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Cross-Platform Support

PMDaemon is designed from the ground up to be truly cross-platform, providing native performance and full feature parity across Linux, Windows, and macOS.

Platform Support Matrix​

PlatformArchitectureStatusBinary Name
Linuxx86_64✅ Full Supportpmdaemon-linux-x86_64
Windowsx86_64✅ Full Supportpmdaemon-windows-x86_64.exe
macOSx86_64 (Intel)✅ Full Supportpmdaemon-macos-x86_64
macOSaarch64 (Apple Silicon)✅ Full Supportpmdaemon-macos-aarch64

Key Advantages​

🚀 Native Performance​

  • No runtime dependencies - Single binary, no Node.js required
  • Platform-optimized - Uses native OS APIs for best performance
  • Small footprint - ~15MB binary vs ~50MB+ for PM2 + Node.js
  • Fast startup - ~100ms vs 2-3 seconds for PM2

🔧 Platform-Specific Optimizations​

Linux​

  • Signal Handling: Full Unix signal support (SIGTERM, SIGINT, SIGUSR1, SIGUSR2, SIGKILL)
  • Process Management: Native nix crate integration for optimal performance
  • File System: POSIX-compliant operations
  • Container Ready: Optimized for Docker and Kubernetes deployments

Windows​

  • Signal Handling: Native Ctrl+C handling and graceful shutdown
  • Process Management: Windows APIs with taskkill integration
  • File System: Native Windows path handling
  • Terminal Support: Works with PowerShell, Command Prompt, and Windows Terminal

macOS​

  • Universal Support: Both Intel and Apple Silicon architectures
  • Signal Handling: Full Unix signal support like Linux
  • Performance: Native ARM64 performance on M1/M2/M3 Macs
  • Integration: Works seamlessly with macOS development workflows

Unified API​

The same commands work identically across all platforms:

# These commands work exactly the same on Linux, Windows, and macOS
pmdaemon start app.js --name myapp
pmdaemon list
pmdaemon stop myapp
pmdaemon restart myapp
pmdaemon logs myapp
pmdaemon delete myapp

Installation Options​

Pre-built Binaries​

Download the appropriate binary for your platform:

# Linux
wget https://github.com/entrepeneur4lyf/pmdaemon/releases/latest/download/pmdaemon-linux-x86_64
chmod +x pmdaemon-linux-x86_64
sudo mv pmdaemon-linux-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/pmdaemon

# Windows (PowerShell)
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/entrepeneur4lyf/pmdaemon/releases/latest/download/pmdaemon-windows-x86_64.exe" -OutFile "pmdaemon.exe"

# macOS Intel
wget https://github.com/entrepeneur4lyf/pmdaemon/releases/latest/download/pmdaemon-macos-x86_64
chmod +x pmdaemon-macos-x86_64
sudo mv pmdaemon-macos-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/pmdaemon

# macOS Apple Silicon
wget https://github.com/entrepeneur4lyf/pmdaemon/releases/latest/download/pmdaemon-macos-aarch64
chmod +x pmdaemon-macos-aarch64
sudo mv pmdaemon-macos-aarch64 /usr/local/bin/pmdaemon

From Source​

Build for your current platform:

git clone https://github.com/entrepeneur4lyf/pmdaemon.git
cd pmdaemon
cargo build --release

Cross-Compilation​

Build for other platforms from Linux:

# Add targets
rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
rustup target add x86_64-apple-darwin
rustup target add aarch64-apple-darwin

# Build for Windows
cargo build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

# Build for macOS (requires macOS SDK)
cargo build --release --target x86_64-apple-darwin
cargo build --release --target aarch64-apple-darwin

Platform Differences​

Signal Handling​

Unix (Linux/macOS):

# Full signal support
pmdaemon stop myapp    # Sends SIGTERM
pmdaemon kill myapp    # Sends SIGKILL
# Also supports SIGUSR1, SIGUSR2, SIGINT

Windows:

# Uses Windows-native termination
pmdaemon stop myapp    # Uses taskkill
pmdaemon kill myapp    # Uses taskkill /F
# Ctrl+C handling for graceful shutdown

File Paths​

PMDaemon automatically handles platform-specific paths:

Linux/macOS:

  • Config: ~/.config/pmdaemon/
  • Logs: ~/.local/share/pmdaemon/logs/
  • PIDs: ~/.local/share/pmdaemon/pids/

Windows:

  • Config: %APPDATA%\pmdaemon\
  • Logs: %LOCALAPPDATA%\pmdaemon\logs\
  • PIDs: %LOCALAPPDATA%\pmdaemon\pids\

Process Management​

All platforms support the same features:

  • ✅ Process lifecycle management
  • ✅ Auto-restart on crash
  • ✅ Memory monitoring
  • ✅ Health checks
  • ✅ Port management
  • ✅ Log management
  • ✅ Configuration files

Development Workflows​

Cross-Platform Development Teams​

PMDaemon enables consistent tooling across diverse development environments:

# Developer on macOS
pmdaemon start --config ecosystem.json

# Developer on Windows
pmdaemon start --config ecosystem.json

# Developer on Linux
pmdaemon start --config ecosystem.json

# Same config file, same behavior, same output

CI/CD Pipelines​

Use the same PMDaemon commands in all CI environments:

# GitHub Actions example
- name: Start services
  run: pmdaemon start --config ci-ecosystem.json --wait-ready
  # Works on ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest

Migration Benefits​

From PM2​

Before (PM2):

  • Requires Node.js on all platforms
  • Windows support is problematic
  • Different behavior across platforms
  • Large resource footprint

After (PMDaemon):

  • Native binaries for each platform
  • Consistent behavior everywhere
  • Better Windows support
  • Smaller resource usage

From Platform-Specific Tools​

Replace multiple tools with one:

  • Linux: systemd, supervisor → PMDaemon
  • Windows: Windows Services, NSSM → PMDaemon
  • macOS: launchd, brew services → PMDaemon

Best Practices​

1. Use Configuration Files​

{
  "apps": [{
    "name": "myapp",
    "script": "node",
    "args": ["server.js"],
    "instances": 2,
    "port": "auto:3000-3100"
  }]
}

2. Platform-Agnostic Scripts​

#!/bin/bash
# Works on all platforms with appropriate shell
pmdaemon start --config ecosystem.json
pmdaemon list

3. Health Checks​

# Same health check works everywhere
pmdaemon start app.js \
  --health-check-url http://localhost:3000/health \
  --wait-ready

Troubleshooting​

Platform-Specific Issues​

Linux:

  • Ensure binary has execute permissions: chmod +x pmdaemon
  • Check PATH includes installation directory

Windows:

  • Run as Administrator if needed for system-wide installation
  • Add to PATH environment variable
  • Use PowerShell or Command Prompt

macOS:

  • Allow binary in Security & Privacy settings
  • Use sudo for system-wide installation
  • Ensure Xcode Command Line Tools are installed

Common Solutions​

  1. Permission Denied: Use chmod +x on Unix or run as Administrator on Windows
  2. Command Not Found: Add binary location to PATH
  3. Port Conflicts: Use PMDaemon's auto port assignment
  4. Process Not Starting: Check logs with pmdaemon logs <name>

PMDaemon's cross-platform design ensures you can use the same powerful process management tool regardless of your operating system, providing consistency and reliability across your entire infrastructure.