How much disk space do the “command line developer tools” take up?

Question

When I run git --version in the Terminal, I get prompted to install the "command line developer tools":

What exactly do I get from these "command line developer tools", and how much disk space will the installation use up? I don't want to drag along a whole bunch of useless programs just because I want to use a single command.

(Assume that I do not want to use Homebrew, for whatever reason. The question is asking about the disk space used up by an installation of Apple's "command line developer tools").

Answer 1

The installer says it requires 2.72 Gb of space. It installs a variety of Unix tools for compiling software, and other advanced usage (such as git) on the command line, including 'many other useful commands that are usually found in default linux installations' (osxdaily.com). It also includes the SDK frameworks and header files for macOS APIs. And python3.

Separating out what it is exactly that you need and what you don't is not really feasible, and may cause errors. Presumably, you're doing some kind of scripting/programming, for which other tools in the CLDT might be useful.

Answer 2

As @benwiggy says you cannot split up the command line tools.

However if the issue is just that you want git then there are other ways

• Install command line git binary and associated tools from the Git downloads web page

• Install a git GUI tool that includes its own copy of git efor example SourceTree. Other Git GUI clients are listed on the Git website