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<head>
<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label what-TDS</title>
</head><body>
<h3>Which tree to use</h3>
<p/>In almost all cases, new material that you install should go into the
“local” tree of your (La)TeX installation. The root directory
will be named something like:
<blockquote>
<pre>
teTeX or TeX-live: /usr/share/texmf-local/ or
/usr/local/share/texmf/
MiKTeX: c:\localtexmf\
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
You can ask a Unix-alike system (such as teTeX or TeX-live) where
it believes a local tree should be:
<blockquote>
<pre>
kpsewhich -expand-var "\$TEXMFLOCAL"
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
the output being the actual path, for example:
<blockquote>
<pre>
/usr/local/share/texmf
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
on the workstation the author is using today.
<p/>In a MiKTeX installation, the location will in fact typically be
something you specified yourself when you installed MiKTeX in the
first place, but you may find you need to create one. The MiKTeX
“Settings” window (
<code>Start</code>->
<code>Programs</code>->
<code>MiKTeX</code>->
<code>Settings</code>)
has a tab “<code>Roots</code>”; that tab gives a list of current
TDS roots (they’re typically not called
<code>texmf</code>-anything). If there’s not one there with
“<code>local</code>” in its name, create an appropriate one (say
“<code>Local TeX Files</code>”), and register it using the window’s
“<code>Add</code>” button. The
<a href="http://docs.miktex.org/faq/maintenance.html">Miktex FAQ</a>
suggests that you should create
<code>C:textbackslashLocal TeX Files</code>, which is good if you
manage your own machine, but often not even possible in corporate, or
similar, environments where you will need to create a directory
somewhere <em>you</em>, rather than the system, control).
<p/>There are circumstances when you might not wish to do this:
<ul>
<li> if the package, or whatever, is “personal” (for example,
something commercial that has been licensed to you alone, or
something you’re developing yourself), the package should go in your
<a href="FAQ-privinst.html">“home” TEXMF tree</a>;
<li> if you have no privilege to write to the local tree, you are
again unlikely to be able to put the package anywhere other than
your home tree; or
<li> if you <em>know</em> that the package you are installing is a
replacement for the copy on the TEXMF tree of your (La)TeX
distribution, you should replace the existing copy in the
TEXMF tree.
</ul>
The reason one would put things on a local tree is to avoid their
disappearance if the system is upgraded (or otherwise re-installed).
<p/>The reason one might place upgrades the distribution’s main tree is to
avoid confusion. Suppose you were to place the file on the local
tree, and then install a new version of the distribution — you might
have an effect like:
<ul>
<li> distribution comes with package version n;
<li> you install package version n+1 on the local tree; and
<li> the updated distribution comes with package version n+2.
</ul>
In such a situation, you will find yourself using version
n+1 (from the local tree) <em>after</em> the new
distribution has been installed.
<p/>If you install in the local tree, the only way to avoid such problems
is to carefully purge the local tree when installing a new
distribution. This is tedious, if you’re maintaining a large
installation.
<p/><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=what-TDS">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=what-TDS</a>
</body>
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