[LAD] RFC: Default discovery paths for LADSPA, LRDF, LV2 and DSSI (and more?)

[Jeff McClintock]

> From: Chris Cannam 
> On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 9:13 PM, Jeff McClintock<jef at synthedit.com>
> wrote:
> > Windows has official rules for this. ?Users are no longer allowed to
> add
> > random files to an application's directory in "/Program
> Files/Appname".
> 
> Oh!  This is news to me -- interesting news too, given that I
> distribute Windows versions of SV without an installer and just expect
> the user to copy it to %ProgramFiles% if they want it to go there, and
> that it only looks in immediate subdirectories of %ProgramFiles% for
> plugins of any sort.
> 
> I don't recall anyone complaining to me that they couldn't install
> plugins for it -- maybe this just means nobody is using it?!

On Windows XP, many people run as administrator, so they won't notice
anything.  On Vista and Windows 7, they will get a 'UAC' Warning that they
are doing something restricted.

> Can you point to any documentation for this?  I'd like to know what
> other rules I might be falling afoul of.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms995843.aspx

(most of that is about system dlls and versioning). The relevant part for
plugins is...

" 3.4  Install any non side-by-side shared files to the correct locations
The proper location for shared components depends on whether these
components are shared across companies or by a single company. 

Shared components that are private to a single software vendor must be
installed in one of two places. Do not store these files in the system
directory 

common files directory\<company name>
%ProgramFiles%\<company name>\Shared Files

The common files directory can be accessed by passing
CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES_COMMON to the SHGetFolderPath API."

> typically
> > "C:\Program Files\Common Files\LADSPA Plugins..."
> 
> I don't suppose you happen to know whether any Windows-based LADSPA
> hosts are actually using this path?

I don't know about LADSPA..but the latest Cubase uses "C:\Program
Files\Common Files\Steinberg\VST2" for 3rd party plugins.

Personally I think the company name could be omitted because many other
individuals and companies need to put plugins in there too.

Jeff M