Yes and no. The other side of the argument is that a tarball offers a point in time snapshot of the code that is smaller, and easier to download since there's

Yes and no. The other side of the argument is that a tarball offers a point in time snapshot of the code that is smaller, and easier to download since there's no need to interact with a complex internet service. Also easier to cache, mirror and back up a single file - major distros appreciate this because we have to mirror sources into build systems and provide sources on demand to satisfy the GPL. There are of course disadvantages to the tarball approach (like, no history, harder to patch) but sometimes the simpler technology can be more robust.