texmf
for the name
of the root directory (folder) of an hierarchy; in practice there are
typically several such trees, each of which has a name that compounds
that (e.g., texmf-dist
, texmf-var
).
Files supplied as part of the distribution are put into the
distribution’s tree, but the location of the distribution’s hierarchy is
system dependent. (On a Unix system it might be at
/usr/share/texmf or /opt/texmf, or a similar location.)
There may be more than one ‘local’ hierarchy in which additional files
can be stored. An installation will also typically offer a local
hierarchy, while each user may have an individual local hierarchy.
The TDS itself is published as the output of a TUG
Technical Working Group. You may browse an
on-line version of the standard, and
copies in several other formats (including source) are available on
CTAN.
This question on the Web: http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=tds