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doc: Update docs for os.platform() #2446

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doc: Update docs for os.platform() #2446

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20 changes: 18 additions & 2 deletions doc/api/os.markdown
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Expand Up @@ -30,10 +30,26 @@ on OS X and `'Windows_NT'` on Windows.

## os.platform()

Returns the operating system platform. Possible values are `'darwin'`,
`'freebsd'`, `'linux'`, `'sunos'` or `'win32'`. Returns the value of
Returns the operating system platform. Returns the value of
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I like this change, except process.platform should be a link.

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Sure!

`process.platform`.

Its value is based on [`OS` constant of `gyp`](https://chromium.googlesource.com/external/gyp/+/HEAD/docs/InputFormatReference.md#Predefined-Variables)
, but with exceptions in case of Mac OS X, Windows and Solaris.
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This reference isn't useful, please remove. Its not useful because following the link doesn't actually lead to a list of platform values, and of the 3 example values, two are wrong.

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There's no defined list of values. gyp itself states the following

But other values may be encountered and this list should not be considered exhaustive.

Its based on pythons sys.platform value with some exceptions and those exceptions are specified. But it also can be specified manually.

There's also a list of possible values returned by the function bellow as a list .

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node's platform list is known even if gyp's is infinitely variable (at least the official ones, but if someone ports to a new platform and docs don't describe it at nodejs.org, that's not a problem).


On Windows its value is always `"win32"`, on Mac OS X it's `"darwin"` and on
Solaris it's `"sunos"`.
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These three values should be listed in the list below, not seperated out.

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On Windows its value is always "win32", on Mac OS X it's "darwin" and on
Solaris it's "sunos".

The windows exception shows that its always win32 on all architectures of windows.
The Mac OS X and Solaris examples contrast the fact that the value of OS constant from gyp is not the same as the one returned from this function.

os gyp os.platform
Windows win win32
Mac mac darwin
Solaris solaris sunos


Here's a list of possible values for some platforms:
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As I said, this feels to verbose. How about changing this whole part to:

Returns the value of `process.platform`, Possible values are:

Also, please linkify process.platform.

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As its values is assigned on build and not during runtime. I believe its required to show the origin of it.

Totally agree on linking,


* Android: `"android"`
* Windows/Cygwin: `"win32"`
* Mac OS X: `"darwin"`
* FreeBSD: `"freebsd"`
* OpenBSD: `"openbsd"`
* IBM AIX: `"aix"`
* Solaris: `"sunos"`
* Linux & Others: `"linux"`

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This entire list should be moved to the docs for process.platform.

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I agree that's a good idea.

## os.arch()

Returns the operating system CPU architecture. Possible values are `'x64'`,
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