Skip to content

Tool Availability

Tool support, version managers, and platform-specific quirks.

Tool Availability by Platform

Tool macOS Ubuntu Arch Installation Method
bat ✅ ✅ ✅ cargo-binstall (all platforms)
eza ✅ ✅ ✅ cargo-binstall (all platforms)
fd ✅ ✅ ✅ cargo-binstall (all platforms)
zoxide ✅ ✅ ✅ cargo-binstall (all platforms)
git-delta ✅ ✅ ✅ cargo-binstall (all platforms)
oxker ✅ ✅ ✅ cargo-binstall (all platforms)
broot ✅ ✅ ✅ cargo-binstall (all platforms)
ripgrep ✅ ✅ ✅ cargo-binstall (all platforms)
neovim ✅ ✅ ✅ GitHub releases (all platforms)
lazygit ✅ ✅ ✅ GitHub releases (all platforms)
yazi ✅ ✅ ✅ GitHub releases (all platforms)
fzf ✅ ✅ ✅ GitHub releases (all platforms)
atuin ✅ ✅ ✅ GitHub releases (Linux); brew (macOS)
tmux ✅ ✅ ✅ System package manager
aerospace ✅ ❌ ❌ macOS-only window manager (cask)
borders ✅ ❌ ❌ macOS-only (JankyBorders)

Legend:

  • ✅ Native package manager support
  • ⚠️ Alternative installation required
  • ❌ Not available or not applicable

atuin is the one split-method tool. It uses GitHub releases on Linux like fzf and neovim, but macOS falls back to Homebrew: atuin publishes no Intel-macOS release binary (only Apple Silicon), and cargo binstall would compile it from source. brew's bottle covers both Mac architectures, so all Macs use it while every other platform uses the uniform GitHub-releases install.

Version Managers

Node.js and npm (system package)

Node.js is installed as a system package, not through a version manager. There is no per-project version switching, and a static-PATH install keeps node/npm available to non-interactive shells (scripts, editors, agents) — which a shell-function manager like nvm cannot do.

# macOS
brew install node

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S nodejs npm

Configuration:

npm's global prefix is set to ~/.local/share/npm by an XDG-located user config at ~/.config/npm/npmrc (deployed from configs/common/.config/npm/npmrc). .zshrc exports NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG to point npm at that file for interactive shells, and the npm-globals installer exports the same variable so non-interactive bash sees it too. This keeps globally-installed tools (LSPs, formatters) in ~/.local/share/npm/bin — a user-writable location — independent of the Node.js package itself. On Arch, where system npm's default prefix is /usr, this is what makes npm install -g work without sudo.

Python (via uv)

uv provides consistent Python management across all platforms.

All Platforms:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Tool Installation:

# Same commands on all platforms
uv tool install ruff
uv tool install mypy
uv tool install basedpyright
uv tool install sqlfluff
uv tool install mdformat

Tools installed to: ~/.local/bin (consistent across platforms)

Theme System

Theme management uses the theme CLI (installed to ~/.local/bin/theme):

theme list                  # List available themes
theme apply rose-pine       # Apply theme
theme preview               # Interactive fzf preview
theme current               # Show current theme
theme upgrade               # Update to latest version

Locations:

  • Installed: ~/.local/share/theme/ (cloned from GitHub)
  • Development: ~/tools/theme/
  • Data: ~/.config/theme/ (history, rejected themes)
  • Themes: ~/.local/share/theme/themes/

Platform-Specific Quirks

GNU Coreutils:

  • Installed via Homebrew with unprefixed names prepended to PATH
  • GNU takes precedence over BSD in both interactive shells and scripts
  • Use GNU syntax: sed -i NOT sed -i ''

Homebrew Location:

  • Intel Mac: /usr/local
  • Apple Silicon: /opt/homebrew
  • Scripts should detect automatically

macOS-Specific Tools:

  • aerospace - Tiling window manager
  • borders - Window border highlights (JankyBorders)

WSL-Specific Configuration (/etc/wsl.conf):

[boot]
systemd=true

[interop]
appendWindowsPath=false

[user]
default=chris

Font Installation:

Fonts are installed to Windows automatically (no manual steps):

  • Directory: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts (user fonts, no admin)
  • Registry: HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts
  • Fontconfig: Configured to see Windows fonts via fontconfig-setup.sh

The font CLI and fc-list both see Windows-installed fonts.

Snap Packages:

  • Some tools only available via snap
  • Snap integration varies

AUR Helper (yay):

  • Required for AUR packages
  • Installed during setup
  • Command: yay -S <package>

pacman Configuration:

  • Enable color output
  • Enable parallel downloads
  • Configured automatically during install

Rolling Release:

  • More frequent updates
  • May encounter breaking changes
  • Test updates in VM first

Testing Checklist

When testing installations, verify these platform-specific items:

  • Homebrew location correct for architecture
  • All system packages install
  • Casks install correctly
  • Symlinks created in expected locations
  • GNU coreutils prepended to PATH (unprefixed)
  • Cargo-binstall tools installed (ripgrep, bat, fd, eza, zoxide, delta, broot)
  • GitHub release tools installed (neovim, lazygit, yazi, fzf)
  • ~/.local/bin in PATH
  • WSL-specific config applied (/etc/wsl.conf)
  • systemd enabled if needed
  • Fonts installed to Windows user fonts directory
  • font list shows installed fonts
  • yay AUR helper installed
  • pacman.conf configured (color, parallel downloads)
  • All packages install without conflicts
  • Symlinks created correctly
  • Services enabled if needed

Troubleshooting

Package Not Found

Symptoms

Package doesn't exist in repos

Solutions

Check if it's a cask: 

brew search --cask <pkg>

May need PPA or cargo install

Check AUR: 

yay -Ss <pkg>

Binary Not in PATH

Symptoms

Command not found after install

Solutions

  1. Check installation location: which <command>
  2. Verify PATH: echo $PATH | tr ':' '\n'
  3. Reload shell: source ~/.zshrc
  4. Check symlinks: ls -la ~/.local/bin

Permission Denied

Symptoms

Can't install or write files

Solutions

  • Ensure ~/.local/bin exists: mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
  • Check ownership: ls -la ~/.local
  • Fix permissions: chmod 755 ~/.local/bin