<!--{
	"Title": "Getting Started",
	"Path":  "/install/"
}-->

<h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2>

<p>
Go is an open source project with a BSD-style license.
There are two official Go compiler toolchains: the <code>gc</code> Go compiler
and the <code>gccgo</code> compiler that is part of the GNU C Compiler (GCC).
</p>

<p>
The <code>gc</code> compiler is the more mature and well-tested of the two.
This page is about installing a binary distribution of the <code>gc</code>
compiler.
</p>

<p>
For information about installing the <code>gc</code> compiler from source, see
<a href="/install/source/">Installing Go from source</a>.
For information about installing <code>gccgo</code>, see
<a href="/install/gccgo/">Setting up and using gccgo</a>.
</p>

<h2 id="download">Obtaining the Go tools</h2>

<p>
Visit the
<a href="http://code.google.com/p/go/downloads">Go project's downloads page</a>
and select the binary distribution that matches
your operating system and processor architecture.
</p>

<p>
Official binary distributions are available
for the FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows operating systems
and the 32-bit (<code>386</code>) and 64-bit (<code>amd64</code>)
x86 processor architectures.
</p>

<p>
If a binary distribution is not available for your
OS/arch combination you may want to try
<a href="/install/source/">installing from source</a> or
<a href="/install/gccgo/">installing gccgo instead of gc</a>.
</p>

<h2 id="install">Installing the Go tools</h2>

<p>
The Go binary distributions assume they will be installed in
<code>/usr/local/go</code>, but it is possible to install them in a different
location. If you do this, you will need to set the <code>GOROOT</code>
environment variable to that directory when using the Go tools.
</p>

<p>
For example, if you installed Go to your home directory you should add the
following commands to <code>$HOME/.profile</code>:
</p>

<pre>
export GOROOT=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:$GOROOT/bin
</pre>

<h3 id="freebsd_linux">FreeBSD and Linux</h3>

<p>
Extract the archive into <code>/usr/local</code>, creating a Go tree in
<code>/usr/local/go</code> (typically this must be run as root or through
<code>sudo</code>):
</p>

<pre>
tar -C /usr/local go.release.go1.tar.gz
</pre>

<p>
Add <code>/usr/local/go/bin</code> to the <code>PATH</code> environment
variable. You can do this by adding this line to your <code>/etc/profile</code>
(for a system-wide installation) or <code>$HOME/.profile</code>:
</p>

<pre>
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
</pre>

<h3 id="osx">Mac OS X</h3>

<p>
Open the <code>.pkg</code> file and follow the prompts to install the Go tools.
The package installs the Go distribution to <code>/usr/local/go</code>.
</p>

<p>
The package should put the <code>/usr/local/go/bin</code> directory in your
<code>PATH</code> environment variable. You may need to restart any open
Terminal sessions for the change to take effect.
</p>

<h3 id="windows">Windows</h3>

<p>
<font color="red">TODO: windows installation instructions.</font>
</p>

<h2 id="testing">Testing your installation</h2>

<p>
Check that Go is installed correctly by building a simple program, as follows.
</p>

<p>
Create a file named <code>hello.go</code> and put the following program in it:
</p>

<pre>
package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Printf("hello, world\n")
}
</pre>

<p>
Then run it with the <code>go</code> tool:
</p>

<pre>
$ go run hello.go
hello, world
</pre>

<p>
If you see the "hello, world" message then your Go installation is working.
</p>

<h2 id="next">What's next</h2>

<p>
Start by taking <a href="http://code.google.com/p/go-tour/">A Tour of Go</a>
or reading the <a href="/doc/go_tutorial.html">Go Tutorial</a>.
</p>

<p>
For more detail about the process of building and testing Go programs
read <a href="/doc/code.html">How to Write Go Code</a>.
</p>

<p>
Build a web application by following the <a href="/doc/codelab/wiki/">Wiki
Codelab</a>.
</p>

<p>
Read <a href="/doc/effective_go.html">Effective Go</a> to learn about writing
idiomatic Go code.
</p>

<p>
For the full story, consult Go's extensive 
<a href="/doc/">documentation</a>.
</p>


<h2 id="community">Community resources</h2>

<p>
For real-time help, there may be users or developers on
<code>#go-nuts</code> on the <a href="http://freenode.net/">Freenode</a> IRC server.
</p>

<p>
The official mailing list for discussion of the Go language is
<a href="http://groups.google.com/group/golang-nuts">Go Nuts</a>.
</p>

<p>
Bugs should be reported using the
<a href="http://code.google.com/p/go/issues/list">Go issue tracker</a>.
</p>