How do I install Xcode 9 without updating macOS?

Question

Does anyone have any idea to install Xcode 8 OR Xcode 9 without updating macOS?

I want to update my Xcode 7.1 to Xcode 8 or Xcode 9 (or 9.1) Beta.

But it is not allowing me to update directly on OS X Yosemite 10.10.

And I don't want to update my OS to El Capitan now, so how can I install Xcode 8 on OS X Yosemite 10.10.

Answer 1

Xcode 8 will work on OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) but the apps you build with won't, because the only SDK available is macOS 10.12 SDK, i.e. macOS Sierra's.

From release notes:

Compatibility

Xcode 8 requires a Mac running macOS Sierra 10.12 or OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 or later.

Xcode 8 includes SDKs for iOS 10.0, watchOS 3.0, macOS Sierra 10.12, and tvOS 10.0.

Answer 2

from the terminal type the command:

xcode-select --install

in case if you having previous XCode to remove it type the command:

sudo rm -Rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

before installing current one

Answer 3

I have two Apps in the Mac App Store. My main development machine is still running OS X Yosemite. One App started showing some small GUI problems when used on MacOS Sierra. So I installed XCode 8 on my MacBook Pro, running MacOS Sierra. Next, I migrated the code to Swift 2.3 (3.0 was too much of a hassle for now), and archived and exported the App (without changing any build-settings). The GUI problems (mostly related to resizing images and windows) are solved now in the App, when run with MacOS Sierra. And the App still works with OS X Yosemite and OS X El Capitan.

Perhaps it depends on the settings you use in XCode 8, but Apps compiled/built with XCode 8 should definitely still work with OS X Yosemite and El Capitan.. Unless you use specific features/functions of the MacOS Sierra SDK, of course.

Answer 4

From the Xcode 8 Beta 6 Release Notes:

Xcode 8 beta 6 requires a Mac running macOS Sierra beta 3 or later, or OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 or later.

macOS 10.10 is an unsupported configuration and is not supported by Xcode 8. Your only solution is to update to 10.11.

Answer 5

To install Xcode 9 without updating macOS you can change the minimum required version in the Xcode bundle's plist. To do that simply control-click Xcode app, click Open Package Contents, then go inside Contents folder, there you'll see info.plist. Open it with Xcode you have already installed, and there you can edit value of Minimum system version field to whatever version you have currently installed.

Also there would be some other "*.app" like "Instruments.app" and etc. They also requires the same operations.

If after all you get the same error, try to Restart your macOS.

I have used that way to install Xcode 9.2 on macOS 10.12.5 and it works.