source source causes apt-getto fetch source packages. APT will examine the available packages to decide which source package to fetch. It will then find and download intothe current directorythe newest available versionof that source package while respecting the default release, setwiththe option APT::Default-Release, the -t option or per package withthe pkg/release syntax, if possible.
Source packages are tracked separately from binary packages via deb-src linesinthe sources.list(5) file. This means that you will need toadd such alineforeach repository you want toget sources from; otherwise you will probably get either the wrong (too old/too new) source versions ornoneat all.
If the--compile option is specified then the package will be compiled to a binary .deb using dpkg-buildpackage for the architecture as defined bythe--host-architecture option. If --download-only is specified then the source package will not be unpacked.
A specific source version can be retrieved by postfixing the source name withan equals andthentheversionto fetch, similar tothe mechanism used forthe package files. This enables exact matching ofthe source package name andversion, implicitly enabling the APT::Get::Only-Source option.
Note that source packages are not installed and tracked inthe dpkg database like binary packages; they are simply downloaded tothe current directory, like source tarballs.