A different syntax for set shell?

[frederikhors]

Thinking about it better, even after #1185, I thought that perhaps the way to indicate the shell should be revised.

I'll explain.

On Windows you have arbitrarily chosen to use sh.exe (which was installed on my system when I installed Git).

It is a shell that is used by Git for git-bash.exe.

In my projects I'll have many justfile used by many people on Windows, Linux and Mac.

Right now I don't have a set shell := ... command in the justfile and I'm using many times in recipes the conditional string: {{if os_family() == "windows" { "pwsh.exe -c" } else { "" } }} before the command if that command doesn't work in sh.exe (and works perfectly on pwsh.exe (I'm not using in that case a bash syntax)).

Now I'm writing recipes which use commands like npm run build or npm install and I don't know why but I'm having hard times making it work because in my system sh.exe cannot run npm (the PC has just been installed, everything works good, nodejs 16 LTS):

npm i
/bin/bash: C:/Program Files/nodejs/npm: No such file or directory

I don't have time to further investigate and I don't want too because things need to work on my co-worker PCs too...

Another problem with sh.exe are the exit codes from CLI like the heroku's one and similar made in nodejs. The exit codes are always 1 even if the commands correctly worked.

So...

THE REQUEST/QUESTION

Can we have a different set shell syntax like the one I'm using on each problematic command?

Example:

set shell := {{ if os_family() == "windows" { "pwsh.exe -c" } else { "bash" } }}

What do you think?

Basically: I need to have a universal justfile that can be used on all operating systems.

[hustcer]

Maybe my reply is off topic:
I'd recommend you use a cross platform shell, like nushell: https://www.nushell.sh/ as a workaround
That's what am I doing

[frederikhors]

How you use it?

Can you use the same set shell := command if you launch justfile in a CI pipeline?

[frederikhors]

How you use it?

With the justfile I mean.

[hustcer]

Nushell works on mac, Linux and windows so set shell := ['nu', '-c'] is enough, here is a example for you:
https://github.com/hustcer/setup-nu/blob/main/Justfile
I haven't use just in a CI pipeline, if you want to use just and nushell in CI pipeline maybe you need:

1. https://github.com/hustcer/setup-nu to setup nushell
2. and https://github.com/extractions/setup-crate to setup just

[casey]

This is kind of what set windows-powershell is for. Since many sh-isms work under powershell, it is a decent way of writing cross-platform justfiles.

[frederikhors]

Ok. I'm waiting for set windows-pwsh then.

[frederikhors]

@casey sorry for the ping here, just to ask if set windows-pwsh change will take a long time or a short time.

Using sh.exe on Windows is very limiting and sometimes there are strange behaviors.

[casey]

@frederikhors Hard to say! I'm pretty busy with other projects, so I can't give a timeline for anything.

I was thinking that perhaps, instead of providing a windows-pwsh setting to enable pwsh.exe, it would be better to add a windows-shell setting that takes a shell and arguments. I opened a PR with the implementation here:

#1198

To use it, you would do:

set windows-shell := ["pwsh.exe", "-NoLogo", "-Command"]

foo:
  Write-Output bar

Not only does this allow using pwsh.exe on Windows, but you could also pick a different shell, or different arguments for windows, instead of being limited to one chosen by me.

cc: @runeimp What do you think?

[frederikhors]

it would be better to add a windows-shell setting

I agree! Thanks!

[casey]

I added a user feedback thread, locked so it's low-spam if you subscribe, here: #1202

There's a bit of commentary about this change. I'll probably let it sit for a few days and see if anyone has anything to say, since I'm always nervous I'll mess something up with Windows, but otherwise it's good to go.

[frederikhors]

Subscribed. Thanks. I’ll use windows unfortunately for the next months, so I can give you good hints on it.

[casey]

This is done and released as of 1.2.0, set windows-shell can be used to control the shell on Windows.

[frederikhors]

I have tried your new feature and it works great! Thanks!

Unfortunately since I opened the issue the justifle has grown dramatically and today I find myself with a lot of code partly executed on "sh.exe" and partly executed on "pwsh.exe" (because on "sh.exe" executables like "heroku" or "npm" do not work!).

Today I tried to run with set windows-shell and I realized how many commands I had to change to use it.

Incredible!

So I think I'll not use set windows-shell and instead I will stick with:

{{if os_family() == "windows" { "pwsh.exe -c" } else { "" } }} heroku some_command

It would be great to have a short form prefix to the command, like:

backup:
  !windows heroku some_command
  !unix heroku some_other

but I don't want to take away any more your time with another request.

If you want I can open an issue for this, but only if you want.

Congratulations again on what you are doing!

[runeimp]

Interesting addition @casey ! But, most likely the best cross platform options are just using Nushell if you lean towered the POSIX side of shell scripting or PowerShell if you lean towards the Windows side. As noted by @hustcer Nushell runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. PowerShell is also available for Linux, macOS, and Windows now. There will always be logic situations that require extra coding depending on if you're on Windows or not but one of those two options will at least give you consistent flow control logic, etc.