New Project: HOWTO Freely Obtain Our Source

Mikkel L. Ellertson mikkel at infinity-ltd.com
Mon Jun 1 22:32:05 UTC 2009


John J. McDonough wrote:
> 
> 
> While the repo is an obvious answer, it is really only interesting to
> Fedorans.  Sources in the repos are wrapped up in these mysterious "rpm"
> files.  Yeah, if you have any Linux you can use file-roller, but what if
> you are coming from Windows?  Those things might as well be encrypted.
> 
If you are going to use anything besides the provided package
manager, you are going to have to do some learning. If you are going
to use an RPM based distribution, you will need to learn about RPMs.

> Of course, lots of stuff is in git, and you can look freely with just a
> web browser.  But is everything?  Other stuff is in CVS.  How do you know?
> 
It would probably help to learn how to use the rpm command. You can
look at the output of "rpm -qi <package>" or "rpm -qpi <rpm file>"
to find out all kinds of information, including the home page of the
package. From there, you have to hope the home page will tell you
how to access the source.

If you do not have any idea of the package name, you can use the rpm
-qf command to find the package name from an installed file.

[mikkel]$ rpm -qf /bin/bash
bash-3.2-30.fc10.i386
[mikkel]$ rpm -qi bash-3.2-30.fc10.i386
Name        : bash                         Relocations: (not
relocatable)
Version     : 3.2                               Vendor: Fedora Project
Release     : 30.fc10                       Build Date: Mon 15 Dec
2008 05:06:43 AM CST
Install Date: Wed 07 Jan 2009 03:52:29 AM CST      Build Host:
x86-3.fedora.phx.redhat.com
Group       : System Environment/Shells     Source RPM:
bash-3.2-30.fc10.src.rpm
Size        : 5216703                          License: GPLv2+
Signature   : DSA/SHA1, Mon 15 Dec 2008 02:35:20 PM CST, Key ID
bf226fcc4ebfc273
Packager    : Fedora Project
URL         : http://www.gnu.org/software/bash
Summary     : The GNU Bourne Again shell (bash) version 3.2
Description :
The GNU Bourne Again shell (Bash) is a shell or command language
interpreter that is compatible with the Bourne shell (sh). Bash
incorporates useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and the C shell
(csh). Most sh scripts can be run by bash without modification. This
package (bash) contains bash version 3.2, which improves POSIX
compliance over previous versions.

Or you can do it all in one step:

[mikkel]$ rpm -qfi /bin/bash
Name        : bash                         Relocations: (not
relocatable)
Version     : 3.2                               Vendor: Fedora Project
Release     : 30.fc10                       Build Date: Mon 15 Dec
2008 05:06:43 AM CST
Install Date: Wed 07 Jan 2009 03:52:29 AM CST      Build Host:
x86-3.fedora.phx.redhat.com
Group       : System Environment/Shells     Source RPM:
bash-3.2-30.fc10.src.rpm
Size        : 5216703                          License: GPLv2+
Signature   : DSA/SHA1, Mon 15 Dec 2008 02:35:20 PM CST, Key ID
bf226fcc4ebfc273
Packager    : Fedora Project
URL         : http://www.gnu.org/software/bash
Summary     : The GNU Bourne Again shell (bash) version 3.2
Description :
The GNU Bourne Again shell (Bash) is a shell or command language
interpreter that is compatible with the Bourne shell (sh). Bash
incorporates useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and the C shell
(csh). Most sh scripts can be run by bash without modification. This
package (bash) contains bash version 3.2, which improves POSIX
compliance over previous versions.

This will work on any RPM based distribution. If you want the
source, you would go to http://www.gnu.org/software/bash - if you
want the source RPM, you would look for  "bash-3.2-30.fc10.src.rpm".

I hope this will let someone that is a better writter then I am
write directions for new users.

Mike
-- 
Old age and treachery ALWAYS beats Youth and Enthusiasm!

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