How to get source code of package using the apt command on Debian or Ubuntu

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In Debian or Ubuntu Linux, you can use the apt-get command to download the source code of a package. Here are the steps you can follow:

  1. Start by updating the package list by running the following command:
sudo apt-get update
  1. Next, you can download the source code of a package by running the following command:
sudo apt-get source package_name

Replace package_name with the name of the package you want to download the source code for.

  1. The source code will be downloaded to the current working directory.
  2. If you want to build the package from the source code, you can use the dpkg-buildpackage command.
dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc
  1. If you want to install the package from the source code, you can use the dpkg -i command after building the package
sudo dpkg -i package_name.deb

It’s important to keep in mind that building a package from source code can take a long time, and may require additional dependencies to be installed.

It’s also a good practice to check the dependencies of the package and the version of the package you are going to install, to ensure that the package will work correctly on your system.

It’s also important to note that downloading the source code of a package can use a large amount of disk space, especially if you download many packages.

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