diff --git a/client/powerline.c b/client/powerline.c
index f53e3457..d6858770 100644
--- a/client/powerline.c
+++ b/client/powerline.c
@@ -42,12 +42,12 @@ void do_write(int sd, const char *raw, size_t len) {
 	}
 }
 
-#ifdef __APPLE__
-# define ADDRESS_TEMPLATE "/tmp/powerline-ipc-%d"
-# define A
-#else
+#ifdef __linux__
 # define ADDRESS_TEMPLATE "powerline-ipc-%d"
 # define A +1
+#else
+# define ADDRESS_TEMPLATE "/tmp/powerline-ipc-%d"
+# define A
 #endif
 
 #define ADDRESS_SIZE sizeof(ADDRESS_TEMPLATE) + (sizeof(uid_t) * 4)
diff --git a/client/powerline.py b/client/powerline.py
index 78403887..28492c15 100755
--- a/client/powerline.py
+++ b/client/powerline.py
@@ -26,9 +26,7 @@ if len(sys.argv) < 2:
 	print('Must provide at least one argument.', file=sys.stderr)
 	raise SystemExit(1)
 
-platform = sys.platform.lower()
-use_filesystem = 'darwin' in platform
-del platform
+use_filesystem = not sys.platform.lower().startswith('linux')
 
 if sys.argv[1] == '--socket':
 	address = sys.argv[2]
diff --git a/client/powerline.sh b/client/powerline.sh
index b112ec21..b8e37956 100755
--- a/client/powerline.sh
+++ b/client/powerline.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,22 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-test "${OSTYPE#darwin}" = "${OSTYPE}" && darwin=n || darwin=y
+use_filesystem=1
+darwin=
+if test -n "$OSTYPE" ; then
+	# OSTYPE variable is a shell feature. supported by bash and zsh, but not 
+	# dash, busybox or (m)ksh.
+	if test "${OSTYPE#linux}" '!=' "${OSTYPE}" ; then
+		use_filesystem=
+	elif test "${OSTYPE#darwin}" ; then
+		darwin=1
+	fi
+elif which uname >/dev/null ; then
+	if uname -o | grep -iqF linux ; then
+		use_filesystem=
+	elif uname -o | grep -iqF darwin ; then
+		darwin=1
+	fi
+fi
 
 if test "$1" = "--socket" ; then
 	shift
@@ -8,13 +24,16 @@ if test "$1" = "--socket" ; then
 	shift
 else
 	ADDRESS="powerline-ipc-${UID:-`id -u`}"
-	test "$darwin" = y && ADDRESS="/tmp/$ADDRESS"
+	test -n "$use_filesystem" && ADDRESS="/tmp/$ADDRESS"
 fi
 
-if test "$darwin" = y; then
+if test -n "$darwin" ; then
 	ENV=genv
 else
 	ENV=env
+fi
+
+if test -z "$use_filesystem" ; then
 	ADDRESS="abstract-client:$ADDRESS"
 fi
 
diff --git a/scripts/powerline-daemon b/scripts/powerline-daemon
index 62cb35f3..7e78b6b0 100755
--- a/scripts/powerline-daemon
+++ b/scripts/powerline-daemon
@@ -24,8 +24,7 @@ from powerline.commands.daemon import get_argparser as get_daemon_argparser
 
 
 is_daemon = False
-platform = sys.platform.lower()
-use_filesystem = 'darwin' in platform
+use_filesystem = not sys.platform.lower().startswith('linux')
 
 address = None
 pidfile = None