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+
+<h2>Configuration Directory</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 at install time.
+ 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>
+ The user configuration directory will be somewhere inside the user's
+ home directory. The home directory on a linux system is normally
+ <code>/home/$USER/</code>, but should also be returned by <code>$HOME</code>
+ or <code>~</code>.
+ A normal place to find this is <code>$HOME/.config/ardour*/</code> where
+ <code>*</code> is the major version. However this can be set by the system with the
+ <code>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME</code> environment variable to something else. If you cannot
+ find <code>$HOME/.config/</code> on your system try <code>echo ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}</code>
+ to see if your distro is using something else. In any case Ardour
+ appends the <code>ardour*</code>
+ directory to the result where <code>*</code> is the major version number.
+ For example, <code>ardour5</code> where the Ardour version is 5.6.
+</p>
+<p class="note">
+ In Linux, all path names are lower case and case matters.
+</p>
+
+<h3>macOS</h3>
+
+<p>
+ The user configuration directory on macOS is
+ <code>$HOME/Library/Preferences/Ardour*/</code> where <code>*</code>
+ is the major version number.
+ For example, <code>Ardour5</code> where the Ardour version is 5.6.
+</p>
+<h3>Windows</h3>
+<p>
+ Windows users are not expected to hand edit configuration files at all.
+ It is expected configuration options are changed with some sort of GUI
+ tool. For the most part all of Ardour's configuration is taken care of
+ by the GUI in preferences. However, there are devices that may need a
+ custom file and that would be in the users configuration directory.
+</p>
+<p>
+ Ardour asks the system for this directory and then appends
+ <code>Ardour*</code>
+ to the path where <code>*</code> is the major version number.
+ For example, <code>Ardour5</code> where the Ardour version is 5.6.
+ The official path would look like:
+ <code>%localappdata%\Ardour5\</code> Windows expands
+ <code>%localappdata%</code> to
+ a real path.
+</p>
+<p>
+ An example of a configuration path in Window (from xp) would be:
+ <code>C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Application Data\Local Settings\Ardour5\</code>
+ The user in the path would be the user's account name.
+</p>
+<p class="note">
+ The above is only an example and may not even be true for all installations
+ of Windows XP.
+</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 compiled 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 <code>/usr/lib/ladspa/</code>,
+ <code>/usr/local/lib/ladspa/</code>
+ 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 <code>/usr/lib/$ARCH/ladspa/</code> and find that Ardour will not find that by
+ default. The user can either add a link from this actual directory to
+ the standard directory or add this path to LADSPA_PATH.
+</p>
+
+<h4>LV2</h4>
+<p>
+ LADSPA plugins should be found in <code>/usr/lib/lv2/</code>,
+ <code>/usr/local/lib/lv2/</code>
+ or in a directory mentioned in your LV2_PATH environment variable.
+ The most common mistake made by distro packagers, is to use a path
+ like <code>/usr/lib/$ARCH/lv2/</code> 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 <code>/usr/lib/lxvst</code>,
+ <code>/usr/local/lib/lxvst</code> 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>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 <code>$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2/</code>
+ <code>/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2/</code>
+ <code>/usr/local/lib/lv2/</code>
+ <code>/usr/lib/lv2/</code>
+ 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 <code>%APPDATA%/LV2/</code> or
+ <code>%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%/LV2/</code>
+</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>
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