2.3 Macro Directories

A macro file must have a name in the form name.tmac or tmac.name and be placed in a tmac directory to be found by the -m mac command-line option.⁸ Such naming and placement makes a macro file into a macro package; when requested, it is sought in several directories. Together, these locations constitute the tmac path. Each directory is searched in the following order until the desired package is found or the list is exhausted.

• Directories specified with the -M command-line option.
• Directories listed in the GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable.
• The current working directory (only if in unsafe mode using the -U command-line option).
• The user’s home directory, found in the HOME environment variable.
• A site-local platform-dependent directory, a site-local platform-independent directory, and a stock directory. Locations corresponding to your installation are listed in section “Environment” of troff(1). If not otherwise configured, they are as follows.

  /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac
  /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac
  /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac
  

  The foregoing assumes that the version of groff is 1.23.0, and that the installation prefix was /usr/local. These locations can be customized as part of the build-time configuration process.