README.structure
================

This file describes the structure of the CTAN archives.

The Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN) is a set of nodes that
maintain a collection of freely-available material in support of users
of the TeX typesetting system by Donald Knuth, or of directly related
systems (such as developments of, or extensions to, TeX).

The archive is organised as a small set of directory hierarchies, most
of which have content directly related to an identifiable function
needed by the TeX user.

The top level of the archive tree contains README.* files (such as the
present file), and the FILES.* indexes.  Its subtrees are:

biblio/    Systems for maintaining and presenting bibliographies
           within documents typeset using TeX
digests/   Collections of TeX mailing list digests, TeX-related
           `electronic magazines', and indexes, etc., of printed
           publications
dviware/   Printer drivers and previewers, etc., for .dvi files
fonts/     Fonts written in Metafont, and support for using fonts from
           other sources (e.g., those in Adobe Type 1 format)
graphics/  Systems and TeX macros for producing graphics
help/      FAQs and similar direct assistance; the catalogue
indexing/  Systems for maintaining and presenting indexes of documents
           typeset using TeX.
info/      Manuals and extended how-to information; errata for TeX-
           related publications, collections of project (e.g., LaTeX
           and NTS) documents, etc.
install/   ZIP files of ready-to-install CTAN packages.  The package
           contained in CTAN directory a/b/c/d/ appears as
           install/a/b/c/d.tds.zip - each such file may be
           unzipped directly into a TDS tree, and should contain no
           ``tree prefix''
language/  Support for various languages; hyphenation patterns
macros/    TeX macros; several directories have significant sub-trees:
  macros/context/  The ConTeXt distribution and contributed material
  macros/generic/  Macros that work in several environments
  macros/latex/    The LaTeX distribution and contributed material
  macros/luatex/   Macros that require the LuaTeX engine
  macros/plain/    Donald Knuth's original plain TeX format, and contributions
  macros/xetex/    Macros that require the XeTeX engine
obsolete/  Material which is now obsolete, but which needs to remain
           on the archive for some reason (such as the 1992 LaTeX 2.09
           distribution).  The tree maintains a `shadow hierarchy' -
           for example, obsolete/macros/ has the same basic structure
           as macros/.
support/   TeX support environments and the like
systems/   TeX systems; organised by operating environment, but also
           including:
  systems/knuth/   Donald Knuth's current distribution
  systems/generic/ Complete systems that can potentially operate in
                   more than one operating environment
  systems/mac/mactex/
                   The distribution of MacTeX for Mac OS X
  systems/texlive/ The Live collection of freely distributable TeX material,
                   including the TeX Live on-line installer
  systems/win32/miktex/
                   The distribution of MiKTeX; CTAN provides a home
                   for MiKTeX's package repository, part of its online
                   installer.
tds/       The TeX Directory Structure standard (the output of the TUG
           TDS working group)
usergrps/  Information supplied by TeX User Groups
web/       `Literate Programming' tools and systems