>As for how to trace back through noweb links, the best option seem to be
>using the existing jump function to navigate from raw source to the
>embedded block, keeping track of the point's offset form the beginning
>of the block, then using `org-babel-expand-src-block' to expand the body
>of the embedded code block marking noweb references with text properties
>as they are inserted into the expanding body, and then using the point
>offset to place the point into the appropriate noweb reference. This
>process could then recurse on the embedded noweb code block until it
>ends up in a non-noweb portion of an expanded code block body.
If you dont have any comment anchors in the text, how would you know which noweb block you are in? If your org file and raw files are synched, then you could, but if they become unsynched, which is the way it should be (change raw code until done, then detangle to org), i dont exactly see how you can do it.
The only option which allows someone to change the raw text file is to use comment anchors - or you could save marks in a separate file, but this wouldn't allow for offline editing unless you open it with a program that understands this format. With the comment method, you get the raw file advantage, plus emacs can hide these comments if one makes a minor mode to do so - a win win situation, i think, except for the aforementioned shortcomings.