Platform Support

Renamify is designed to work consistently across Linux, macOS, and Windows. It handles platform-specific quirks intelligently.

Supported Platforms

✅ Linux (x86_64, arm64) ✅ macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon) ✅ Windows (x86_64, arm64)

Case-Insensitive Filesystems

macOS (APFS/HFS+)

Most macOS systems use case-insensitive filesystems. Renamify handles this by:

• Automatic detection of filesystem case sensitivity
• Two-step renames for case-only changes:
  1. OldName.js → temp_12345.js
  2. temp_12345.js → oldName.js
• Conflict warnings when case changes might cause issues

Windows (NTFS)

Windows filesystems are typically case-insensitive. Renamify provides:

• Smart rename handling similar to macOS
• Reserved filename detection (CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1-9, LPT1-9)
• Path length validation (260 character limit without long path support)

Linux (ext4/btrfs/etc.)

Most Linux filesystems are case-sensitive, allowing:

• Direct renames without intermediate steps
• Full Unicode support for international characters
• No reserved filename restrictions

Path Handling

Path Separators

Renamify accepts both forward slashes and backslashes:

# These are equivalent on Windows
renamify plan old new --include "src/**/*.js"
renamify plan old new --include "src\\**\\*.js"

Path Length Limits

Windows: 260 characters by default

# Renamify detects and warns about long paths
❌ Error: Path too long for Windows:
"C:\very\long\path\that\exceeds\260\characters\..."

Enable long paths or use shorter directory names.

macOS/Linux: Much higher limits (typically 4096+ characters)

Unicode Support

Renamify fully supports Unicode filenames and content:

# Works with international characters
renamify rename 用户 profile --preview table
renamify rename josé maria --preview table

Symbolic Links

Behavior

• Symlink files can be renamed if their names match the pattern
• Symlink targets are never modified
• Directory traversal does not follow symlinks by default

Cross-Platform Differences

Linux/macOS:

• Full symlink support
• Can create and modify symlinks

Windows:

• Limited symlink support (requires admin privileges)
• Renamify handles gracefully without errors

File Permissions

Unix-like Systems (Linux/macOS)

# Renamify respects and preserves file permissions
ls -la before.js    # -rw-r--r--
renamify rename old new
ls -la after.js     # -rw-r--r-- (preserved)

Windows

• Uses Windows ACLs appropriately
• Handles read-only files with clear error messages

Performance Characteristics

Linux

• Fastest performance due to efficient filesystem operations
• Parallel directory traversal scales well with CPU cores
• Memory-mapped file I/O for large files

macOS

• Good performance with some filesystem overhead
• APFS optimizations for recent macOS versions
• Slightly slower renames due to case-insensitivity handling

Windows

• Good performance with Windows-specific optimizations
• NTFS optimizations for efficient file operations
• Long path support (handles paths with \?\ prefix)
• Antivirus interaction may slow operations

Known Platform Issues

macOS

• Unicode normalization: macOS may normalize Unicode differently
• Resource forks: Very old HFS+ volumes may have resource forks (rarely an issue)
• Spotlight indexing: May temporarily slow file operations

Windows

• Antivirus scanning: Real-time scanners may slow file operations
• File locking: Some editors/IDEs lock files more aggressively
• Long path support: Automatically handled with \?\ prefix when needed

Linux

• Case sensitivity: Be careful when moving code between case-sensitive and case-insensitive systems
• Filesystem differences: Some network filesystems may have quirks

Environment Variables

Platform Detection

Renamify automatically detects platform capabilities:

# Force platform behavior (rarely needed)
RENAMIFY_PLATFORM=linux renamify plan old new    # Force Linux behavior
RENAMIFY_PLATFORM=windows renamify plan old new  # Force Windows behavior

File System Override

# Force case sensitivity detection (expert use only)
RENAMIFY_CASE_SENSITIVE=true renamify plan old new
RENAMIFY_CASE_SENSITIVE=false renamify plan old new

Best Practices by Platform

Linux

# Take advantage of case sensitivity
renamify rename oldName OldName  # Works directly

# Use parallel processing for large projects
renamify plan old new --include "**/*.rs"  # Fast on Linux

macOS

# Be aware of case insensitivity
renamify rename oldName OldName --preview table  # Shows two-step rename

# Consider filesystem overhead for huge projects
renamify plan old new --include "src/**" --exclude "node_modules/**"

Windows

# Use forward slashes for consistency
renamify plan old new --include "src/**/*.js"

# Be mindful of path lengths
renamify plan old new --exclude "**/very/deeply/nested/directories/**"

Cross-Platform Testing

For teams working across platforms:

# Test your renaming on multiple platforms
git branch test-rename
renamify rename old new --preview table
git commit -m "Test rename"

# Have team members test on their platforms
git push origin test-rename

Platform-Specific Optimizations

Planned Improvements

• macOS: Better APFS optimization
• Linux: io_uring support for faster file operations
• All: Platform-specific ignore patterns