Update: For the latest version of this article compatible with Ubuntu 22.04 and Go 1.19, see my newer article here.
The Go programming language has gotten considerable momentum, and the fact that it compiles down to machine code has made it popular in containers like Docker where a single executable binary fits the execution model perfectly.
This article will detail installation on Ubuntu 16.04 with the standard hello world validation.
Installation
First, download the latest 64 bit linux package from the download page. Unzip to the standard location, and run a quick check of the version.
$ cd /tmp $ wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.13.6.linux-amd64.tar.gz $ sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.13.6.linux-amd64.tar.gz $ /usr/local/go/bin/go version go version go1.13.6 linux/amd64
Environment
Before going further, make sure to set the GOPATH and PATH variables to your environment.
On Ubuntu, append the following to ~/.profile:
export GOPATH=$HOME/work export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
Then create the subdirectories and source the profile so that your current environment is updated. Now you should be able to run go without needing to specify the path.
$ source ~/.profile $ echo $GOPATH $ mkdir -p $GOPATH $ go version go version go1.13.6 linux/amd64
Hello World
Let’s start by going into the $GOPATH, and creating a source file.
$ mkdir -p $GOPATH/src/hello; cd $_
Create a file named $GOPATH/src/hello/hello.go
package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
fmt.Printf("hello, world\n")
}
And then compile and run:
$ go build $ ./hello hello, world
REFERENCES
https://golang.org/doc/install
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-go-1-6-on-ubuntu-16-04
https://tecadmin.net/install-go-on-ubuntu/#
NOTES
For statically linked
export CGO_ENABLED=0
On Windows
installer creates GOHOME and appends PATH
GOROOT=c:\go
PATH=$PATH;c:\go\bin
User should set new system var GOPATH=%userprofile%\go