Unable to find a source package for pidgin (Linux Mint)

Question

I want to start developing Pidgin plugins under Linux Mint 13.

I've read the official tutorial and at the beginning there's said that I should install the development dependencies for pidgin using the command: apt-get build-dep pidgin

But it ends up with the following error message:

E: Unable to find a source package for pidgin

Do I have to add a special repository? Or how can I make Linux Mint to find this package?

Here is the dump of sources.list:

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ maya main upstream import
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ precise partner
deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ precise free non-free

# deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu precise-getdeb apps
# deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu precise-getdeb games

Answer 1

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list, and add deb-src:

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ maya main upstream import
deb-src http://packages.linuxmint.com/ maya main upstream import

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ precise partner
deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ precise free non-free

And try:

apt-get update
apt-get build-dep pidgin

Answer 2

A quick search at http://packages.linuxmint.com/search.php shows that a Pidgin repo exists for both felicia and helena, which is Linux Mint 6 & 8 respecitivly. It is possible the repositories that Mint installed by default did not contain links to those particular repositories.

If you are interested in development for Pidgin I would suggest downloading the files directly from here. This may help you understand the development process not from the perspective of Mint, but from the perspective of distribution independence.