Hi everyone,
I have a problem with loading libraries in pd vanilla 0.47.1 on macOS sierra.
I have downloaded some libraries from help > find externals.
As far as I understand it, those libraries have been added to the /Applications/Pd-0.47-1-64bit.app/Contents/Resources/extra folder (inside the application).

After installation, objects from some libraries create but with the added library name ([cyclone/midiparse], for example), while objects from other libraries such as zexy won't create at all.

I have added the names of those libraries in Preferences > startup as shown in the picture, that helped as now objects from zexy do create but I still need to type [zexy/...] before the object. This would be fine for new patches, but is a problem to open patches created by others.

In Preferences > path I have added the local folders where I keep my library of abstractions, I would add the /Resources/extra folder too but I can't choose that path since it's inside the app itself.

Does anyone know the steps to load all the libraries at startup so that the objects create without the need to type the library name in front?

Thanks very much for your help.

@weightless These entries in Preferences > Startup can be deleted. Add the full path of the directory of each library to Preferences > Path.

A Path would look something like this:
/home/yourpath/extra/zexy on linux and i guess C://yourpath/extra/zexy on windows.

@ingox I'm on mac and those libraries are downloaded into the pd application, so the path is /Applications/Pd-0.47-1-64bit.app/Contents/Resources/extra
When I click "new" in Preferences > path, it won't let me choose a path which is inside the application.

I have added Startup flags and that seems to work, now objects from some of those libraries work with just the object name, but not those from cyclone for example, so maybe this is not a definitive solution.

@weightless Sorry, don't know about os x. Could be /Library/Pd/<libfoldername>?

@ingox There's no "Pd" folder in either /Library or /Users/<username>/Library. Inside the application, in the /Applications/Pd-0.47-1-64bit.app/Contents/Resources/extra folder there is one folder with the name of each library, so I'm pretty sure that's where pd needs to look at. But how?

Thanks for your help, hopefully somebody who uses os x will come along.

Zexy works differently than other externals, in that the [zexy/...] method won't work and it has to be declared. This means including it in the 'libraries' list on top (the startup flags can be removed.) If it's not working like this, then it means that PD isn't find finding the right folder (sorry, I can't help with the Mac side of things.)

With other libraries, I find it easiest just to declare them in the object name, and forget about the startup options. This will work so long as PD is finding the right folder.

@LiamG I have included zexy in the library list in Preferences > startup (and removed the flags), but the objects still won't create. I have to first create [declare -lib zexy] in the patch, and then it works.
Like I said, this wouldn't be a problem at all for the new patches I work on, but whenever I download some else's patch I have to make changes just to get them to work. In the case of zexy this might mean to just add [declare -lib zexy] (which is still annoying), but for other libraries (like cyclone) I need to go and change each object and add [cyclone/..] in the object's name. This most of the time is incredibly time consuming at best.
I'm wondering if there is anyone else using pd vanilla 0.47.1 on mac and how do they go about with these issues.

I've also noticed something weird: like I said when I open pd and type an external object (from any library), right now it won't create. But if I open the help file of any object from any library, then not only the object in the help file creates but also after that all the other objects from the same library create without having to declare the library or put the library name before the object's name, and even some from other libraries than the one I've opened the help file from (but not all). Could it be that by opening the help file pd suddenly "knows" to look inside that folder too?

@weightless As far as i understand it, anybody please correct me if this is wrong:

Externals come in two different forms. Some like Gem and maybe zexy come as one "library" file that contains all the actual objects. Most externals like cyclone and list-abs come in the form of a collection of files/objects (for me on linux, zexy also comes as files/objects).

The library ones can be referenced with [declare -lib path-to-subdirectory]. The others with [declare -path path-to-subdirectory].

Accordingly, the library ones go into Preferences > Startup..., the others into Preferences > Path...

i don't know if it is possible to use relative paths, especially on os x, but assume that absolute paths should always work.

How to get absolute paths into Preferences > Path... on os x, where you cannot choose the subdirectories inside the application through the finder window? i don't know for sure, is it possible to add any path and than edit it manually by clicking edit and paste the absolute path? If not, i made this patch that directly overwrites the entries in Preferences > Path...:

add_path.pd

@ingox Thanks for the patch, that did work because now (almost) all objects create at startup. When I open the browser though, I get this:

It looks like those libraries were loaded already, if they are duplicate. But if I remove the paths from Preferences > paths, the objects don't create.

@weightless if you have them in preferences > path, you wont need them in preferences > startup

@ingox Yes, I had removed them from preferences > startup.

@weightless i updated the patch so it will actually save the path entries:
add_path.pd
sorry, i don't really know how this stuff works, i try figuring it out by looking at the source code of the .tcl files...

@ingox That doesn't seem to have made any difference. Thanks for your effort, I have no idea how to get this stuff to work. It just seems odd that it's this difficult to do it on mac, I wonder how do others do it when they use patches made by others?

@weightless do you have this problem with every patch that makes use of libraries? perhaps its a problem of os sierra?

@Jona Yes I do, unless the patch has a [declare -lib] object or the library name written in front of each external object's name. Are you on mac as well? do you not have this issue?

@weightless normally i work on windows. but i have an old macbook pro (late 2008) with os snow leopard. its too old for os sierra but i didnt had problems with libraries so far. the only thing is that i had to save them outside of the app folder for setting the path.

ps.: i use the 32bit version with os x, because some libs didnt work with the 64bit version if i remember right

Problem solved!
When you get the externals from help > find externals, you are given the choice of where to put them. I had downloaded them months ago when I moved to vanilla and clicked the standard option to put them inside the application.

When you get to this message, clicking "no" allows you to select a different folder for the external.

After that, I've put the paths to all those externals in Preferences > path, and added "zexy" to Preferences > startup. Now everything works perfectly!

Thanks everyone for your kind help! Hope this helps somebody else having a hard time figuring this out.

@weightless Hello, I had a similar problem as well with my mac, and tried your solution, and I got a few objects to be created successfully, but i cant get mrpeach to be loaded in the latest version of vanilla, the osc messages are coming through but I cant get any audio...

@weightless it says that it cant open