Variables API

The vars and the variable modules both show in the module listing as "Variables API". They were created within two months of each other and offer similar functionality.

It appears that both Libraries API and Variables API provide a function to retrieve the path to third-party library code installed under sites/all/libraries/.

From libraries.module, lines 9-22

<?php
/**
* Helper function to build paths to libraries.
*
* @param $name
* The machine name of a library to return the path for.
* @param $base_path
* Whether to prefix the resulting path with base_path().
*
* @return
* The path to the specified library.
*