Handle tilde as home dir in darwin and linux

script/lib/handle-tilde.js

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+'use strict'
+
+const os = require('os')
+const passwdUser = require('passwd-user')
+const path = require('path')
+
+module.exports = function (aPath) {
+  if (!aPath.startsWith('~')) {
+    return aPath
+  }
+
+  const sepIndex = aPath.indexOf(path.sep)
+  const user = (sepIndex < 0) ? aPath.substring(1) : aPath.substring(1, sepIndex)
+  const rest = (sepIndex < 0) ? '' : aPath.substring(sepIndex)
+  const home = (user === '') ? os.homedir() : (() => {
+    const passwd = passwdUser.sync(user);
+    if (passwd === undefined) {
+      throw new Error(`Failed to expand the tilde in ${aPath} - user "${user}" does not exist`)
+    }
+    return passwd.homedir
+  })()
+
+  return `${home}${rest}`
+}

script/lib/install-application.js

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 'use strict'
 
 const fs = require('fs-extra')
+const handleTilde = require('./handle-tilde')
 const path = require('path')
 const runas = require('runas')
 const template = require('lodash.template')
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@ const CONFIG = require('../config')
 module.exports = function (packagedAppPath, installDir) {
   const packagedAppFileName = path.basename(packagedAppPath)
   if (process.platform === 'darwin') {
-    const installPrefix = installDir !== '' ? installDir : path.join(path.sep, 'Applications')
+    const installPrefix = installDir !== '' ? handleTilde(installDir) : path.join(path.sep, 'Applications')
     const installationDirPath = path.join(installPrefix, packagedAppFileName)
     if (fs.existsSync(installationDirPath)) {
       console.log(`Removing previously installed "${packagedAppFileName}" at "${installationDirPath}"`)
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ module.exports = function (packagedAppPath, installDir) {
     const apmExecutableName = CONFIG.channel === 'beta' ? 'apm-beta' : 'apm'
     const appName = CONFIG.channel === 'beta' ? 'Atom Beta' : 'Atom'
     const appDescription = CONFIG.appMetadata.description
-    const prefixDirPath = installDir !== '' ? installDir : path.join('/usr', 'local')
+    const prefixDirPath = installDir !== '' ? handleTilde(installDir) : path.join('/usr', 'local')
     const shareDirPath = path.join(prefixDirPath, 'share')
     const installationDirPath = path.join(shareDirPath, atomExecutableName)
     const applicationsDirPath = path.join(shareDirPath, 'applications')

script/package.json

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
     "mkdirp": "0.5.1",
     "normalize-package-data": "2.3.5",
     "npm": "3.10.5",
+    "passwd-user": "2.1.0",
     "pegjs": "0.9.0",
     "runas": "3.1.1",
     "season": "5.3.0",