rosetta-shell · a shell-portability CLI by ARCS

Lossless shell portability.

Write one script; run it byte-identical across bash 3.2, zsh, POSIX sh, and ksh. Think i18n, but for shells… service localization for the scripts that silently break the moment they change environments.

01

The problem

why it exists

A script authored on a modern bash laptop breaks the moment it lands on Apple's frozen bash 3.2, a zsh default, or a dash container. rosetta-shell is the phrasebook that makes it speak each locale… and a conformance runner that proves the shim produces identical output in every shell, instead of hoping it does.

02

The four moving parts

what's inside
● crossrun

The gate. Runs your script under every installed shell and reports a pass/fail matrix. Exits nonzero on failure, so it drops straight into CI.

● lint

Scans a script for non-portable constructs and names the shim to use… advisory, never rewrites your code.

● doctor

Localizes your environment: which shell you're in, which native features are missing.

● rosetta.sh

A sourceable shim library… one portable map plus case, echo, and split shims that behave the same everywhere.

03

Install

two live channels

npm

◈ npm
npx @flashesofbrilliance/rosetta-shell

Homebrew (macOS)

◈ homebrew
brew install flashesofbrilliance/tap/rosetta-shell
04

Part of the ARCS family

the tie-in

Portability-as-proof is the same discipline ARCS applies to decisions: prove a thing survives every environment instead of trusting that it will. rosetta-shell is one of the open, MIT-licensed public goods in the ARCS family… the tools are open; the ARCS intelligence that orchestrates them is private.