+++ /dev/null
----
-layout: default
-title: Files and Directories Ardour Knows About
----
-
-<h2>Configuration Directories</h2>
-<p>
- Ardour stores configuration files in two places. The system configuration
- directory and the user configuration directory. The system configuration
- directory is used for stock configuration files and is used by all
- users on any one system. The user configuration directory is used by
- Ardour to store configuration changes made in the GUI as well as being
- a place the user can add control surface device files, scripts etc.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- Ardour tries to use standard places for these directories for the platform
- it is running on.
-</p>
-<h3>Linux</h3>
-<p>
- Linux is the most variable of the platforms mainly due to Ardour obtained from
- a distro package. If Ardour is obtained from ardour.org as a ready to install
- and run bundle, the system configuration directory will always be in
- /opt/Ardour-major.minor.sub/share/ That is it will match the name of the
- file you downloaded. If Ardour is self built and installed with the
- default install path (yes you can change this) then system configuration
- will be in /usr/local/share/ardour*/ where * is the major number such as
- /usr/local/share/ardour5/ for Ardour 5.6. If you have installed Ardour
- as a package from your distro, then distro policy will dictate where
- it is installed. /usr/share/ardour*/ is quite common and a good place to start
- looking. However, the Ardour development team does not support these
- distro builds nor keep track of where they may put things.
-</p>
-<p>
- The user configuration directory will be somewhere inside the user's
- home directory. A normal place to find this is ~/.config/ardour*/ where
- * is the major version. However this can be set by the system with the
- $XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable to something else. If you can not
- find ~/.config/ on your system try echo ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME} to see if your
- distro is using something else.
-</p>
-<h3>OSx or MacOS</h3>
-<p>
- maybe someone who has a MAC can complete this section.
-</p>
-<h3>Windows</h3>
-<p>
- This section also needs someone with real knowledge to complete it.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Plugins</h2>
-<p>
- Plugins will be installed in various places, some by standard and some
- by developer whim. Some are installed incorrectly by distro policy.
-</p>
-
-<h3>Linux</h3>
-<p>
- In linux there are 3 kinds of plugins Ardour can use. LADSPA, LV2 (LADSPA version 2)
- or lxvst (VSTs compiles as native linux binaries). While it is possible
- with some strange magic to run <a href="/working-with-plugins/windows-vst-support/">Windows VSTs</a>
- on linux, their whereabouts would follow the Windows info below.
-</p>
-
-<h4>LADSPA</h4>
-<p>
- LADSPA plugins should be found in /usr/lib/ladspa/, /usr/local/lib/ladspa/
- or in a directory mentioned in your LADSPA_PATH environment variable.
- The most common mistake made by distro packagers, is to use a path
- like /usr/lib/$ARCH/ladspa/ and find that Ardour will not find that by
- default. The user can either add a link from this actual directory to
- the standard directory or add this path to LADSPA_PATH.
-</p>
-
-<h4>LV2</h4>
-<p>
- LADSPA plugins should be found in /usr/lib/lv2/, /usr/local/lib/lv2/
- or in a directory mentioned in your LV2_PATH environment variable.
- The most common mistake made by distro packagers, is to use a path
- like /usr/lib/$ARCH/lv2/ and find that Ardour will not find that by
- default. The user can either add a link from this actual directory to
- the standard directory or add this path to LV2_PATH.
-</p>
-
-<h4>Linux VST or lxvst</h4>
-<p>
- They are typically installed in /usr/lib/lxvst, /usr/local/lib/lxvst or
- a directory mentioned in your LXVST_PATH environment variable. However,
- this is not a standard and the VST plugin developer may install the plugin
- just about anywhere. Therefore Ardour allows the user to set extra VST
- paths in the preferences GUI under Plugins>VST.
-</p>
-
-<h3>OSX or MacOS</h3>
-<p>
- On the Mac, plugins are expected to be installed correctly Ardour uses
- the system tool to scan for AU style plugins and LV2s should be in the right
- place. LV2 should be in $HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2
- /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2
- /usr/local/lib/lv2
- /usr/lib/lv2
- If an AU or LV2 plugin does not show up on a Mac it is probably
- a development fault with the plugin and the plugin will not work with anything.
- Ardour in Ardour 5.6 has support for native VST plugins. That is VST
- plugins built for OSX. I am not sure if these have a standard place to
- be, but as with other VSTs the search path can be edited at Plugins>VST.
-</p>
-
-<h3>Windows</h3>
-<p>
- The most common plugins on Windows are VSTs. However, LADSPA and LV2
- plugins are available for windows as well. In fact Ardours built in
- plugins are LV2s. The biggest advanatage of LV2 plugins is that they are
- the most likely to be cross platform and therefore allow the same Ardour
- project to be worked on in Windows, OSX and Linux.
-</p>
-
-<h4>VST</h4>
-<p>
- As with other platforms, VSTs on Windows do not have a standard place
- to reside. Ardour Preferences>Plugins>VST allows setting the VST path
- from the GUI.
-</p>
-<h4>LV2</h4>
-<p>
- The LV2 standard for Windows is %APPDATA%/LV2 or %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%/LV2
-</p>
-
-<h4>LADSPA</h4>
-<p>
- While there are LADSPA plugins for Windows, I have been unable to find
- the standard path for them... perhaps someone knows?
-</p>
-
-<h2>Project Directory</h2>
-<p>
- Ardour places a project directory where the user tells it to. This
- directory is chosen when creating a project. In most cases the user
- does not need to know about the files inside of the project directory.
- However there are a few subdirectories worth noting.
-</p>
-<h3>export</h3>
-<p>
- This is the subdirectory where exported files end up.
-</p>
projects / ardour-manual-diverged / blobdiff