Ubuntu – Using sudo apt-get install, why no source code

aptpackage-managementsoftware installationsource code

I was trying to install a package for robotic operational system (ROS). And I just go ahead and type sudo apt-get install <package>

After installation, I see a list of files in /opt/share folders, which are the packages I want.

But if I go into src, the source code (.cpp files) aren't there.

I can see the source code if I go to developer's github pages, but how come the package is installed without using the source code? How can I download the source code and install the package using apt-get install command?

Best Answer

By default apt-get install does not download the source codes of packages. There is a specific apt-get option to do that which is source.

From man apt-get:

source source causes apt-get to fetch source packages. APT will examine the available packages to decide which source package to fetch. It will then find and download into the current directory the newest available version of that source package while respecting the default release, set with the option APT::Default-Release, the -t option or per package with the pkg/release syntax, if possible.

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

So the syntax to download the source package of something to the current directory would be (no need to be root):

apt-get source <package_name>

Also note that as the man pages says you need to have the deb-src repositories enabled for all the regular deb repositories you want to keep track of source packages. The simplest way to do that would be to just add -src to the original repo's initial deb string:

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

On a different note, you might have checked the /usr/src directory which is the designated place for all kernel sources.

Related Solutions

APT Software Installation – How to Install a Different Python Version Using apt-get

Felix Krull runs a PPA offering basically any version of Python (seriously, there is 2.3.7 build for vivid...) for many Ubuntu releases at https://launchpad.net/~deadsnakes/+archive/ubuntu/ppa.

Do the usual:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3.5

It will not overwrite your existing python3.4 which is still symlinked as python3.

DON'T change the symlink! There are apparently many system functions that don't work properly with python3.5.

I tried this and afterwards couldn't open a terminal, software updater,...

cd /usr/bin
sudo rm python3

The upgrade to Wily will adapt the meta-package python3 to point to python3.5. I don't expect any breakage, but at this point the foreign repository is not needed anymore. So to be really safe, you can purge the PPA before doing the upgrade.

Package Management – Identical Source Code in Different Packages

You're confusing built binary packages with the underlying source code/package that the packages were built from.

The packages you're referring to are all built from the same source code/package, mutter. You can find that easily by going to packages.ubuntu.com, searching the package you're looking at, and then refer to the "Source package" it refers to. Which in this case is mutter:

From there, however, we can check the Launchpad page for Mutter's source package and see that it builds a multitude of binary packages (built compiled source code, etc. for installation):

These descriptions describe what each package contains/installs. Focusing on the 4 packages you indicated, and using these descriptions:

gir1.2-mutter-4 - GObject introspection data for Mutter (used by gir and GObject as libraries/data for Mutter and GObject interaction)
libmutter-4-0 - The underlying library for the Mutter window manager. (Used for plugin development, development and compiling Mutter integrations, etc. usually)
mutter - the actual Mutter Window Manager that uses GNOME's Window Manager Library (which is why GObject is needed)
mutter-common - Shared Files for Mutter - usually default configuration options or items which are common to all the packages built from the source package.

What you're seeing in your package list are the built packages which originate from the same source code - each package is different items being installed after build/compile time and are used differently for different things. You can see what's in the packages themselves by downloading the individual packages and then accessing them with p7zip or the in-built Archive Manager in Ubuntu and see the differences of what each package contains that way. This said, they all originate from the same source code - they just contain different items that're being installed to the system.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

APT Software Installation – How to Install a Different Python Version Using apt-get

Package Management – Identical Source Code in Different Packages

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