Saw the following error when I was trying to install an npm dependency, that had native C bindings:

npm ERR! No receipt for 'com.apple.pkg.CLTools_Executables' found at '/'.
npm ERR!
npm ERR! No receipt for 'com.apple.pkg.DeveloperToolsCLILeo' found at '/'.
npm ERR!
npm ERR! No receipt for 'com.apple.pkg.DeveloperToolsCLI' found at '/'.
npm ERR!
npm ERR! gyp info spawn make
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args [ 'BUILDTYPE=Release', '-C', 'build' ]
npm ERR! xcode-select: note: no developer tools were found at '/Applications/Xcode.app', requesting install. Choose an option in the dialog to download the command line developer tools.
npm ERR! gyp ERR! build error
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack Error: `make` failed with exit code: 1
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.onExit (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/build.js:194:23)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:327:20)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:277:12)

As scary as it might look, the solution seems seeminly simply.

After reading on various threads about using xcode-select --install and xcode-select --reset to get the download of xcode and the mac developer tools going.

But in my case the xcode download never started, or simply didn’t succeed with the installation.

At the time I am using a MBP 13" 2015 with Mac OS Catalina 10.15.17

Solution

In my case, I had to go to this apple website and download the Command Line Tools for Xcode 12 (Release date Sep 17, 2020).

Install the Command Line Tools with the downloaded DMG and you should be good to go.