Source code for GNU utils?

itz2000 · 11-10-2007, 03:20 PM

hi, do you happen to know where can I find the source code for stuff like : the cp command? or any other commands such as mv or grep, etc?

I just want to see how these stuff were implemented, which is fascinating !

Thanks

Nylex · 11-10-2007, 03:30 PM

Did you not think about going to the GNU website? cp, mv and friends are part of GNU Coreutils and grep, is well, GNU grep. Try googling to find a project's homepage and you'll be able to download the source from there.

itz2000 · 11-10-2007, 03:34 PM

Thanks, I've seen it only after I posted.

Thanks anyways./

matthewg42 · 11-10-2007, 03:59 PM

On a debian-based distro, you can do it like this:

Make sure the source repositories are enabled in your /etc/apt/sources.list
Find out which package provides the program in question:
Code:
```
dpkg -S $(which mv)
```
Install source:
Code:
```
apt-get source packagename
```

itz2000 · 11-11-2007, 12:19 PM

I couldn't find the sources for other stuff I was looking like ps,
I'd be happy if you could guide me which package to look for the ps code, since I can't find it

Nylex · 11-11-2007, 12:40 PM

procps. Looking at man pages usually helps, too

.

osor · 11-11-2007, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itz2000

I'd be happy if you could guide me which package to look for the ps code, since I can't find it

Dude, just use your package manager (supposing you use one). It will be able to tell you what files belong to which package (matthewg42 gave some instructions for dpkg-based distros). Incidentally, on most linux distros, ps comes from the procps package.