I think Node provides objective access to the filesystem, representing it as it is, without getting in the way. From there, I use a module to test filesystem behavior, and use several comparison functions depending on the behavior of the filesystem.<p>Much also depends on the nature of your application, this determines how you would want to probe or work with the filesystem. For example, do you create a test filename to see the exact NFD form that HFS+ uses or estimate it if this is not critical to the task at hand.