"Use this library to open a path or URL using the program configured on the system in a non-blocking fashion." Replace with something like "This library will open a given path or URL in some application, obeying the current user's desktop configuration. It is expected that http: and https: URLs will open in a web browser, although desktop configuration may override this. The choice of application for opening other path types is highly system-dependent."
Give some examples of non-URL path opening.

UNIX Desktop

The choice of application for opening a given URL or path on a UNIX desktop is highly dependent on the user's GUI framework (if any) and its configuration. open tries a sequence of opener commands to open the specified path. The configuration of these openers is dependent on the window system.

On a console, results will likely be poor. The openers expect to be able to open in a new or existing window, something that consoles lack.

On Windows WSL, wslview is tried first, then xdg-open. In other UNIX environments, xdg-open is tried first. If this fails, a sequence of other openers is tried.

Currently the BROWSER environment variable is ignored even for http: and https: URLs.

It cannot be overemphasized how fragile this all is in UNIX environments. It is common for the various MIME tables to incorrectly specify the application "owning" a given filetype. It is common for openers to behave strangely. Use with caution.

Use $BROWSER variable on Linux for links #8

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Use `$BROWSER` variable on Linux for links #8