Linux: Acquiring Source Code

See Linux: Compiling and Installing Source Code from the Terminal for compiling and installing.

Ubuntu (Hirsute)

1. Update/enable the source package URLs. Note that in Ubuntu, these should already be in the sources.list file and just need to be uncommented. i.e. remove the "#" from the deb-src lines.

   sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

   An example line might look like this:

   deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hirsute main restricted

2. Update the new package information that was added in step 1.

   sudo apt-get update

3. Navigate to the directory that the source code will reside in, and download it.

   Example for downloading the source code for the grep utility

   sudo apt-get source grep

   Example for downloading the source code for bash

   sudo apt-get source bash

4. There should be a directory with the source code along with some other files. Move to the new directory to view the downloaded source code.

   If the directory doesn't exist, run this command on the .dsc file acquired from step 3 above:

   dpkg-source -x yourfile.dsc

   If you get an error message that dpkg-source can not be found, install the package:

   sudo apt install dpkg-dev

Mint 20.1 Cinnamon

1. Bring up the Software Sources

   Menu Button -> Administration -> Software Sources

2. Toggle the "Source code repositories" button to enabled state, under Optional Sources
3. Press the OK button
4. Navigate to the directory that the source code will reside in, and download it.

   Example for downloading the source code for the grep utility

   sudo apt-get source grep

   Example for downloading the source code for bash

   sudo apt-get source bash

5. There should be a directory with the source code along with some other files. Move to the new directory to view the downloaded source code.

   If the directory doesn't exist, run this command on the .dsc file acquired from step 4 above:

   dpkg-source -x yourfile.dsc

   If you get an error message that dpkg-source can not be found, install the package:

   sudo apt install dpkg-dev