How can you (or we) ensure your FOIA request for code isn't responded to with a PDF of code?
Overall I think the FOIA is a great utility. Most big name federal agencies actually have FOIA liaisons that will try to help if they can. Some, of course, are just as douche-y as you would imagine (e.g. NSA, NRO, CIA). Though I did have a few good interactions with CIA FOIAs, mostly bad ones though. The FOIA actually says in the law that the reviewing official should look at a FOIA as "what can we release?" and not as "what can we hide?", and you need to tell people this more often than you would like. I actually used a FOIA to get my DNA information from the military's secret-but-not-secret DNA database. It's a database of every service member's DNA, and ostensibly is for identifying remains. That was actually very difficult, because nobody had ever FOIA'ed the Army's "funerary affairs" office for DNA information, and so they were under the impression they could just ignore my requests. That taught me a lot and was actually fun in a weird way. You just have to persist, and escalate if you don't agree with the response or don't get any. FOIAs are serious business, and most people in the US government are people just like you and me, and want to help you find what you're looking for. Though, some people in government -- like any other community -- are bullies on a power trip. Wow, sorry for the wall of text!