How to get the source of a package

Before you can work on a source package, you need to get the source code of that package. This article presents four ways to achieve this:

  • git-ubuntu

  • pull-pkg

  • apt-get source

  • dget

git-ubuntu

git-ubuntu is the modern way of working with Ubuntu source packages.

Warning

git-ubuntu is still in active development and these instructions will likely change over time. While git-ubuntu will become the default packaging method, for now you may encounter rough edges or unsupported edge cases. Ask for help in the #ubuntu-devel channel or open a bug report on Launchpad. Bug reports are very welcome!

Install

To install git-ubuntu:

sudo snap install --classic --edge git-ubuntu

Basic use

To clone a source package Git repository to a directory:

git-ubuntu clone PACKAGE [DIRECTORY]

To generate the orig tarballs for a given source package:

git-ubuntu export-orig

Example

git-ubuntu clone hello
cd hello
git-ubuntu export-orig

pull-pkg

The pull-pkg command is part of the ubuntu-dev-tools package and downloads a specific version of a source package, or the latest version from a specified release.

Install

To install ubtuntu-dev-tools, which includes pull-pkg:

sudo apt install ubuntu-dev-tools

Basic use

pull-pkg [OPTIONS] PACKAGE-NAME [SERIES|VERSION]

Further information in the manual page pull-pkg(1).

Examples

There are convenience scripts that follow a similar syntax and set the OPTIONS for pull type and distribution appropriately. Here are three examples:

pull-lp-source

  • To download the latest version of the hello source package for the Current Release in Development from Launchpad:

    pull-lp-source hello

  • To download the latest version of the hello source package for the Ubuntu mantic release from Launchpad:

    pull-lp-source hello mantic

  • To download version 2.10-3 of the hello source package from Launchpad:

    pull-lp-source hello 2.10-3

pull-ppa-source

  • To download the latest version of the hello source package from the Launchpad Personal Package Archive (PPA), also called hello, of the user dviererbe:

    pull-ppa-source --ppa 'dviererbe/hello' 'hello'

  • To download the latest version of the hello source package for the mantic release from the same Launchpad PPA:

    pull-ppa-source --ppa 'dviererbe/hello' 'hello' 'mantic'

  • To download version 2.10-3 of the hello source package for the mantic release from the same Launchpad PPA:

    pull-ppa-source --ppa 'dviererbe/hello' 'hello' '2.10-3'

pull-debian-source

  • To download the latest version of the hello source package from Debian:

    pull-debian-source 'hello'

  • To download the latest version of the hello source package for the sid release from Debian:

    pull-debian-source 'hello' 'sid'

  • To download the version 2.10-3 of the hello source package from Debian:

    pull-debian-source 'hello' '2.10-3'

apt-get source

The APT package manager can also fetch source packages.

Important

Source packages are tracked separately from binary packages via deb-src lines in the sources.list(5) files. This means you need to add such a line for each repository you want to get source packages from; otherwise you get either the wrong (too old or too new) source package versions – or none at all.

Basic use

apt source PACKAGE-NAME

Further information in the manual page apt(8).

Example

apt source 'hello'

dget

The dget command is part of the devscripts package. If you call it with the URL of a .dsc or .changes file it acts as a source package-aware wget(1) and downloads all associated files that are listed in the .dsc or .changes file (Debian tarball, orig tarballs, upstream signatures).

Install

sudo apt install devscripts

Basic use

dget URL

Example

  1. Go to Launchpad and select the package to download (in this example, the latest version of the hello source package).

  2. Copy the download link of the .dsc file:

  3. Call dget with the copied URL:

    dget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+sourcefiles/hello/2.10-3/hello_2.10-3.dsc

This works for links from Debian and Launchpad PPAs, too.

Further information in the manual page dget(1).