A method for automatically retrieving source code during software debugging sessions using a development system includes stopping in an object with compiled code where the compiled code is associated with corresponding source code via a debugging support file. The compiled code can be run on different hosts. During a debugging session, a local debugger portion of the software in the development system requests a unique resource locator for the source code. A remote software debugger portion on a host responds by providing a hosttype, which specifies the host specific search algorithm, and the original path for the source code. A development system host access component requests a file with matching name and original path from the host. An original source file checksum is compared with a retrieved checksum. Upon a match, the retrieved source code is stored in the development system and accessed for user display.