[BUG]: macos-15 - error: unable to find utility "actool", not a developer tool or in PATH

[IeuanWalker]

What happened?

Updating our .NET MAUI project from .NET 9 to .NET 10

The pipeline sets the xcode version that maui requires -

    - script: |
        echo Mac OS version:
        sw_vers -productVersion
        echo
        echo Installed Xcode versions:
        ls /Applications | grep 'Xcode'
        echo
        echo Installed Xcode full paths:
        find /Applications/ -name "Xcode*.app" -type d
        echo
        echo currently selected xcode:
        xcrun xcode-select --print-path
        echo
        echo selecting latest xcode...
        sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode_26.1.app
        sudo xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer
        xcrun xcode-select --print-path
        xcodebuild -version
      displayName: Select Xcode Version

But when it goes to build the .net maui app, using this step -

    - script: |
        dotnet publish $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/src/App/App.csproj -f $(FRAMEWORK_IOS) -c Release /p:ArchiveOnBuild=true /p:MtouchUseLlvm=true
      displayName: Build iOS App Binaries

It throws this error straight away -

Finished external tool execution #1 in 00:00:04.1631010 and with exit code 72.
  xcrun: error: sh -c '/Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/xcodebuild -sdk /Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk -find actool 2> /dev/null' failed with exit code 16384: (null) (errno=Invalid argument)
  xcrun: error: unable to find utility "actool", not a developer tool or in PATH
  
/Users/runner/hostedtoolcache/dotnet/packs/Microsoft.iOS.Sdk.net10.0_26.1/26.1.10494/tools/msbuild/Xamarin.Shared.targets(1034,3): error : /usr/bin/xcrun exited with code 72: [/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/App.csproj::TargetFramework=net10.0-ios]
/Users/runner/hostedtoolcache/dotnet/packs/Microsoft.iOS.Sdk.net10.0_26.1/26.1.10494/tools/msbuild/Xamarin.Shared.targets(1034,3): error : xcrun: error: sh -c '/Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/xcodebuild -sdk /Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk -find actool 2> /dev/null' failed with exit code 16384: (null) (errno=Invalid argument) [/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/App.csproj::TargetFramework=net10.0-ios]
/Users/runner/hostedtoolcache/dotnet/packs/Microsoft.iOS.Sdk.net10.0_26.1/26.1.10494/tools/msbuild/Xamarin.Shared.targets(1034,3): error : xcrun: error: unable to find utility "actool", not a developer tool or in PATH [/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/App.csproj::TargetFramework=net10.0-ios]
/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/obj/Release/net10.0-ios/ios-arm64/actool/cloned-assets/Assets.xcassets : error : xcrun: error: sh -c '/Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/xcodebuild -sdk /Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk -find actool 2> /dev/null' failed with exit code 16384: (null) (errno=Invalid argument) [/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/App.csproj::TargetFramework=net10.0-ios]
/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/obj/Release/net10.0-ios/ios-arm64/actool/cloned-assets/Assets.xcassets : error : xcrun: error: unable to find utility "actool", not a developer tool or in PATH [/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/App.csproj::TargetFramework=net10.0-ios]
/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/obj/Release/net10.0-ios/ios-arm64/actool/cloned-assets/Assets.xcassets : error :  [/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/App.csproj::TargetFramework=net10.0-ios]
/Users/runner/hostedtoolcache/dotnet/packs/Microsoft.iOS.Sdk.net10.0_26.1/26.1.10494/tools/msbuild/Xamarin.Shared.targets(1034,3): error : actool exited with code 72 [/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/App.csproj::TargetFramework=net10.0-ios]
Exception: System.Xml.XmlException: Root element is missing.
   at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
   at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ThrowWithoutLineInfo(String res)
   at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent()
   at System.Xml.XmlReader.ReadToDescendant(String name)
   at Xamarin.MacDev.PropertyListFormat.XmlFormat.StartReading(Stream input) in /Users/builder/azdo/_work/1/s/macios/external/Xamarin.MacDev/Xamarin.MacDev/PListObject.cs:line 1865
/Users/runner/hostedtoolcache/dotnet/packs/Microsoft.iOS.Sdk.net10.0_26.1/26.1.10494/tools/msbuild/Xamarin.Shared.targets(1034,3): error : Failed to load actool log file `obj/Release/net10.0-ios/ios-arm64/actool/asset-manifest.plist`: Failed to parse PList data type:  [/Users/runner/work/1/s/src/App/App.csproj::TargetFramework=net10.0-ios]

Only changes to the pipeline is the xcode version (16.2 -> 26.1) and the .net sdk thats installed (9 -> 10). Everything builds and runs fine locally, just getting this tool issue building in the app via the pipeline

Versions

macos-15 -

Agent name: 'Hosted Agent'
Agent machine name: 'Mac-1764596815747'
Current agent version: '4.264.2'
Runner Image Provisioner
Operating System
Runner Image
Current image version: '20251126.0042'
Agent running as: 'runner'

Environment type (Please select at least one enviroment where you face this issue)

• Self-Hosted
• Microsoft Hosted
• VMSS Pool
• Container

Azure DevOps Server type

dev.azure.com (formerly visualstudio.com)

Azure DevOps Server Version (if applicable)

No response

Operation system

No response

Version controll system

No response

Relevant log output

[IeuanWalker]

Looks to be a xcode version issue, the mac agent installs/ uses version 26.1.1 where as the maui build tools is expected 26.1

I first set xcode 26.1 -

    - script: |
        echo Mac OS version:
        sw_vers -productVersion
        echo
        echo Installed Xcode versions:
        ls /Applications | grep 'Xcode'
        echo
        echo Installed Xcode full paths:
        find /Applications/ -name "Xcode*.app" -type d
        echo
        echo currently selected xcode:
        xcrun xcode-select --print-path
        echo
        echo selecting latest xcode...
        sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode_26.1.app
        sudo xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer
        xcrun xcode-select --print-path
        xcodebuild -version
      displayName: Select Xcode Version

Which actaully ends up being 26.1.1 -

Installed Xcode versions:
Xcode_16.0.0.app
Xcode_16.0.app
Xcode_16.1.0.app
Xcode_16.1.app
Xcode_16.2.0.app
Xcode_16.2.app
Xcode_16.3.0.app
Xcode_16.3.app
Xcode_16.4.0.app
Xcode_16.4.app
Xcode_16.app
Xcode_26.0.1.app
Xcode_26.0.app
Xcode_26.1.1.app
Xcode_26.1.app
Xcode.app

Installed Xcode full paths:
/Applications/Xcode_16.1.app
/Applications/Xcode_16.1.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Agents/Xcode Helper.app
/Applications/Xcode_16.3.app
/Applications/Xcode_16.3.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Agents/Xcode Helper.app
/Applications/Xcode_16.2.app
/Applications/Xcode_16.2.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Agents/Xcode Helper.app
/Applications/Xcode_26.0.1.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Agents/Xcode Helper.app
/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app
/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Agents/Xcode Helper.app
/Applications/Xcode_26.1.1.app
/Applications/Xcode_26.1.1.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Agents/Xcode Helper.app
/Applications/Xcode_16.app
/Applications/Xcode_16.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/Library/Xcode/Agents/Xcode Helper.app

currently selected xcode:
/Applications/Xcode_16.4.app/Contents/Developer

selecting latest xcode...
/Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer
Xcode 26.1.1
Build version 17B100

I then verify that the xcode tool exists, which you can see its comes back as 26.1.1 -

    - script: |
        echo "ensures the tools are activated"
        sudo xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch
        echo

        echo "Confirm actool exists - should resvole something like - /Applications/Xcode.app/.../usr/bin/actool"
        xcrun --find actool
        echo
      displayName: Verify xcode tools

ensures the tools are activated

Confirm actool exists - should resvole something like - /Applications/Xcode.app/.../usr/bin/actool
/Applications/Xcode_26.1.1.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/actool


Finishing: Verify xcode tools

Then the .NET MAUI app fails to build, as it cant find the tool under 26.1 -

 Finished external tool execution #1 in 00:00:06.7541643 and with exit code 72.
  xcrun: error: sh -c '/Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/xcodebuild -sdk /Applications/Xcode_26.1.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk -find actool 2> /dev/null' failed with exit code 16384: (null) (errno=Invalid argument)
  xcrun: error: unable to find utility "actool", not a developer tool or in PATH

---

So how do i get xcode 26.1 installed not 26.1.1?

[Villa01]

I have the same problem under similar conditions. As far as I understand, there is no way to update or install Xcode 26.1.1 on a Microsoft-hosted agent. They will have to fix this issue on their end and release a new version of the image. For now, I am going to downgrade to .NET 9 and I am even considering using a third-party service to build my MAUI jobs if they don't fix it soon.

[Villa01]

Actually, I was wrong! macos-15 image does include XCode 26.1.1. After testing it for a while, it worked by selecting the version of Xcode you want to use. Here is the code snippet for the task:

- bash: |
    set -e
    XCODE_VERSION="26.1.1"
    for X in "/Applications/Xcode_${XCODE_VERSION}.app" "/Applications/Xcode_${XCODE_VERSION}.0.app"; do
      if [ -d "$X" ]; then
        DEV="$X/Contents/Developer"
        echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=DEVELOPER_DIR]$DEV"
        echo "Using $DEV"
        exit 0
      fi
    done
    echo "Xcode ${XCODE_VERSION} not found"
    exit 1
  displayName: 'Select Xcode Version'
  condition: eq(variables['Agent.OS'], 'Darwin') 

This will set a variable called DEVELOPER_DIR that you can use in the following steps to compile your application as an environment variable with the same name. This will select the correct version of Xcode (26.1.1).