Best Way to Install Go 1.7 on Ubuntu

Go is a free and open source programming language created by Google in 2007. It provides convenient tools to build simple, reliable, and efficient programs. This language is designed for writing server-side applications. This article explains how to install Go 1.7 on Ubuntu systems.

Installing Go Programming Language

To download the Go language binary archive file, use the following command −

$ wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.7.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz

The sample output should be like this −

--2016-12-29 10:49:44-- https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.7.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz
Resolving storage.googleapis.com (storage.googleapis.com)... 216.58.197.48, 2404:6800:4007:807::2010
Connecting to storage.googleapis.com (storage.googleapis.com)|216.58.197.48|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 81618401 (78M) [application/x-gzip]
Saving to: 'go1.7.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz'

go1.7.1.linux-amd64 100%[===================>] 77.84M 5.98MB/s in 16s

2016-12-29 10:50:01 (4.78 MB/s) - 'go1.7.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz' saved [81618401/81618401]

To extract the downloaded archive file and move it to the desired location on system, use the following command −

$ sudo tar -zxvf go1.7.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /usr/local/

The sample output should be like this −

go/
go/AUTHORS
go/CONTRIBUTING.md
go/CONTRIBUTORS
go/LICENSE
go/PATENTS
go/README.md
go/VERSION
go/api/
go/api/README
go/api/except.txt
go/api/go1.1.txt
go/api/go1.2.txt
go/api/go1.3.txt
go/api/go1.4.txt
go/api/go1.5.txt
go/api/go1.6.txt
go/api/go1.7.txt
go/api/go1.txt
go/api/next.txt
go/bin/
go/bin/go
go/bin/godoc
go/bin/gofmt
...

Setting Go Environment

There are two ways to set up the Go Environment. The following are the methods −

• Current session − Applies only to the current working session

• Permanent setup − Applies permanently across all sessions

Current Session Setup

Current session setup applies only to the current working session. To set up the Go environment temporarily, follow these steps −

To set the GOROOT environment variable, use the following command −

$ export GOROOT=/usr/local/go

To set up GOPATH for your workspace location, use the following command −

$ export GOPATH=$HOME/tutorialspoint/sample

To set the PATH variable to access go binary system-wide, use the following command −

$ export PATH=$GOPATH/bin:$GOROOT/bin:$PATH

Permanent Setup

Permanent setup applies to all future sessions. To set up the Go environment permanently, follow these steps −

To open the .profile file, use the following command −

$ sudo nano ~/.profile

The sample output should be like this −

# ~/.profile: executed by the command interpreter for login shells.
# This file is not read by bash(1), if ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login
# exists.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files for examples.
# the files are located in the bash-doc package.

# the default umask is set in /etc/profile; for setting the umask
# for ssh logins, install and configure the libpam-umask package.
#umask 022
...

Now add the following lines at the end of the file −

export GOROOT=/usr/local/go
export GOPATH=$HOME/tutorialspoint/sample
export PATH=$GOPATH/bin:$GOROOT/bin:$PATH

Save and close the file. To refresh your profile, use the following command −

$ source ~/.profile

Verification

To verify the Go version, use the following command −

$ go version

The sample output should be like this −

go version go1.7.1 linux/amd64

To verify all configured environment variables, use the following command −

$ go env

The sample output should be like this −

GOARCH="amd64"
GOBIN=""
GOEXE=""
GOHOSTARCH="amd64"
GOHOSTOS="linux"
GOOS="linux"
GOPATH="/home/tutorialspoint/tutorialspoint/sample"
GORACE=""
GOROOT="/usr/local/go"
GOTOOLDIR="/usr/local/go/pkg/tool/linux_amd64"
CC="gcc"
GOGCCFLAGS="-fPIC -m64 -pthread -fmessage-length=0 -fdebug-prefix-map=/tmp/go-build771783301=/tmp/go-build -gno-record-gcc-switches"
CXX="g++"
CGO_ENABLED="1"

Conclusion

Installing Go 1.7 on Ubuntu involves downloading the binary archive, extracting it to /usr/local/, and configuring environment variables like GOROOT, GOPATH, and PATH. The setup can be temporary for the current session or permanent by modifying the .profile file.