[chef] metadata "supports" setting

[< >]

How exactly is the "supports" setting used?  I ask because I have a Windows
only cookbook with the following declaration in the metadata.rb:

supports         "windows"

This cookbook is used by an LWRP in another cookbook that supports both 
Windows
and RedHat:

supports         "windows"
supports         "redhat"

This cookbook is used by another, which is in turn used by another, ... on and
on.

When using the 10.18.2 client and a run list on Linux that indirectly uses the
Windows only cookbook, the Windows only cookbook is downloaded and its
attributes evaluated.

I found this out because the Windows only cookbook contains some custom audit
information that is incomplete because it isn't applicable on Linux.  I would
prefer for this cookbook to not have it attributes evaluated at all.

Is there any way to prevent Windows only cookbooks from having their 
attributes
evaluated on Linux?