build rqt from source?

edit

Building rqt or rqt_common_plugins from source should not be any different from any other ROS package. The general idea would be to obtain copies of the package source code, put them in a workspace, install any system dependencies, and then run catkin_make. Here is a set of commands that I believe would do what you want

1 $  cd 
2 $  mkdir -p ~/rqt_ws/src
3 $  cd rqt_ws/src
4 $  source /opt/ros/indigo/setup.bash
5 $  catkin_init_workspace
6 $  cd ..
7 $  catkin_make
8 $  source devel/setup.bash
9 $  cd src/
10 $  git clone https://github.com/ros-visualization/rqt
11 $  git clone https://github.com/ros-visualization/rqt_common_plugins
12 $  rosdep update
13 $  rosdep install --from-paths ./ --ignore-src --rosdistro indigo -y --simulate
14 $  rosdep install --from-paths ./ --ignore-src --rosdistro indigo -y
15 $  cd ..
16 $  catkin_make

In the above, the first 8 lines are just creating a new workspace. Lines 9-11 are getting copies of the two packages. Lines 12-14 are installing any missing dependencies, and lines 15-16 are building the new workspace.