CleanMCA · Platform and entry-point differences

Choose an entry point

Environment	First choice	Notes
Linux server	python3 CleanMCA.py ...	Easiest to pin to a known interpreter and result
macOS workstation	python3 CleanMCA.py ...	Avoids Bash realpath differences
Windows	python CleanMCA.py ... or CleanMCA.bat ...	Quote paths containing spaces
WSL	Python; Bash is also possible	Use paths WSL can resolve, such as /mnt/...
Git Bash	Prefer Python	Use Bash only after checking realpath and related commands

Linux and macOS

The interpreter may be named python3 or installed at an administrator-selected absolute path. Check and run the same executable:

/usr/bin/python3 --version
/usr/bin/python3 CleanMCA.py -m ./whitelist.txt -r "/srv/minecraft/world/region"

Quote paths containing spaces, parentheses, or [ and ]. Relative paths depend on the current terminal directory; use absolute paths for production so a panel, cron job, or systemd unit cannot change the target by changing the working directory.

System Bash, Homebrew Bash, and GNU utilities may behave differently on macOS. The repository Bash script depends on getopt and realpath; if those checks fail, use Python instead of replacing system commands just to run a deletion tool.

Windows

The Python implementation supports Chinese paths and filenames; the repository README lists Python 3.6 or newer. Example:

python CleanMCA.py --mca "C:\Tools\CleanMCA\whitelist.txt" --region "D:\Minecraft\world\region"

The batch wrapper is also available:

"C:\Tools\CleanMCA\CleanMCA.bat" -m "C:\Tools\CleanMCA\whitelist.txt" -r "D:\Minecraft\world\region"

The batch file calls CleanMCA.py from its own directory; it does not select a virtual environment or the Python installation configured by a panel. Test under the same account and working directory used by the service.

WSL and Git Bash

WSL paths and Windows paths are not interchangeable strings. A Windows drive is commonly visible in WSL as /mnt/d/Minecraft/world/region; Git Bash may perform another conversion. Do not paste D:\Minecraft\... into a WSL Bash command or copy a WSL path into PowerShell without checking it.

Resolve the path with the same interpreter before deleting:

python3 -c 'from pathlib import Path; print(Path("/mnt/d/Minecraft/world/region").resolve())'

For mounted, network, or symlinked paths, confirm the effective directory in both the file manager and the shell before running the tool.

Encoding, permissions, and automation

• Save the whitelist as UTF-8. On Windows, avoid generating a file with an incompatible local encoding.
• The Linux account must be able to read the whitelist, enter all three directories, and delete files there; read-only access is not enough.
• Panels, cron, systemd, Docker, and scheduled tasks can use a different PATH, user, and working directory. Replace python, python3, and relative paths with verified absolute paths where appropriate.
• Do not schedule the cleanup while the server is running. CleanMCA does not lock the world, detect a Java process reliably, or coordinate shutdown with a panel.