diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
index a0491a2558..2854c82b15 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ module MacOS extend self
     @xcode_prefix ||= begin
       path = `/usr/bin/xcode-select -print-path 2>/dev/null`.chomp
       path = Pathname.new path
-      if path.directory? and path.absolute?
+      if $?.success? and path.directory? and path.absolute?
         path
       elsif File.directory? '/Developer'
         # we do this to support cowboys who insist on installing
@@ -343,9 +343,12 @@ module MacOS extend self
 
   def xcode_version
     @xcode_version ||= begin
+      # Xcode 4.3 xc* tools hang indefinately if xcode-select path is set thus
+      raise if `xcode-select -print-path 2>/dev/null`.chomp == "/"
+
       raise unless system "/usr/bin/which -s xcodebuild"
-      `xcodebuild -version 2>&1` =~ /Xcode (\d(\.\d)*)/
-      raise if $1.nil?
+      `xcodebuild -version 2>/dev/null` =~ /Xcode (\d(\.\d)*)/
+      raise if $1.nil? or not $?.success?
       $1
     rescue
       # for people who don't have xcodebuild installed due to using