A search engine designed specifically to index software program source code has been integrated with SourceForge.net. Krugle's Web-based tool aims to enable developers to search the source code of some 145,000 open source projects hosted at SourceForge.

(Click for larger view of Krugle's SourceForge interface)

Additionally, search links pointing to the Krugle website have been integrated with Sourceforge.net's hierarchical “Projects” browsing tree, and possibly with other project views. Search performance is quite snappy, although the Javascript-based code that builds the search links appears to break in some browsers (on my Debian desktop, Mozilla works fine, but Firefox 2.0x has trouble).

SourceForge claims to host the “world's largest repository of open source software.” It said the deal with Krugle underscores the “growing importance of specialized search engines.”

Krugle offers full text keyword searching of source code, with results filtered by programming language type (38 languages are currently supported), SourceForge project name, and where keywords appear (i.e., in comments, sourcecode, function definitions, function calls, or class definitions). This lets users find source code in a way that general purpose search engines could never match, the company claims.

Developers spend a quarter of their time trying to find code, according to an Evans Data Corp. survey cited by Krugle. Ken Krugler, CTO of Krugle, stated, “The software industry is moving toward a search-driven development model.”

Andrew Aitken, who founded the open source management consulting firm Olliance Group, stated, “Today's announcement is a significant step toward helping the open source movement accelerate its already rapid growth. It demonstrates the dramatic impact open source has on the way software is developed.”

SourceForge's open source repository was previously integrated with license compliance management software from Black Duck.

Krugle's SourceForge search site is located at sourceforge.krugle.com.

 
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