title: Files and Directories Ardour Knows About
---
-<h2>Configuration Directories</h2>
+<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 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.
+ 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>
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 ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME} to see if your
- distro is using something else.
+ home directory. The home directory on a linux system is normally
+ <code>/home/$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 ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}</code>
+ to see if your distro is using something else. In any case Ardour
+ appends the <code>ardour*</code>
+ directory to the result where <code>*</code> is the major version number.
+ For example, <code>ardour5</code> where the Ardour version is 5.6.
+</p>
+<p class="note">
+ In Linux, all path names are lower case and case matters.
</p>
-<h3>OSx or MacOS</h3>
+
+<h3>macOS</h3>
+
<p>
- maybe someone who has a MAC can complete this section.
+ The user configuration directory on macOS is
+ <code>$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>
- This section also needs someone with real knowledge to complete it.
+ 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>
<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
+ 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 /usr/lib/ladspa/, /usr/local/lib/ladspa/
+ 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 /usr/lib/$ARCH/ladspa/ and find that Ardour will not find that by
+ like <code>/usr/lib/$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 /usr/lib/lv2/, /usr/local/lib/lv2/
+ 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 /usr/lib/$ARCH/lv2/ and find that Ardour will not find that by
+ like <code>/usr/lib/$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 /usr/lib/lxvst, /usr/local/lib/lxvst or
+ 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>OSX or MacOS</h3>
+<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 $HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2
- /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2
- /usr/local/lib/lv2
- /usr/lib/lv2
+ place. LV2 should be in <code>$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
</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?
+ The LV2 standard for Windows is <code>%APPDATA%/LV2/</code> or
+ <code>%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%/LV2/</code>
</p>
<h2>Project Directory</h2>
projects / ardour-manual-diverged / commitdiff