[PD] Can someone clarify how to use libraries with Pd-vanilla on OSX

[Martin Dupras]

This will probably seem like a newbie question to some, but let me
declare first that I've been using PD-extended for a long time, and I
did search for an answer to my question on the list archives and on
the pure-data.info site. There is a lot of conflicting and out-of-date
information so it's difficult to get an answer.

My understanding is that with PD-extended dead, it is desirable to
move to using PD-Vanilla and use deken to find and download libraries.
I get that. I am utterly confused about how to make this work.

The OSX PD vanilla is a packaged app, which I assume goes in the
"Applications" folder. (Do correct me if I got this wrong.) The
package contents have no "lib" or "extra" or other folders, and this
suggests that it's not where the packages should go.

There are some documentation references that tell to install libraries
in ~/Library/Pd. I've done that, but no matter what I put in
"Preferences->Path" and "Preferences->Startup", nothing seems to get
found.

For "Preferences->Path", I select "new" and then navigate to a folder
(e.g. ~/Library/Pd/libdir). That sticks.

For "Preferences->Startup", I select "new" and then type something
such as "-lib libdir" (quotes not included, obviously).

I have installed deken, which works because it finds and downloads packages.

Here's what I get in the console:

-lib libdir: can't load library
-lib Gem: can't load library
-lib zexy: can't load library
-lib creb: can't load library
-lib pmpd: can't load library
-lib bsaylor: can't load library
-lib cream: can't load library
-lib HOAlib: can't load library
deken-plugin.tcl (Pd externals search) in
/Users/martindupras/Library/Pd/deken-plugin loaded.
Platform detected: Darwin-x86_64-32bit
'deken-plugin.tcl' already loaded, ignoring:
'/Users/martindupras/Library/Pd/deken-plugin/deken-plugin.tcl'

I am confused.

Can anyone clarify? Or point me to recent and detailed explanations?

Many thanks!

- martin