UK TeX FAQ -- question 113

### Where to put new files

Where precisely you put files that you have downloaded does depend on what TeX distribution you have. However, assuming that you have one of the modern TDS-compliant distributions (such as teTeX, fpTeX or mikTeX) there are some general rules that you can follow:

(1) Always install new files in a local texmf tree. The root directory will be named something like:

     teTeX:          /usr/share/texmf-local/ or
                     /usr/local/share/texmf/
     fpTeX:          c:\fptex\texmf.local\
     mikTeX:         c:\localtexmf\

(In fact, a teTeX system can be asked to tell you what its local root is; on a Unix system, the command to use is:

      kpsewhich -expand-var \$TEXMFLOCAL

the output being the actual path.)

Let's write `$TEXMF` for this root, whatever it is for your system.

(2) In your local texmf tree, imitate the directory structure in your main tree. Here's some examples of where files of given extensions should go:

    .sty, .cls or .fd: $TEXMF/tex/latex/<package>/
    .dvi, .ps or .pdf: $TEXMF/doc/latex/<package>/
    .mf:   $TEXMF/fonts/source/<supplier>/<font>/
    .tfm:  $TEXMF/fonts/tfm/<supplier>/<font>/
    .vf:   $TEXMF/fonts/vf/<supplier>/<font>/
    .afm:  $TEXMF/fonts/afm/<supplier>/<font>/
    .pfb:  $TEXMF/fonts/type1/<supplier>/<font>/
    .ttf:  $TEXMF/fonts/truetype/<supplier>/<font>/

Where of course <package>, <font> and <supplier> depend upon what's appropriate for the individual file. Note, however, that <font> may stand for a single font or an entire family: for example, files for all of Knuth's Computer Modern font family are to be found in `.../public/cm`, with various prefixes as appropriate.