Cross-platform Compatibility

Launchpad is designed to work seamlessly across different operating systems. This guide explains how Launchpad handles platform-specific nuances and how to optimize your usage for cross-platform scenarios.

Platform Detection

Launchpad automatically detects the operating system it's running on and adjusts its behavior accordingly:

// Example of how Launchpad detects platforms internally
import { platform } from 'node:os'

const isWindows = platform() === 'win32'
const isMacOS = platform() === 'darwin'
const isLinux = platform() === 'linux'

Path Handling

Windows Path Differences

On Windows, paths use backslashes (\) rather than forward slashes (/). Launchpad normalizes paths internally:

// Example of path normalization
import path from 'node:path'

const normalizedPath = path.normalize('/usr/local/bin')
// On Windows, this becomes something like 'C:\usr\local\bin'

Home Directory Resolution

Launchpad resolves the ~ symbol to the user's home directory across all platforms:

// Launchpad's internal approach
const homePath = process.env.HOME || process.env.USERPROFILE || '~'

Shell Integration

Each platform uses different shells by default:

• Windows: PowerShell or CMD
• macOS: Zsh (newer versions) or Bash (older versions)
• Linux: Bash, Zsh, or others

Launchpad adapts its PATH modification strategies accordingly.

File System Permissions

Permission handling differs by platform:

• Unix-like Systems (macOS, Linux): Uses Unix permissions (rwx)
• Windows: Uses ACLs (Access Control Lists)

When creating shims, Launchpad sets the appropriate permissions:

// On Unix-like systems
fs.chmodSync(shimPath, 0o755) // Makes file executable

// On Windows
// No explicit chmod needed; Windows handles differently

Sudo Handling

Elevated privileges are required for certain operations, and the approach varies by platform:

• Unix-like Systems: Uses sudo
• Windows: Requires running as Administrator

Launchpad's auto-sudo feature automatically adapts to the platform.

Platform-specific Example: PATH Management

macOS/Linux

# Add to PATH on Unix-like systems
echo 'export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

Windows (PowerShell)

# Add to PATH on Windows
$currentPath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", "User")
$newPath = "$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin;" + $currentPath
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", $newPath, "User")

Executable Detection

Different platforms use different file extensions for executables:

• Unix-like Systems: No extension required (permissions matter)
• Windows: .exe, .bat, .cmd, etc.

Launchpad handles these differences when creating and detecting executables.

Platform-specific Installation Paths

Default installation paths vary by platform:

• macOS: /usr/local (traditional) or /opt/homebrew (newer systems)
• Linux: /usr/local (system-wide) or ~/.local (user-specific)
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA% or %PROGRAMFILES%

Integration with pkgx

pkgx itself is cross-platform, and Launchpad leverages this to provide a consistent experience across operating systems.

Testing Across Platforms

When developing with Launchpad, it's good practice to test on multiple platforms:

# Basic testing on Unix-like systems
launchpad install node@22
node --version

# Verify shim creation
ls -la ~/.local/bin/node

# Basic testing on Windows
launchpad install node@22
node --version

# Verify shim creation
dir $env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin\node.exe

Cross-platform CI/CD Integration

For CI/CD pipelines, you can use Launchpad consistently across platforms:

# Example GitHub Actions workflow
jobs:
  build:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Install Launchpad
        run: npm install -g launchpad
      - name: Install dependencies with Launchpad
        run: launchpad install node@22 python@3.12