Portable and Installed mode

Runtime

Phoenix will either work in "portable" or "installed" mode based on the presence of a file called PHOENIX-PORTABLE in the same folder as the executable. If it exists, Phoenix will run in portable mode. If not, it will run in installed mode.

Building

The file PHOENIX-PORTABLE will be written to the build directory if the option PORTABLE_MODE is set to ON.

Structure

Portable mode

For portable builds, the Phoenix binary will sit at the root with the following structure within:

Phoenix (the binary)
`PHOENIX-PORTABLE` (empty file)
(any Qt/SDL/SRC [libsamplerate] dependencies)
User Data/ (user game library, artwork cache)
Metadata/ (game metadata, core/system metadata, misc resources)
Cores/

Installed mode

Windows location: %PROGRAMFILES%\Phoenix\ OS X location: Usually /Applications/Phoenix.app/Contents/MacOS/ Structure:

(identical to portable, except the file `PHOENIX-PORTABLE` doesn't exist, User Data/ exists in the user's home folder and cores exist in a special folder)

Linux location: Depends, for example /usr/local

bin/phoenix (note case)
(User Data/ is stored in the user's home folder)
share/phoenix/Metadata/
(cores/ exists in a special folder)

Core folders

Windows: %PROGRAMFILES%\Libretro\Cores OS X: /usr/local/lib/libretro Linux: /usr/lib/libretro