First, one thing to recognize about OS X is that it is built on Unix. This is where the .bash_profile comes in. When you start the Terminal app in OS X you get a bash shell by default. The bash shell comes from Unix and when it loads it runs the .bash_profile script. You can modify this script for your user to change your settings. This file is located at:
~/.bash_profile
Update for Mavericks
OS X Mavericks does not use the environment.plist - at least not for OS X windows applications. You can use the launchd configuration for windowed applications. The .bash_profile is still supported since that is part of the bash shell used in Terminal.
Lion and Mountain Lion Only
OS X windowed applications receive environment variables from the your environment.plist file. This is likely what you mean by the ".plist" file. This file is located at:
~/.MacOSX/environment.plist
If you make a change to your environment.plist file then OS X windows applications, including the Terminal app, will have those environment variables set. Any environment variable you set in your .bash_profile will only affect your bash shells.
Generally I only set variables in my .bash_profile file and don't change the .plist file (or launchd file on Mavericks). Most OS X windowed applications don't need any custom environment. Only when an application actually needs a specific environment variable do I change the environment.plist (or launchd file on Mavericks).
It sounds like what you want is to change the environment.plist file, rather than the .bash_profile.
One last thing, if you look for those files, I think you will not find them. If I recall correctly, they were not on my initial install of Lion.
Edit: Here are some instructions for creating a plist file.
- Open Xcode
- Select File -> New -> New File...
- Under Mac OS X select Resources
- Choose a plist file
- Follow the rest of the prompts
To edit the file, you can Control-click to get a menu and select Add Row. You then can add a key value pair. For environment variables, the key is the environment variable name and the value is the actual value for that environment variable.
Once the plist file is created you can open it with Xcode to modify it anytime you wish.
Best Answer
Xcode 5.1 and OSX 10.9. (also works with Xcode 5.1.1 + OSX 10.10)
xcode-select --installworked with version 2333, failed with version 2003. So, tryxcode-select --installand if that does not work download as described below.In early February 2014
xcode-select --installhas been reporting that "Can't install the software because it is not currently available from the Software Update server". In late February 2014 the command started only displaying help. The solution is to download directly, see "Separate Download" below.Xcode 5.0.1 and OSX 10.9
With Xcode 5.0.1 and Mavericks 10.9 the command line tool is no longer available through Xcode. Instead they must be downloaded from the Apple Developer Tools site: https://developer.apple.com/downloads/index.action. This requires signing in with a developer account.
Or via terminal (from the release docs): The Command Line Developer Tools package can be installed on demand using "xcode-select --install” and the installed tools will be automatically updated using Software Update. OS X 10.9 is required for this feature. For earlier versions, continue to use the in-app download in Xcode.
Running the command in terminal produces the following GUI:
Inside Xcode (5.0)
Xcode includes a new "Downloads" preference pane to install optional components such as command line tools, and previous iOS Simulators. To open this pane click the "Xcode" button in the top left of the screen near the Apple logo, then click "Preferences", then click "Downloads".
Xcode 5.0 screenshot:
Xcode 4.x screenshot:
Separate Download
If you do not have Xcode, they are available as a separate download from Apple:
Go to developer.apple.com/downloads/index.action, and sign in with your Apple ID (the download's free). In the pane on the left, search for "command line tools" and choose the package appropriate to your version of OS X. Requires Mac OS X 10.7.3 or later.