Is it possible to get the iOS 5.1 SDK for Xcode 4.2 on Snow Leopard?

To get Xcode 4.2 on Snow Leopard to run code on a device running iOS 5.1 you can do this:

1. If you have another Mac running Lion and Xcode 4.3.1 you can copy the files from:

   /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport/5.1 (9B176)

2. Place the copied files in the equivalent place on your Snow Leopard Mac: probably

   /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport

3. Similarly copy the iOS 5.1 SDK files found in this directory:

   /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneOS5.1.sdk

4. Also copy 'version.plist' from the Lion machine in the iPhoneOS.platform folder to the Snow Leopard machine.

5. Re-start Xcode on the Snow Leopard machine and re-connect the devices and it seems happy enough.

If you don't have access to a machine with Lion and Xcode 4.3.1:

1. You can get the files out of the 4.3.1 DMG which can be downloaded from Apple here:Downloads for Apple Developers.

2. Mount the DMG, Show Package Contents on the Xcode icon and drill down to

   /Volumes/Xcode/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport

3. Follow the steps above.

You might find it more convenient to use Apple's proprietary ditto method (sudo ditto src dest) in the terminal window to copy the folders.

Note,this hack will also work for latest iOS 6 SDK.