Cross-Platform Recipes¶

Mustfile supports writing shell recipes that work across macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows. On Unix systems recipes use sh -c. On Windows they use cmd /C.

Quick: Windows override¶

Use script for the default and script_win for Windows:

[recipe.clean]
type   = "shell"
phony  = true
script     = "rm -rf build"
script_win = "rmdir /s /q build"

Per-OS scripts¶

For finer control, use the scripts table to override per operating system:

[recipe.build]
type   = "shell"
script = "make"

[recipe.build.scripts]
macos   = "make -j$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)"
linux   = "make -j$(nproc)"
freebsd = "gmake -j$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)"
win     = "nmake"

Resolution order¶

The scripts table is checked in order of specificity. The first match wins:

Platform	Checked in order
macOS	`scripts.macos` → `scripts.unix` → `script`
Linux (Ubuntu)	`scripts.linux.ubuntu` → `scripts.linux` → `scripts.unix` → `script`
Linux (Alpine)	`scripts.linux.alpine` → `scripts.linux` → `scripts.unix` → `script`
Linux (other)	`scripts.linux.<distro>` → `scripts.linux` → `scripts.unix` → `script`
FreeBSD	`scripts.freebsd` → `scripts.bsd` → `scripts.unix` → `script`
NetBSD / OpenBSD	`scripts.netbsd` / `scripts.openbsd` → `scripts.bsd` → `scripts.unix` → `script`
Windows	`scripts.win` → `script_win` → `script`

The distro ID is read from ID= in /etc/os-release (e.g., ubuntu, debian, alpine, arch, fedora, amzn).

The scripts table takes priority over script_win and script.

Distro-specific example¶

[recipe.install-deps]
type   = "shell"
script = "make deps"

[recipe.install-deps.scripts]
"linux.ubuntu"  = "apt-get install -y libssl-dev"
"linux.alpine"  = "apk add openssl-dev"
"linux.fedora"  = "dnf install openssl-devel"
"linux.arch"    = "pacman -S openssl"
"linux.amzn"    = "yum install openssl-devel"
linux           = "make deps"
macos           = "brew install openssl"

Available keys¶

Key	Matches
`macos`	macOS only
`linux`	Linux only
`linux.ubuntu`	Ubuntu
`linux.debian`	Debian
`linux.alpine`	Alpine Linux
`linux.arch`	Arch Linux
`linux.fedora`	Fedora
`linux.amzn`	Amazon Linux
`linux.<distro>`	Any distro ID from `/etc/os-release`
`freebsd`	FreeBSD only
`netbsd`	NetBSD only
`openbsd`	OpenBSD only
`win`	Windows only
`unix`	Any Unix (macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, ...)
`bsd`	FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD

Full example¶

[project]
name = "my-app"
version = "1.0.0"

[recipe.build]
type    = "shell"
cache   = "hash"
inputs  = ["src/**/*.c"]
outputs = ["build/app"]
script  = "mkdir -p build && cc -o build/app src/main.c"

[recipe.build.scripts]
macos   = "mkdir -p build && cc -o build/app src/main.c"
linux   = "mkdir -p build && gcc -o build/app src/main.c"
freebsd = "mkdir -p build && clang -o build/app src/main.c"
win     = "if not exist build mkdir build && cl /Fe:build/app.exe src/main.c"

[recipe.clean]
type  = "shell"
phony = true

[recipe.clean.scripts]
macos   = "rm -rf build"
linux   = "rm -rf build"
freebsd = "rm -rf build"
win     = "rmdir /s /q build"

[recipe.test]
type   = "shell"
deps   = ["build"]
phony  = true
script = "./build/app --test"

[recipe.test.scripts]
win = "build\\app.exe --test"

Tips¶

Path separators: Use / in Unix scripts, \\ in Windows scripts.
Environment variables: $VAR in sh, %VAR% in cmd.
Language recipes don't need this: Recipes like rust-bin, go-bin, py-bin etc. invoke language-specific tools that are already cross-platform. Only shell and npm recipes typically need platform overrides.
CI: Test Windows scripts on a Windows runner alongside your Unix runners.
Fallback: Always set script as the default — it's used when no platform matches.