Time for action – using Bazaar to obtain source code

Now that we are familiar with the various branches, versions, and releases. Let's proceed to checking out the source code with Bazaar. To download code from any branch, the syntax for the command is as follows:

bzr branch lp:squid[/branch[/version]]

branch and version are optional parameters in the previous code. So, if we want to get branch 3.1, then the command will be as follows:

bzr branch lp:squid/3.1

The previous command will fetch source code from Launchpad and may take a considerable amount of time, depending on the Internet connection. If we are willing to download source code for Squid version 3.1.10, then the command will be as follows:

bzr branch lp:squid/3.1/3.1.10

In the previous code, 3.1 is the branch name and 3.1.10 is the specific version of Squid that we want to checkout.

What just happened?

We learned to fetch the source code for any Squid branch or release using Bazaar from Squid's source code hosted on Launchpad.

Have a go hero – fetching the source code

Using the command syntax that we learned in the previous section, fetch the source code for Squid version 3.0.stable25 from Launchpad.

• Solution:

  bzr branch lp:squid/3.0/3.0.stable25
  

• Explanation: If we browse to the particular version on Launchpad, the version number used in the command becomes obvious.

Using binary packages

Squid binary packages are pre-compiled and ready to install software bundles. Binary packages are available in the software repositories of almost all Linux/Unix-based operating systems. Depending on the operating system, only stable and sometimes well tested beta versions make it to the software repositories, so they are ready for production use.