thank you.
The command-line tools are an add-on to Xcode, to let you compile code without using the full Xcode graphical environment.
If you installed any software via a package-manager that compiles sources into applications (e.g. MacPorts, Fink or Homebrew), then you have this package, since it is a prerequisite for these utilities.
By all means, install the upgrade. The worst that could go wrong is that the command-line tools might break, causing your package-manager tool to fail. But this is a pretty reliable package, so I wouldn’t worry about it.
As for how to check if you have Xcode, the easiest way is to pull up the Launchpad screen (4-finger pinch gesture on a trackpad, if you’re using a laptop) and search from there.
Ah, yes, thanks David for jogging my memory. More than a year ago, I used Homebrew to obtain the code for an open source scientific application. I’ll upgrade.