In a move that is sure to please the FSF, Debian's release notice for Debian 8 "Jessie" also notes that the full source code can be browsed online:
"...a browsable view of all source code shipped in Debian [3] currently available at sources.debian.net [4]. Of course, with over 20,000 source packages, it can be quite daunting to locate the right file. Therefore, we are also very pleased to present Debian Code Search [5], available at codesearch.debian.net [6]. Both services are complemented by a completely rewritten and more reponsive package tracking system [7]." 3: https://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2013/14/#sources 4: https://sources.debian.net 5: https://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2014/17/#DCS 6: https://codesearch.debian.net/ 7: https://tracker.debian.org/ While you could always apt-get the source package, it was often more convenient to try and find a source file online, if all you wanted to do was look up where some error message appeared in the source to get a better understanding of what triggers it or the like. Tracking down source files that are browsable online was often a pain, and then you wouldn't know whether the version you found really corresponded to the version installed on your system. It would be great to see other distros replicate this. (Or leverage it, if Debian derived.) -Tom -- Tom Metro The Perl Shop, Newton, MA, USA "Predictable On-demand Perl Consulting." http://www.theperlshop.com/ _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss