[ericode]

I've recently been struggling to find the source code for a couple linux utilities ('write' - for sending messages to users - was one of them). I think it would make an excellent tutorial if a Linux/open source expert could demonstrate how to generally get the source code for applications in Linux.

If its so painfully obvious that a tutorial is not worth it, just let me know.

[Nova Dragoon]

you will need to goto the website that distributes the binary

for example write:
if you look at the man page for write at the bottom is this:

Quote

AVAILABILITY
The write command is part of the util-linux-ng package and is available
from ftp://ftp.kernel.org.../util-linux-ng/.

just google search for the application you are looking for, the offical site of it should give you links on how to access the source.

[Tom9729]

Keep in mind that Linux is just a kernel. A Linux distribution (what you download and run) is made up of a kernel, and a bunch of other programs packaged together.

If you want Linux's source (ie. the kernel source), head to kernel.org.

If you look at the manual page for 'write' (man write), you'll see this:

WRITE(1)				  BSD General Commands Manual				 WRITE(1)

NAME
	 write - send a message to another user

SYNOPSIS
	 write user [ttyname]

DESCRIPTION
	 The write utility allows you to communicate with other users, by copying
	 lines from your terminal to theirs.

	 When you run the write command, the user you are writing to gets a mes‐
	 sage of the form:

		   Message from yourname@yourhost on yourtty at hh:mm ...

	 Any further lines you enter will be copied to the specified user’s termi‐
	 nal.  If the other user wants to reply, they must run write as well.

	 When you are done, type an end-of-file or interrupt character.  The other
	 user will see the message ‘EOF’ indicating that the conversation is over.

	 You can prevent people (other than the super-user) from writing to you
	 with the mesg(1) command.

	 If the user you want to write to is logged in on more than one terminal,
	 you can specify which terminal to write to by specifying the terminal
	 name as the second operand to the write command.  Alternatively, you can
	 let write select one of the terminals - it will pick the one with the
	 shortest idle time.  This is so that if the user is logged in at work and
	 also dialed up from home, the message will go to the right place.

	 The traditional protocol for writing to someone is that the string ‘-o’,
	 either at the end of a line or on a line by itself, means that it’s the
	 other person’s turn to talk.  The string ‘oo’ means that the person
	 believes the conversation to be over.

SEE ALSO
	 mesg(1), talk(1), wall(1), who(1)

HISTORY
	 A write command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.

BSD							  June 6, 1993							  BSD

Googling for "BSD source code" brings up the FreeBSD site (good enough), and you can find the source file for 'write' here.

Any other programs you're looking for will probably be one directory up.

[ericode]

Thanks! That was exactly what I was looking for. That was as simple as I was hoping.