platform-support-cross-platform-compatibility

priority: critical

Platform Support & Cross-Platform Compatibility

Supported Platforms: Windows (via Git Bash/MSYS2/MinGW/PowerShell), Linux (all major distributions), macOS (Intel & ARM/M-series).

Platform Detection in Taskfiles:

• {{.OS}}: Detects operating system (windows, linux, darwin)
  • Windows detection: PowerShell, GOOS env, WINDIR/SYSTEMROOT, MSYSTEM (Git Bash/MSYS2/MinGW)
  • Linux/macOS: uname fallback with comprehensive error handling
• {{.ARCH}}: Detects CPU architecture (x86_64, arm64, etc.)
• {{.EXE_EXT}}: Platform-specific executable extension (.exe on Windows, empty on Unix)
• {{.LIB_EXT}}: Platform-specific library extension (dll on Windows, dylib on macOS, so on Linux)
• {{.NUM_CPUS}}: CPU count for parallel builds (PowerShell/sysctl/nproc/cpuinfo detection)

Platform Guards in Task Files:

• Use conditional commands: cmd: "script.sh"; platforms: [linux, darwin]
• Windows-specific: cmd: "script.bat"; platforms: [windows]
• Darwin-specific: cmd: "script.sh"; platforms: [darwin]
• Example: Cargo commands work on all platforms (Rust toolchain cross-platform)

Cross-Platform Best Practices:

1. Use Taskfile variables instead of hardcoded paths ({{.ROOT}}, {{.CRATES_DIR}})
2. Use forward slashes in paths; Taskfile converts to backslashes on Windows
3. Avoid shell-specific features; use platform-agnostic task commands
4. For scripts: create separate .sh (Unix) and .bat/.ps1 (Windows) files if needed
5. Test on Windows, Linux, and macOS in CI (or locally via Docker)

Environment Variables for Cross-Platform:

• LD_LIBRARY_PATH (Linux): Add target/release/target/debug for FFI tests
• DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH (macOS): Add target/release/target/debug for FFI tests
• PATH (Windows): Automatically uses backslashes for library lookup