--- /dev/null
+/*
+ Copyright (C) 2011 Tim Mayberry
+ Copyright (C) 2013 Paul Davis
+
+ This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ (at your option) any later version.
+
+ This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+ You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+
+*/
+
+#ifndef __libardour_search_paths_h__
+#define __libardour_search_paths_h__
+
+#include "pbd/search_path.h"
+
+namespace ARDOUR {
+
+ /**
+ * return a SearchPath containing directories in which to look for
+ * backend plugins.
+ *
+ * If ARDOUR_BACKEND_PATH is defined then the SearchPath returned
+ * will contain only those directories specified in it, otherwise it will
+ * contain the user and system directories which may contain audio/MIDI
+ * backends.
+ */
+ LIBARDOUR_API PBD::Searchpath backend_search_path ();
+
+} // namespace ARDOUR
+
+#endif /* __libardour_search_paths_h__ */