texmf and texmf-dist?

Hi, 

I'm using teTeX-2.0 and I'd like to update to 3.0. 

I got the tar balls as usual and reading the INSTALL I found a new issue:  

> you have to create two texmf directories and unpack the tar archive
> there. Example:
>  # mkdir -p /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf-dist
>  # gzip -dc tetex-texmf.tar.gz \
>      | (umask 0; cd /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf-dist; tar xvf -)

What the texmf dir is for? 

Can I use: 
# mkdir -p /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf 
(as before) and forget the texmf-dist dir? 

Tks, 

Eduardo.