not sure whether this is a technical issue. Anyway -
Downloaded pd 0.54
I run Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
also downloaded zexy
path
/home/Documents/Pd/externals
that's how it is listed under preferences.
Now my old patches have zexy objects (demux for example) - when I open them from within the pd console the zexy objects are not activated.
When I click directly on an obejct from within the zexy folder it opens.
I checked preferences and saved.
Any help?

hmm did you click on the file for an external (binary) object or abstraction in the zexy folder?
try putting a [declare -lib zexy -path zexy] before creating objects

thing is -
I go into the zexy folder, click for example "mean-help", pd opens console, new window etc. and so does "mean". Fine.
I can open any other zexy object from within that new window.
I close everything, open pd, try to open for example "mean" and get: "couldn't create".
Tried: declare -lib zexy -path zexy.
I get:
bash: declare: -b: invalid option
hm.

@achim No, you declare it in the patch you are trying to open, not at the bash prompt

@achim the situation is: the -lib (or library preferences) refers to binary (machine code) libraries that are loaded by pd.

A library in terms of Pd generally refers to a set of objects.
Confusingly, these are not the same. To add to the confusion, a (Pd) library can have a just single (binary) library or multiple binary libraries (for multiple different pd objects).

when you use -lib that is in order to load the single binary library corresponding to a Pd library.

Pd libraries can also have abstractions (objects that are not binary libraries, but built directly in pd). In order to load abstractions and non-single binary libraries, you have to add the 'path' (corresponding to the path preferences) that pd will look into to find those binaries and abstractions.

As a Pd library, zexy uses a single binary for all of its binary objects. If you want to use any binary zexy objects you have to load the zexy binary with a [declare -lib zexy] object (or startup library in the preferences).

But, if you want to load the abstractions like [mean] in zexy pd has to know where to load those from too. therefore you also would need to use [declare -path zexy] to tell pd to look in the zexy folder in its paths for those abstractions.

You can combine them into one object: [declare -path zexy -lib zexy]

yes it's pretty confusing, and the mechanism could definitely be improved imo.

thanks a lot! I guess I'm (partly) getting it. Not very much unlike the command line with all the libraries you had to write into the console about 30 years ago, now this activation has to happen from within the patch. Which now actually worked out in the case of "zexy" but not (I got courageous) in case of "Gem". Uploaded Gem and wrote a "declare -lib Gem" object into the patch - but its still not finding "Gemhead" (object) or the like. Tried "declare -lib Gem -path Gem" which caused some fuzz in the console (cannot open shared object file: no such file or directory), so it seems to be better without -path.