A module is a collection of packages that are released, versioned, and distributed together. A module is identified by a module path, which is declared in a go.mod file, together with information about the module's dependencies. The module root directory is the directory that contains the go.mod file. The main module is the module containing the directory where the go command is invoked.
Each package within a module is a collection of source files in the same directory that are compiled together. A package path is the module path joined with the subdirectory containing the package (relative to the module root). For example, the module "golang.org/x/net" contains a package in the directory "html". That package's path is "golang.org/x/net/html".
A module path is the canonical name for a module, declared with the module directive in the module‘s go.mod file. A module’s path is the prefix for package paths within the module.
A module path should describe both what the module does and where to find it. Typically, a module path consists of a repository root path, a directory within the repository (usually empty), and a major version suffix (only for major version 2 or higher).
golang.org/x/net is the repository root path for the module of the same name. See Finding a repository for a module path for information on how the go command locates a repository using HTTP requests derived from a module path.golang.org/x/tools/gopls is in the gopls subdirectory of the repository with root path golang.org/x/tools, so it has the module subdirectory gopls. See Mapping versions to commits and Module directories within a repository./v2. This may or may not be part of the subdirectory name. For example, the module with path golang.org/x/repo/sub/v2 could be in the /sub or /sub/v2 subdirectory of the repository golang.org/x/repo.If a module might be depended on by other modules, these rules must be followed so that the go command can find and download the module. There are also several lexical restrictions on characters allowed in module paths.
A version identifies an immutable snapshot of a module, which may be either a release or a pre-release. Each version starts with the letter v, followed by a semantic version. See Semantic Versioning 2.0.0 for details on how versions are formatted, interpreted, and compared.
To summarize, a semantic version consists of three non-negative integers (the major, minor, and patch versions, from left to right) separated by dots. The patch version may be followed by an optional pre-release string starting with a hyphen. The pre-release string or patch version may be followed by a build metadata string starting with a plus. For example, v0.0.0, v1.12.134, v8.0.5-pre, and v2.0.9+meta are valid versions.
Each part of a version indicates whether the version is stable and whether it is compatible with previous versions.
v1.2.3-pre comes before v1.2.3.go.mod files. The suffix +incompatible denotes a version released before migrating to modules version major version 2 or later (see Compatibility with non-module repositories.A version is considered unstable if its major version is 0 or it has a pre-release suffix. Unstable versions are not subject to compatibility requirements. For example, v0.2.0 may not be compatible with v0.1.0, and v1.5.0-beta may not be compatible with v1.5.0.
Go may access modules in version control systems using tags, branches, or revisions that don‘t follow these conventions. However, within the main module, the go command will automatically convert revision names that don’t follow this standard into canonical versions. The go command will also remove build metadata suffixes (except for +incompatible) as part of this process. This may result in a pseudo-version, a pre-release version that encodes a revision identifier (such as a Git commit hash) and a timestamp from a version control system. For example, the command go get -d golang.org/x/net@daa7c041 will convert the commit hash daa7c041 into the pseudo-version v0.0.0-20191109021931-daa7c04131f5. Canonical versions are required outside the main module, and the go command will report an error if a non-canonical version like master appears in a go.mod file.
A pseudo-version is a specially formatted pre-release version that encodes information about a specific revision in a version control repository. For example, v0.0.0-20191109021931-daa7c04131f5 is a pseudo-version.
Pseudo-versions are used to refer to revisions for which no semantic version tags are available. They may be used to test commits before creating version tags, for example, on a development branch.
Each pseudo-version has three parts:
vX.Y.Z), which refers to a version before the revision described by the pseudo-version or vX.0.0 if there is no such version.yymmddhhmmss), which is the UTC time the revision was created. In Git, this is the commit time, not the author time.abcdefabcdef), which is a 12-character prefix of the commit hash, or in Subversion, a zero-padded revision number.Each pseudo-version may be in one of three forms, depending on the base version. These forms ensure that a pseudo-version compares higher than its base version, but lower than the next tagged version.
vX.0.0-yyyymmddhhmmss-abcdefabcdef is used when there is no known base version. As with all versions, the major version X must match the module's major version suffix.vX.Y.Z-pre.0.yyyymmddhhmmss-abcdefabcdef is used when the base version is a pre-release version like vX.Y.Z-pre.vX.Y.(Z+1)-0.yyyymmddhhmmss-abcdefabcdef is used when the base version is a release version like vX.Y.Z. For example, if the base version is v1.2.3, a pseudo-version might be v1.2.4-0.20191109021931-daa7c04131f5.More than one pseudo-version may refer to the same commit by using different base versions. This happens naturally when a lower version is tagged after a pseudo-version is written.
The go command performs several checks to ensure that module authors have control over how pseudo-versions are compared with other versions and that pseudo-versions refer to revisions that are actually part of a module's commit history.
v1.999.999-99999999999999-daa7c04131f5.Pseudo-versions never need to be typed by hand. Many commands accept a commit hash or a branch name and will translate it into a pseudo-version (or tagged version if available) automatically. For example:
go get -d example.com/mod@master go list -m -json example.com/mod@abcd1234
Starting with major version 2, module paths must have a major version suffix like /v2 that matches the major version. For example, if a module has the path example.com/mod at v1.0.0, it must have the path example.com/mod/v2 at version v2.0.0.
Major version suffixes implement the import compatibility rule:
If an old package and a new package have the same import path, the new package must be backwards compatible with the old package.
By definition, packages in a new major version of a module are not backwards compatible with the corresponding packages in the previous major version. Consequently, starting with v2, packages need new import paths. This is accomplished by adding a major version suffix to the module path. Since the module path is a prefix of the import path for each package within the module, adding the major version suffix to the module path provides a distinct import path for each incompatible version.
Major version suffixes are not allowed at major versions v0 or v1. There is no need to change the module path between v0 and v1 because v0 versions are unstable and have no compatibility guarantee. Additionally, for most modules, v1 is backwards compatible with the last v0 version; a v1 version acts as a commitment to compatibility, rather than an indication of incompatible changes compared with v0.
As a special case, modules paths starting with gopkg.in/ must always have a major version suffix, even at v0 and v1. The suffix must start with a dot rather than a slash (for example, gopkg.in/yaml.v2).
Major version suffixes let multiple major versions of a module coexist in the same build. This may be necessary due to a diamond dependency problem. Ordinarily, if a module is required at two different versions by transitive dependencies, the higher version will be used. However, if the two versions are incompatible, neither version will satisfy all clients. Since incompatible versions must have different major version numbers, they must also have different module paths due to major version suffixes. This resolves the conflict: modules with distinct suffixes are treated as separate modules, and their packages—even packages in same subdirectory relative to their module roots—are distinct.
Many Go projects released versions at v2 or higher without using a major version suffix before migrating to modules (perhaps before modules were even introduced). These versions are annotated with a +incompatible build tag (for example, v2.0.0+incompatible). See Compatibility with non-module repositories for more information.
When the go command loads a package using a package path, it needs to determine which module provides the package.
The go command starts by searching the build list for modules with paths that are prefixes of the package path. For example, if the package example.com/a/b is imported, and the module example.com/a is in the build list, the go command will check whether example.com/a contains the package, in the directory b. At least one file with the .go extension must be present in a directory for it to be considered a package. Build constraints are not applied for this purpose. If exactly one module in the build list provides the package, that module is used. If two or more modules provide the package, an error is reported. If no modules provide the package, the go command will attempt to find a new module (unless the flags -mod=readonly or -mod=vendor are used, in which case, an error is reported).
When the go command looks up a new module for a package path, it checks the GOPROXY environment variable, which is a comma-separated list of proxy URLs or the keywords direct or off. A proxy URL indicates the go command should contact a module proxy using the GOPROXY protocol. direct indicates that the go command should communicate with a version control system. off indicates that no communication should be attempted. The GOPRIVATE and GONOPROXY environment variables can also be used to control this behavior.
For each entry in the GOPROXY list, the go command requests the latest version of each module path that might provide the package (that is, each prefix of the package path). For each successfully requested module path, the go command will download the module at the latest version and check whether the module contains the requested package. If one or more modules contain the requested package, the module with the longest path is used. If one or more modules are found but none contain the requested package, an error is reported. If no modules are found, the go command tries the next entry in the GOPROXY list. If no entries are left, an error is reported.
For example, suppose the go command is looking for a module that provides the package golang.org/x/net/html, and GOPROXY is set to https://corp.example.com,https://proxy.golang.org. The go command may make the following requests:
https://corp.example.com/ (in parallel):golang.org/x/net/htmlgolang.org/x/netgolang.org/xgolang.orghttps://proxy.golang.org/, if all requests to https://corp.example.com/ have failed with 404 or 410:golang.org/x/net/htmlgolang.org/x/netgolang.org/xgolang.orgAfter a suitable module has been found, the go command will add a new requirement with the new module‘s path and version to the main module’s go.mod file. This ensures that when the same package is loaded in the future, the same module will be used at the same version. If the resolved package is not imported by a package in the main module, the new requirement will have an // indirect comment.
go.mod filesA module is defined by a UTF-8 encoded text file named go.mod in its root directory. The go.mod file is line-oriented. Each line holds a single directive, made up of a keyword followed by arguments. For example:
module example.com/my/thing go 1.12 require example.com/other/thing v1.0.2 require example.com/new/thing/v2 v2.3.4 exclude example.com/old/thing v1.2.3 replace example.com/bad/thing v1.4.5 => example.com/good/thing v1.4.5
The leading keyword can be factored out of adjacent lines to create a block, like in Go imports.
require (
example.com/new/thing/v2 v2.3.4
example.com/old/thing v1.2.3
)
The go.mod file is designed to be human readable and machine writable. The go command provides several subcommands that change go.mod files. For example, go get can upgrade or downgrade specific dependencies. Commands that load the module graph will automatically update go.mod when needed. go mod edit can perform low-level edits. The golang.org/x/mod/modfile package can be used by Go programs to make the same changes programmatically.
When a go.mod file is parsed, its content is broken into a sequence of tokens. There are several kinds of tokens: whitespace, comments, punctuation, keywords, identifiers, and strings.
White space consists of spaces (U+0020), tabs (U+0009), carriage returns (U+000D), and newlines (U+000A). White space characters other than newlines have no effect except to separate tokens that would otherwise be combined. Newlines are significant tokens.
Comments start with // and run to the end of a line. /* */ comments are not allowed.
Punctuation tokens include (, ), and =>.
Keywords distinguish different kinds of directives in a go.mod file. Allowed keywords are module, go, require, replace, and exclude.
Identifiers are sequences of non-whitespace characters, such as module paths or semantic versions.
Strings are quoted sequences of characters. There are two kinds of strings: interpreted strings beginning and ending with quotation marks (", U+0022) and raw strings beginning and ending with grave accents (<, U+0060). Interpreted strings may contain escape sequences consisting of a backslash (\, U+005C) followed by another character. An escaped quotation mark (\") does not terminate an interpreted string. The unquoted value of an interpreted string is the sequence of characters between quotation marks with each escape sequence replaced by the character following the backslash (for example, \" is replaced by ", \n is replaced by n). In contrast, the unquoted value of a raw string is simply the sequence of characters between grave accents; backslashes have no special meaning within raw strings.
Identifiers and strings are interchangeable in the go.mod grammar.
Most identifiers and strings in a go.mod file are either module paths or versions.
A module path must satisfy the following requirements:
/, U+002F). It must not begin or end with a slash.+, -, ., _, and ~).., U+002E).CON, com1, NuL, and so on).If the module path appears in a require directive and is not replaced, or if the module paths appears on the right side of a replace directive, the go command may need to download modules with that path, and some additional requirements must be satisfied.
., U+002E), and dashes (-, U+002D); it must contain at least one dot and cannot start with a dash./vN where N looks numeric (ASCII digits and dots), N must not begin with a leading zero, must not be /v1, and must not contain any dots.gopkg.in/, this requirement is replaced by a requirement that the path follow the gopkg.in service's conventions.Versions in go.mod files may be canonical or non-canonical.
A canonical version starts with the letter v, followed by a semantic version following the Semantic Versioning 2.0.0 specification. See Versions for more information.
Most other identifiers and strings may be used as non-canonical versions, though there are some restrictions to avoid problems with file systems, repositories, and module proxies. Non-canonical versions are only allowed in the main module's go.mod file. The go command will attempt to replace each non-canonical version with an equivalent canonical version when it automatically updates the go.mod file.
In places where a module path is associated with a verison (as in require, replace, and exclude directives), the final path element must be consistent with the version. See Major version suffixes.
go.mod syntax is specified below using Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF). See the Notation section in the Go Language Specificiation for details on EBNF syntax.
GoMod = { Directive } .
Directive = ModuleDirective |
GoDirective |
RequireDirective |
ExcludeDirective |
ReplaceDirective .
Newlines, identifiers, and strings are denoted with newline, ident, and string, respectively.
Module paths and versions are denoted with ModulePath and Version.
ModulePath = ident | string . /* see restrictions above */ Version = ident | string . /* see restrictions above */
module directiveA module directive defines the main module's path. A go.mod file must contain exactly one module directive.
ModuleDirective = "module" ( ModulePath | "(" newline ModulePath newline ")" newline .
Example:
module golang.org/x/net
go directiveA go directive sets the expected language version for the module. The version must be a valid Go release version: a positive integer followed by a dot and a non-negative integer (for example, 1.9, 1.14).
The language version determines which language features are available when compiling packages in the module. Language features present in that version will be available for use. Language features removed in earlier versions, or added in later versions, will not be available. The language version does not affect build tags, which are determined by the Go release being used.
The language version is also used to enable features in the go command. For example, automatic vendoring may be enabled with a go version of 1.14 or higher.
A go.mod file may contain at most one go directive. Most commands will add a go directive with the current Go version if one is not present.
GoDirective = "go" GoVersion newline . GoVersion = string | ident . /* valid release version; see above */
Example:
go 1.14
require directiveA require directive declares a minimum required version of a given module dependency. For each required module version, the go command loads the go.mod file for that version and incorporates the requirements from that file. Once all requirements have been loaded, the go command resolves them using minimal version selection (MVS) to produce the build list.
The go command automatically adds // indirect comments for some requirements. An // indirect comment indicates that no package from the required module is directly imported by any package in the main module. The go command adds an indirect requirement when the selected version of a module is higher than what is already implied (transitively) by the main module's other dependencies. That may occur because of an explicit upgrade (go get -u), removal of some other dependency that previously imposed the requirement (go mod tidy), or a dependency that imports a package without a corresponding requirement in its own go.mod file (such as a dependency that lacks a go.mod file altogether).
RequireDirective = "require" ( RequireSpec | "(" newline { RequireSpec } ")" newline ) .
RequireSpec = ModulePath Version newline .
Example:
require golang.org/x/net v1.2.3
require (
golang.org/x/crypto v1.4.5 // indirect
golang.org/x/text v1.6.7
)
exclude directiveAn exclude directive prevents a module version from being loaded by the go command. If an excluded version is referenced by a require directive in a go.mod file, the go command will list available versions for the module (as shown with go list -m -versions) and will load the next higher non-excluded version instead. Both release and pre-release versions are considered for this purpose, but pseudo-versions are not. If there are no higher versions, the go command will report an error. Note that this may change in Go 1.15.
exclude directives only apply in the main module's go.mod file and are ignored in other modules. See Minimal version selection for details.
ExcludeDirective = "exclude" ( ExcludeSpec | "(" newline { ExcludeSpec } ")" ) .
ExcludeSpec = ModulePath Version newline .
Example:
exclude golang.org/x/net v1.2.3
exclude (
golang.org/x/crypto v1.4.5
golang.org/x/text v1.6.7
)
replace directiveA replace directive replaces the contents of a specific version of a module, or all versions of a module, with contents found elsewhere. The replacement may be specified with either another module path and version, or a platform-specific file path.
If a version is present on the left side of the arrow (=>), only that specific version of the module is replaced; other versions will be accessed normally. If the left version is omitted, all versions of the module are replaced.
If the path on the right side of the arrow is an absolute or relative path (beginning with ./ or ../), it is interpreted as the local file path to the replacement module root directory, which must contain a go.mod file. The replacement version must be omitted in this case.
If the path on the right side is not a local path, it must be a valid module path. In this case, a version is required. The same module version must not also appear in the build list.
Regardless of whether a replacement is specified with a local path or module path, if the replacement module has a go.mod file, its module directive must match the module path it replaces.
replace directives only apply in the main module's go.mod file and are ignored in other modules. See Minimal version selection for details.
ReplaceDirective = "replace" ( ReplaceSpec | "(" newline { ReplaceSpec } ")" newline ")" ) .
ReplaceSpec = ModulePath [ Version ] "=>" FilePath newline
| ModulePath [ Version ] "=>" ModulePath Version newline .
FilePath = /* platform-specific relative or absolute file path */
Example:
replace golang.org/x/net v1.2.3 => example.com/fork/net v1.4.5
replace (
golang.org/x/net v1.2.3 => example.com/fork/net v1.4.5
golang.org/x/net => example.com/fork/net v1.4.5
golang.org/x/net v1.2.3 => ./fork/net
golang.org/x/net => ./fork/net
)
The go command automatically updates go.mod when it uses the module graph if some information is missing or go.mod doesn't accurately reflect reality. For example, consider this go.mod file:
module example.com/M
require (
example.com/A v1
example.com/B v1.0.0
example.com/C v1.0.0
example.com/D v1.2.3
example.com/E dev
)
exclude example.com/D v1.2.3
The update rewrites non-canonical version identifiers to canonical semver form, so example.com/A's v1 becomes v1.0.0, and example.com/E's dev becomes the pseudo-version for the latest commit on the dev branch, perhaps v0.0.0-20180523231146-b3f5c0f6e5f1.
The update modifies requirements to respect exclusions, so the requirement on the excluded example.com/D v1.2.3 is updated to use the next available version of example.com/D, perhaps v1.2.4 or v1.3.0.
The update removes redundant or misleading requirements. For example, if example.com/A v1.0.0 itself requires example.com/B v1.2.0 and example.com/C v1.0.0, then go.mod's requirement of example.com/B v1.0.0 is misleading (superseded by example.com/A's need for v1.2.0), and its requirement of example.com/C v1.0.0 is redundant (implied by example.com/A's need for the same version), so both will be removed. If the main module contains packages that directly import packages from example.com/B or example.com/C, then the requirements will be kept but updated to the actual versions being used.
Finally, the update reformats the go.mod in a canonical formatting, so that future mechanical changes will result in minimal diffs. The go command will not update go.mod if only formatting changes are needed.
Because the module graph defines the meaning of import statements, any commands that load packages also use and therefore update go.mod, including go build, go get, go install, go list, go test, go mod graph, go mod tidy, and go mod why.
The -mod=readonly flag prevents commands from automatically updating go.mod. However, if a command needs to perform an action that would update to go.mod, it will report an error. For example, if go build is asked to build a package not provided by any module in the build list, go build will report an error instead of looking up the module and updating requirements in go.mod.
Most go commands may run in Module-aware mode or GOPATH mode. In module-aware mode, the go command uses go.mod files to find versioned dependencies, and it typically loads packages out of the module cache, downloading modules if they are missing. In GOPATH mode, the go command ignores modules; it looks in vendor directories and in GOPATH to find dependencies.
Module-aware mode is active by default whenever a go.mod file is found in the current directory or in any parent directory. For more fine-grained control, the GO111MODULE environment variable may be set to one of three values: on, off, or auto.
GO111MODULE=off, the go command ignores go.mod files and runs in GOPATH mode.GO111MODULE=on, the go command runs in module-aware mode, even when no go.mod file is present. Not all commands work without a go.mod file: see Module commands outside a module.GO111MODULE=auto or is unset, the go command runs in module-aware mode if a go.mod file is present in the current directory or any parent directory (the default behavior).In module-aware mode, GOPATH no longer defines the meaning of imports during a build, but it still stores downloaded dependencies (in GOPATH/pkg/mod; see Module cache) and installed commands (in GOPATH/bin, unless GOBIN is set).
When using modules, the go command typically satisfies dependencies by downloading modules from their sources into the module cache, then loading packages from those downloaded copies. Vendoring may be used to allow interoperation with older versions of Go, or to ensure that all files used for a build are stored in a single file tree.
The go mod vendor command constructs a directory named vendor in the main module's root directory containing copies of all packages needed to build and test packages in the main module. Packages that are only imported by tests of packages outside the main module are not included. As with go mod tidy and other module commands, build constraints except for ignore are not considered when constructing the vendor directory.
go mod vendor also creates the file vendor/modules.txt that contains a list of vendored packages and the module versions they were copied from. When vendoring is enabled, this manifest is used as a source of module version information, as reported by go list -m and go version -m. When the go command reads vendor/modules.txt, it checks that the module versions are consistent with go.mod. If go.mod has changed since vendor/modules.txt was generated, the go command will report an error. go mod vendor should be run again to update the vendor directory.
If the vendor directory is present in the main module‘s root directory, it will be used automatically if the go version in the main module’s go.mod file is 1.14 or higher. To explicitly enable vendoring, invoke the go command with the flag -mod=vendor. To disable vendoring, use the flag -mod=mod.
When vendoring is enabled, build commands like go build and go test load packages from the vendor directory instead of accessing the network or the local module cache. The go list -m command only prints information about modules listed in go.mod. go mod commands such as go mod download and go mod tidy do not work differently when vendoring is enabled and will still download modules and access the module cache. go get also does not work differently when vendoring is enabled.
Unlike vendoring in GOPATH, the go command ignores vendor directories in locations other than the main module's root directory.
go getUsage:
go get [-d] [-t] [-u] [build flags] [packages]
Examples:
# Install the latest version of a tool. $ go get golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports # Upgrade a specific module. $ go get -d golang.org/x/net # Upgrade modules that provide packages imported by package in the main module. $ go get -u ./... # Upgrade or downgrade to a specific version of a module. $ go get -d golang.org/x/text@v0.3.2 # Update to the commit on the module's master branch. $ go get -d golang.org/x/text@master # Remove a dependency on a module and downgrade modules that require it # to versions that don't require it. $ go get -d golang.org/x/text@none
The go get command updates module dependencies in the go.mod file for the main module, then builds and installs packages listed on the command line.
The first step is to determine which modules to update. go get accepts a list of packages, package patterns, and module paths as arguments. If a package argument is specified, go get updates the module that provides the package. If a package pattern is specified (for example, all or a path with a ... wildcard), go get expands the pattern to a set of packages, then updates the modules that provide the packages. If an argument names a module but not a package (for example, the module golang.org/x/net has no package in its root directory), go get will update the module but will not build a package. If no arguments are specified, go get acts as if . were specified (the package in the current directory); this may be used together with the -u flag to update modules that provide imported packages.
Each argument may include a version query suffix indicating the desired version, as in go get golang.org/x/text@v0.3.0. A version query suffix consists of an @ symbol followed by a version query, which may indicate a specific version (v0.3.0), a version prefix (v0.3), a branch or tag name (master), a revision (1234abcd), or one of the special queries latest, upgrade, patch, or none. If no version is given, go get uses the @upgrade query.
Once go get has resolved its arguments to specific modules and versions, go get will add, change, or remove require directives in the main module's go.mod file to ensure the modules remain at the desired versions in the future. Note that required versions in go.mod files are minimum versions and may be increased automatically as new dependencies are added. See Minimal version selection (MVS) for details on how versions are selected and conflicts are resolved by module-aware commands.
Other modules may be upgraded when a module named on the command line is added, upgraded, or downgraded if the new version of the named module requires other modules at higher versions. For example, suppose module example.com/a is upgraded to version v1.5.0, and that version requires module example.com/b at version v1.2.0. If module example.com/b is currently required at version v1.1.0, go get example.com/a@v1.5.0 will also upgrade example.com/b to v1.2.0.
Other modules may be downgraded when a module named on the command line is downgraded or removed. To continue the above example, suppose module example.com/b is downgraded to v1.1.0. Module example.com/a would also be downgraded to a version that requires example.com/b at version v1.1.0 or lower.
A module requirement may be removed using the version suffix @none. This is a special kind of downgrade. Modules that depend on the removed module will be downgraded or removed as needed. A module requirement may be removed even if one or more of its packages are imported by packages in the main module. In this case, the next build command may add a new module requirement.
If a module is needed at two different versions (specified explicitly in command line arguments or to satisfy upgrades and downgrades), go get will report an error.
After go get updates the go.mod file, it builds the packages named on the command line. Executables will be installed in the directory named by the GOBIN environment variable, which defaults to $GOPATH/bin or $HOME/go/bin if the GOPATH environment variable is not set.
go get supports the following flags:
-d flag tells go get not to build or install packages. When -d is used, go get will only manage dependencies in go.mod.-u flag tells go get to upgrade modules providing packages imported directly or indirectly by packages named on the command line. Each module selected by -u will be upgraded to its latest version unless it is already required at a higher version (a pre-release).-u=patch flag (not -u patch) also tells go get to upgrade dependencies, but go get will upgrade each dependency to the latest patch version (similar to the @patch version query).-t flag tells go get to consider modules needed to build tests of packages named on the command line. When -t and -u are used together, go get will update test dependencies as well.-insecure flag should no longer be used. It permits go get to resolve custom import paths and fetch from repositories and module proxies using insecure schemes such as HTTP. The GOINSECURE environment variable provides more fine-grained control and should be used instead.go list -mUsage:
go list -m [-u] [-versions] [list flags] [modules]
Example:
$ go list -m all $ go list -m -versions example.com/m $ go list -m -json example.com/m@latest
The -m flag causes go list to list modules instead of packages. In this mode, the arguments to go list may be modules, module patterns (containing the ... wildcard), version queries, or the special pattern all, which matches all modules in the build list. If no arguments are specified, the main module is listed.
When listing modules, the -f flag still specifies a format template applied to a Go struct, but now a Module struct:
type Module struct {
Path string // module path
Version string // module version
Versions []string // available module versions (with -versions)
Replace *Module // replaced by this module
Time *time.Time // time version was created
Update *Module // available update, if any (with -u)
Main bool // is this the main module?
Indirect bool // is this module only an indirect dependency of main module?
Dir string // directory holding files for this module, if any
GoMod string // path to go.mod file for this module, if any
GoVersion string // go version used in module
Error *ModuleError // error loading module
}
type ModuleError struct {
Err string // the error itself
}
The default output is to print the module path and then information about the version and replacement if any. For example, go list -m all might print:
example.com/main/module golang.org/x/text v0.3.0 => /tmp/text rsc.io/pdf v0.1.1
The Module struct has a String method that formats this line of output, so that the default format is equivalent to -f '{{.String}}'.
Note that when a module has been replaced, its Replace field describes the replacement module module, and its Dir field is set to the replacement module's source code, if present. (That is, if Replace is non-nil, then Dir is set to Replace.Dir, with no access to the replaced source code.)
The -u flag adds information about available upgrades. When the latest version of a given module is newer than the current one, list -u sets the module‘s Update field to information about the newer module. The module’s String method indicates an available upgrade by formatting the newer version in brackets after the current version. For example, go list -m -u all might print:
example.com/main/module golang.org/x/text v0.3.0 [v0.4.0] => /tmp/text rsc.io/pdf v0.1.1 [v0.1.2]
(For tools, go list -m -u -json all may be more convenient to parse.)
The -versions flag causes list to set the module's Versions field to a list of all known versions of that module, ordered according to semantic versioning, lowest to highest. The flag also changes the default output format to display the module path followed by the space-separated version list.
The template function module takes a single string argument that must be a module path or query and returns the specified module as a Module struct. If an error occurs, the result will be a Module struct with a non-nil Error field.
go mod downloadUsage:
go mod download [-json] [-x] [modules]
Example:
$ go mod download $ go mod download golang.org/x/mod@v0.2.0
The go mod download command downloads the named modules into the module cache. Arguments can be module paths or module patterns selecting dependencies of the main module or version queries of the form path@version. With no arguments, download applies to all dependencies of the main module.
The go command will automatically download modules as needed during ordinary execution. The go mod download command is useful mainly for pre-filling the module cache or for loading data to be served by a module proxy.
By default, download writes nothing to standard output. It prints progress messages and errors to standard error.
The -json flag causes download to print a sequence of JSON objects to standard output, describing each downloaded module (or failure), corresponding to this Go struct:
type Module struct {
Path string // module path
Version string // module version
Error string // error loading module
Info string // absolute path to cached .info file
GoMod string // absolute path to cached .mod file
Zip string // absolute path to cached .zip file
Dir string // absolute path to cached source root directory
Sum string // checksum for path, version (as in go.sum)
GoModSum string // checksum for go.mod (as in go.sum)
}
The -x flag causes download to print the commands download executes to standard error.
go mod editgo mod initUsage:
go mod init [module-path]
Example:
go mod init go mod init example.com/m
The go mod init command initializes and writes a new go.mod file in the current directory, in effect creating a new module rooted at the current directory. The go.mod file must not already exist.
init accepts one optional argument, the module path for the new module. See Module paths for instructions on choosing a module path. If the module path argument is omitted, init will attempt to infer the module path using import comments in .go files, vendoring tool configuration files, and the current directory (if in GOPATH).
If a configuration file for a vendoring tool is present, init will attempt to import module requirements from it. init supports the following configuration files.
GLOCKFILE (Glock)Godeps/Godeps.json (Godeps)Gopkg.lock (dep)dependencies.tsv (godeps)glide.lock (glide)vendor.conf (trash)vendor.yml (govend)vendor/manifest (gvt)vendor/vendor.json (govendor)Vendoring tool configuration files can't always be translated with perfect fidelity. For example, if multiple packages within the same repository are imported at different versions, and the repository only contains one module, the imported go.mod can only require the module at one version. You may wish to run go list -m all to check all versions in the build list, and go mod tidy to add missing requirements and to drop unused requirements.
go mod tidygo mod vendorUsage:
go mod vendor [-v]
The go mod vendor command constructs a directory named vendor in the main module's root directory that contains copies of all packages needed to support builds and tests of packages in the main module. Packages that are only imported by tests of packages outside the main module are not included. As with go mod tidy and other module commands, build constraints except for ignore are not considered when constructing the vendor directory.
When vendoring is enabled, the go command will load packages from the vendor directory instead of downloading modules from their sources into the module cache and using packages those downloaded copies. See Vendoring for more information.
go mod vendor also creates the file vendor/modules.txt that contains a list of vendored packages and the module versions they were copied from. When vendoring is enabled, this manifest is used as a source of module version information, as reported by go list -m and go version -m. When the go command reads vendor/modules.txt, it checks that the module versions are consistent with go.mod. If go.mod changed since vendor/modules.txt was generated, go mod vendor should be run again.
Note that go mod vendor removes the vendor directory if it exists before re-constructing it. Local changes should not be made to vendored packages. The go command does not check that packages in the vendor directory have not been modified, but one can verify the integrity of the vendor directory by running go mod vendor and checking that no changes were made.
The -v flag causes go mod vendor to print the names of vendored modules and packages to standard error.
go mod verifygo version -mgo clean -modcacheSeveral commands allow you to specify a version of a module using a version query, which appears after an @ character following a module or package path on the command line.
Examples:
go get example.com/m@latest go mod download example.com/m@master go list -m -json example.com/m@e3702bed2
A version query may be one of the following:
v1.2.3, which selects a specific version. See Versions for syntax.v1 or v1.2, which selects the highest available version with that prefix.<v1.2.3 or >=v1.5.6, which selects the nearest available version to the comparison target (the lowest version for > and >=, and the highest version for < and <=).v2 selects the latest version starting with v2, not the branch named v2.latest, which selects the highest available release version. If there are no release versions, latest selects the highest pre-release version. If there no tagged versions, latest selects a pseudo-version for the commit at the tip of the repository's default branch.upgrade, which is like latest except that if the module is currently required at a higher version than the version latest would select (for example, a pre-release), upgrade will select the current version.patch, which selects the latest available version with the same major and minor version numbers as the currently required version. If no version is currently required, patch is equivalent to latest.Except for queries for specific named versions or revisions, all queries consider available versions reported by go list -m -versions (see go list -m). This list contains only tagged versions, not pseudo-versions. Module versions disallowed by exclude directives in the main module's go.mod file are not considered.
Release versions are preferred over pre-release versions. For example, if versions v1.2.2 and v1.2.3-pre are available, the latest query will select v1.2.2, even though v1.2.3-pre is higher. The <v1.2.4 query would also select v1.2.2, even though v1.2.3-pre is closer to v1.2.4. If no release or pre-release version is available, the latest, upgrade, and patch queries will select a pseudo-version for the commit at the tip of the repository's default branch. Other queries will report an error.
Module-aware Go commands normally run in the context of a main module defined by a go.mod file in the working directory or a parent directory. Some commands may be run in module-aware mode without a go.mod file by setting the GO111MODULE environment variable to on. Most commands work differently when no go.mod file is present.
See Module-aware commands for information on enabling and disabling module-aware mode.
GOPROXY protocolA module proxy is an HTTP server that can respond to GET requests for paths specified below. The requests have no query parameters, and no specific headers are required, so even a site serving from a fixed file system (including a file:// URL) can be a module proxy.
Successful HTTP responses must have the status code 200 (OK). Redirects (3xx) are followed. Responses with status codes 4xx and 5xx are treated as errors. The error codes 404 (Not Found) and 410 (Gone) indicate that the requested module or version is not available on the proxy, but it may be found elsewhere. Error responses should have content type text/plain with charset either utf-8 or us-ascii.
The go command may be configured to contact proxies or source control servers using the GOPROXY environment variable, which is a comma-separated list of URLs or the keywords direct or off (see Environment variables for details). When the go command receives a 404 or 410 response from a proxy, it falls back to later proxies in the list. The go command does not fall back to later proxies in response to other 4xx and 5xx errors. This allows a proxy to act as a gatekeeper, for example, by responding with error 403 (Forbidden) for modules not on an approved list.
The table below specifies queries that a module proxy must respond to. For each path, $base is the path portion of a proxy URL,$module is a module path, and $version is a version. For example, if the proxy URL is https://example.com/mod, and the client is requesting the go.mod file for the module golang.org/x/text at version v0.3.2, the client would send a GET request for https://example.com/mod/golang.org/x/text/@v/v0.3.2.mod.
To avoid ambiguity when serving from case-insensitive file systems, the $module and $version elements are case-encoded by replacing every uppercase letter with an exclamation mark followed by the corresponding lower-case letter. This allows modules example.com/M and example.com/m to both be stored on disk, since the former is encoded as example.com/!m.
When resolving the latest version of a module, the go command will request $base/$module/@v/list, then, if no suitable versions are found, $base/$module/@latest. The go command prefers, in order: the semantically highest release version, the semantically highest pre-release version, and the chronologically most recent pseudo-version. In Go 1.12 and earlier, the go command considered pseudo-versions in $base/$module/@v/list to be pre-release versions, but this is no longer true since Go 1.13.
A module proxy must always serve the same content for successful responses for $base/$module/$version.mod and $base/$module/$version.zip queries. This content is cryptographically authenticated using go.sum files and, by default, the checksum database.
The go command caches most content it downloads from module proxies in its module cache in $GOPATH/pkg/mod/cache/download. Even when downloading directly from version control systems, the go command synthesizes explicit info, mod, and zip files and stores them in this directory, the same as if it had downloaded them directly from a proxy. The cache layout is the same as the proxy URL space, so serving $GOPATH/pkg/mod/cache/download at (or copying it to) https://example.com/proxy would let users access cached module versions by setting GOPROXY to https://example.com/proxy.
The go command may download module source code and metadata from a module proxy. The GOPROXY environment variable may be used to configure which proxies the go command may connect to and whether it may communicate directly with version control systems. Downloaded module data is saved in the module cache. The go command will only contact a proxy when it needs information not already in the cache.
The GOPROXY protocol section describes requests that may be sent to a GOPROXY server. However, it's also helpful to understand when the go command makes these requests. For example, go build follows the procedure below:
go.mod files and performing minimal version selection (MVS).go.mod, and start over.When the go command computes the build list, it loads the go.mod file for each module in the module graph. If a go.mod file is not in the cache, the go command will download it from the proxy using a $module/@v/$version.mod request (where $module is the module path and $version is the version). These requests can be tested with a tool like curl. For example, the command below downloads the go.mod file for golang.org/x/mod at version v0.2.0:
$ curl https://proxy.golang.org/golang.org/x/mod/@v/v0.2.0.mod module golang.org/x/mod go 1.12 require ( golang.org/x/crypto v0.0.0-20191011191535-87dc89f01550 golang.org/x/tools v0.0.0-20191119224855-298f0cb1881e golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20191011141410-1b5146add898 )
In order to load a package, the go command needs the source code for the module that provides it. Module source code is distributed in .zip files which are extracted into the module cache. If a module .zip is not in the cache, the go command will download it using a $module/@v/$version.zip request.
$ curl -O https://proxy.golang.org/golang.org/x/mod/@v/v0.2.0.zip
$ unzip -l v0.2.0.zip | head
Archive: v0.2.0.zip
Length Date Time Name
--------- ---------- ----- ----
1479 00-00-1980 00:00 golang.org/x/mod@v0.2.0/LICENSE
1303 00-00-1980 00:00 golang.org/x/mod@v0.2.0/PATENTS
559 00-00-1980 00:00 golang.org/x/mod@v0.2.0/README
21 00-00-1980 00:00 golang.org/x/mod@v0.2.0/codereview.cfg
214 00-00-1980 00:00 golang.org/x/mod@v0.2.0/go.mod
1476 00-00-1980 00:00 golang.org/x/mod@v0.2.0/go.sum
5224 00-00-1980 00:00 golang.org/x/mod@v0.2.0/gosumcheck/main.go
Note that .mod and .zip requests are separate, even though go.mod files are usually contained within .zip files. The go command may need to download go.mod files for many different modules, and .mod files are much smaller than .zip files. Additionally, if a Go project does not have a go.mod file, the proxy will serve a synthetic go.mod file that only contains a module directive. Synthetic go.mod files are generated by the go command when downloading from a version control system.
If the go command needs to load a package not provided by any module in the build list, it will attempt to find a new module that provides it. The section Resolving a package to a module describes this process. In summary, the go command requests information about the latest version of each module path that could possibly contain the package. For example, for the package golang.org/x/net/html, the go command would try to find the latest versions of the modules golang.org/x/net/html, golang.org/x/net, golang.org/x/, and golang.org. Only golang.org/x/net actually exists and provides that package, so the go command uses the latest version of that module. If more than one module provides the package, the go command will use the module with the longest path.
When the go command requests the latest version of a module, it first sends a request for $module/@v/list. If the list is empty or none of the returned versions can be used, it sends a request for $module/@latest. Once a version is chosen, the go command sends a $module/@v/$version.info request for metadata. It may then send $module/@v/$version.mod and $module/@v/$version.zip requests to load the go.mod file and source code.
$ curl https://proxy.golang.org/golang.org/x/mod/@v/list
v0.1.0
v0.2.0
$ curl https://proxy.golang.org/golang.org/x/mod/@v/v0.2.0.info
{"Version":"v0.2.0","Time":"2020-01-02T17:33:45Z"}
After downloading a .mod or .zip file, the go command computes a cryptographic hash and checks that it matches a hash in the main module's go.sum file. If the hash is not present in go.sum, by default, the go command retrieves it from the checksum database. If the computed hash does not match, the go command reports a security error and does not install the file in the module cache. The GOPRIVATE and GONOSUMDB environment variables may be used to disable requests to the checksum database for specific modules. The GOSUMDB environment variable may also be set to off to disable requests to the checksum database entirely. See Authenticating modules for more information. Note that version lists and version metadata returned for .info requests are not authenticated and may change over time.
The go command may download module source code and metadata directly from a version control repository. Downloading a module from a proxy is usually faster, but connecting directly to a repository is necessary if a proxy is not available or if a module's repository is not accessible to a proxy (frequently true for private repositories). Git, Subversion, Mercurial, Bazaar, and Fossil are supported. A version control tool must be installed in a directory in PATH in order for the go command to use it.
To download specific modules from source repositories instead of a proxy, set the GOPRIVATE or GONOPROXY environment variables. To configure the go command to download all modules directly from source repositories, set GOPROXY to direct. See Environment variables for more information.
When the go command downloads a module in direct mode, it starts by locating the repository that contains the module. The go command sends an HTTP GET request to a URL derived from the module path with a ?go-get=1 query string. For example, for the module golang.org/x/mod, the go command may send the following requests:
https://golang.org/x/mod?go-get=1 (preferred) http://golang.org/x/mod?go-get=1 (fallback, only with GOINSECURE)
The go command will follow redirects but otherwise ignores response status codes, so the server may respond with a 404 or any other error status. The GOINSECURE environment variable may be set to allow fallback and redirects to unencrypted HTTP for specific modules.
The server must respond with an HTML document containing a <meta> tag in the document‘s <head>. The <meta> tag should appear early in the document to avoid confusing the go command’s restricted parser. In particular, it should appear before any raw JavaScript or CSS. The <meta> tag must have the form:
<meta name="go-import" content="root-path vcs repo-url">
root-path is the repository root path, the portion of the module path that corresponds to the repository‘s root directory. It must be a prefix or an exact match of the requested module path. If it’s not an exact match, another request is made for the prefix to verify the <meta> tags match.
vcs is the version control system. It must be one of bzr, fossil, git, hg, svn, mod. The mod scheme instructs the go command to download the module from the given URL using the GOPROXY protocol. This allows developers to distribute modules without exposing source repositories.
repo-url is the repository's URL. If the URL does not include a scheme, the go command will try each protocol supported by the version control system. For example, with Git, the go command will try https:// then git+ssh://. Insecure protocols may only be used if the module path is matched by the GOINSECURE environment variable.
As an example, consider golang.org/x/mod again. The go command sends a request to https://golang.org/x/mod?go-get=1. The server responds with an HTML document containing the tag:
<meta name="go-import" content="golang.org/x/mod git https://go.googlesource.com/mod">
From this response, the go command will use the Git repository at the remote URL https://go.googlesource.com/mod.
GitHub and other popular hosting services respond to ?go-get=1 queries for all repositories, so usually no server configuration is necessary for modules hosted at those sites.
After the repository URL is found, the go command will clone the repository into the module cache. In general, the go command tries to avoid fetching unneeded data from a repository. However, the actual commands used vary by version control system and may change over time. For Git, the go command can list most available versions without downloading commits. It will usually fetch commits without downloading ancestor commits, but doing so is sometimes necessary.
The go command may check out a module within a repository at a specific canonical version like v1.2.3, v2.4.0-beta, or v3.0.0+incompatible. Each module version should have a semantic version tag within the repository that indicates which revision should be checked out for a given version.
If a module is defined in the repository root directory or in a major version subdirectory of the root directory, then each version tag name is equal to the corresponding version. For example, the module golang.org/x/text is defined in the root directory of its repository, so the version v0.3.2 has the tag v0.3.2 in that repository. This is true for most modules.
If a module is defined in a subdirectory within the repository, that is, the module subdirectory portion of the module path is not empty, then each tag name must be prefixed with the module subdirectory, followed by a slash. For example, the module golang.org/x/tools/gopls is defined in the gopls subdirectory of the repository with root path golang.org/x/tools. The version v0.4.0 of that module must have the tag named gopls/v0.4.0 in that repository.
The major version number of a semantic version tag must be consistent with the module path's major version suffix (if any). For example, the tag v1.0.0 could belong to the module example.com/mod but not example.com/mod/v2, which would have tags like v2.0.0.
A tag with major version v2 or higher may belong to a module without a major version suffix if no go.mod file is present, and the module is in the repository root directory. This kind of version is denoted with the suffix +incompatible. The version tag itself must not have the suffix. See Compatibility with non-module repositories.
Once a tag is created, it should not be deleted or changed to a different revision. Versions are authenticated to ensure safe, repeatable builds. If a tag is modified, clients may see a security error when downloading it. Even after a tag is deleted, its content may remain available on module proxies.
The go command may check out a module within a repository at a specific revision, encoded as a pseudo-version like v1.3.2-0.20191109021931-daa7c04131f5.
The last 12 characters of the pseudo-version (daa7c04131f5 in the example above) indicate a revision in the repository to check out. The meaning of this depends on the version control system. For Git and Mercurial, this is a prefix of a commit hash. For Subversion, this is a zero-padded revision number.
Before checking out a commit, the go command verifies that the timestamp (20191109021931 above) matches the commit date. It also verifies that the base version (v1.3.1, the version before v1.3.2 in the example above) corresponds to a semantic version tag that is an ancestor of the commit. These checks ensure that module authors have full control over how pseudo-versions compare with other released versions.
See Pseudo-versions for more information.
A module may be checked out at a specific branch, tag, or revision using a version query.
go get example.com/mod@master
The go command converts these names into canonical versions that can be used with minimal version selection (MVS). MVS depends on the ability to order versions unambiguously. Branch names and revisions can't be compared reliably over time, since they depend on repository structure which may change.
If a revision is tagged with one or more semantic version tags like v1.2.3, the tag for the highest valid version will be used. The go command only considers semantic version tags that could belong to the target module; for example, the tag v1.5.2 would not be considered for example.com/mod/v2 since the major version doesn‘t match the module path’s suffix.
If a revision is not tagged with a valid semantic version tag, the go command will generate a pseudo-version. If the revision has ancestors with valid semantic version tags, the highest ancestor version will be used as the pseudo-version base. See Pseudo-versions.
Once a module‘s repository has been checked out at a specific revision, the go command must locate the directory that contains the module’s go.mod file (the module's root directory).
Recall that a module path consists of three parts: a repository root path (corresponding to the repository root directory), a module subdirectory, and a major version suffix (only for modules released at v2 or higher).
For most modules, the module path is equal to the repository root path, so the module‘s root directory is the repository’s root directory.
Modules are sometimes defined in repository subdirectories. This is typically done for large repositories with multiple components that need to be released and versioned indepently. Such a module is expected to be found in a subdirectory that matches the part of the module's path after the repository root path. For example, suppose the module example.com/monorepo/foo/bar is in the repository with root path example.com/monorepo. Its go.mod file must be in the foo/bar subdirectory.
If a module is released at major version v2 or higher, its path must have a major version suffix. A module with a major version suffix may be defined in one of two subdirectories: one with the suffix, and one without. For example, suppose a new version of the module above is released with the path example.com/monorepo/foo/bar/v2. Its go.mod file may be in either foo/bar or foo/bar/v2.
Subdirectories with a major version suffix are major version subdirectories. They may be used to develop multiple major versions of a module on a single branch. This may be unnecessary when development of multiple major versions proceeds on separate branches. However, major version subdirectories have an important property: in GOPATH mode, package import paths exactly match directories under GOPATH/src. The go command provides minimal module compatibility in GOPATH mode (see Compatibility with non-module repositories), so major version subdirectories aren‘t always necessary for compatibility with projects built in GOPATH mode. Older tools that don’t support minimal module compatibility may have problems though.
Once the go command has found the module root directory, it creates a .zip file of the contents of the directory, then extracts the .zip file into the module cache. See File name and path constraints for details on what files may be included in the .zip file. See Module zip format for details on the format of the .zip file itself. The contents of the .zip file are authenticated before extraction into the module cache the same way they would be if the .zip file were downloaded from a proxy.
When deciding whether to trust the source code for a module version just fetched from a proxy or origin server, the go command first consults the go.sum lines in the go.sum file of the current module. If the go.sum file does not contain an entry for that module version, then it may consult the checksum database.
The checksum database is a global source of go.sum lines. The go command can use this in many situations to detect misbehavior by proxies or origin servers.
The checksum database allows for global consistency and reliability for all publicly available module versions. It makes untrusted proxies possible since they can‘t serve the wrong code without it going unnoticed. It also ensures that the bits associated with a specific version do not change from one day to the next, even if the module’s author subsequently alters the tags in their repository.
The checksum database is served by sum.golang.org, which is run by Google. It is a Transparent Log (or “Merkle Tree”) of go.sum line hashes, which is backed by Trillian. The main advantage of a Merkle tree is that independent auditors can verify that it hasn't been tampered with, so it is more trustworthy than a simple database.
The go command interacts with the checksum database using the protocol originally outlined in Proposal: Secure the Public Go Module Ecosystem.
The table below specifies queries that the checksum database must respond to. For each path, $base is the path portion of the checksum database URL, $module is a module path, and $version is a version. For example, if the checksum database URL is https://sum.golang.org, and the client is requesting the record for the module golang.org/x/text at version v0.3.2, the client would send a GET request for https://sum.golang.org/lookup/golang.org/x/text@v0.3.2.
To avoid ambiguity when serving from case-insensitive file systems, the $module and $version elements are case-encoded by replacing every uppercase letter with an exclamation mark followed by the corresponding lower-case letter. This allows modules example.com/M and example.com/m to both be stored on disk, since the former is encoded as example.com/!m.
Parts of the path surrounded by square brakets, like [.p/$W] denote optional values.
If the go command consults the checksum database, then the first step is to retrieve the record data through the /lookup endpoint. If the module version is not yet recorded in the log, the checksum database will try to fetch it from the origin server before replying. This /lookup data provides the sum for this module version as well as its position in the log, which informs the client of which tiles should be fetched to perform proofs. The go command performs “inclusion” proofs (that a specific record exists in the log) and “consistency” proofs (that the tree hasn’t been tampered with) before adding new go.sum lines to the main module’s go.sum file. It‘s important that the data from /lookup should never be used without first authenticating it against the signed tree hash and authenticating the signed tree hash against the client’s timeline of signed tree hashes.
Signed tree hashes and new tiles served by the checksum database are stored in the module cache, so the go command only needs to fetch tiles that are missing.
The go command doesn't need to directly connect to the checksum database. It can request module sums via a module proxy that mirrors the checksum database and supports the protocol above. This can be particularly helpful for private, corporate proxies which block requests outside the organization.
The GOSUMDB environment variable identifies the name of checksum database to use and optionally its public key and URL, as in:
GOSUMDB="sum.golang.org" GOSUMDB="sum.golang.org+<publickey>" GOSUMDB="sum.golang.org+<publickey> https://sum.golang.org"
The go command knows the public key of sum.golang.org, and also that the name sum.golang.google.cn (available inside mainland China) connects to the sum.golang.org checksum database; use of any other database requires giving the public key explicitly. The URL defaults to https:// followed by the database name.
GOSUMDB defaults to sum.golang.org, the Go checksum database run by Google. See https://sum.golang.org/privacy for the service's privacy policy.
If GOSUMDB is set to off, or if go get is invoked with the -insecure flag, the checksum database is not consulted, and all unrecognized modules are accepted, at the cost of giving up the security guarantee of verified repeatable downloads for all modules. A better way to bypass the checksum database for specific modules is to use the GOPRIVATE or GONOSUMDB environment variables. See Private Modules for details.
The go env -w command can be used to set these variables for future go command invocations.
Module behavior in the go command may be configured using the environment variables listed below. This list only includes module-related environment variables. See go help environment for a list of all environment variables recognized by the go command.
build constraint: A condition that determines whether a Go source file is used when compiling a package. Build constraints may be expressed with file name suffixes (for example, foo_linux_amd64.go) or with build constraint comments (for example, // +build linux,amd64). See Build Constraints.
build list: The list of module versions that will be used for a build command such as go build, go list, or go test. The build list is determined from the main module's go.mod file and go.mod files in transitively required modules using minimal version selection. The build list contains versions for all modules in the module graph, not just those relevant to a specific command.
canonical version: A correctly formatted version without a build metadata suffix other than +incompatible. For example, v1.2.3 is a canonical version, but v1.2.3+meta is not.
go.mod file: The file that defines a module's path, requirements, and other metadata. Appears in the module's root directory. See the section on go.mod files.
import path: A string used to import a package in a Go source file. Synonymous with package path.
main module: The module in which the go command is invoked.
major version: The first number in a semantic version (1 in v1.2.3). In a release with incompatible changes, the major version must be incremented, and the minor and patch versions must be set to 0. Semantic versions with major version 0 are considered unstable.
major version subdirectory: A subdirectory within a version control repository matching a module's major version suffix where a module may be defined. For example, the module example.com/mod/v2 in the repository with root path example.com/mod may be defined in the repository root directory or the major version subdirectory v2. See Module directories within a repository.
major version suffix: A module path suffix that matches the major version number. For example, /v2 in example.com/mod/v2. Major version suffixes are required at v2.0.0 and later and are not allowed at earlier versions. See the section on Major version suffixes.
minimal version selection (MVS): The algorithm used to determine the versions of all modules that will be used in a build. See the section on Minimal version selection for details.
minor version: The second number in a semantic version (2 in v1.2.3). In a release with new, backwards compatible functionality, the minor version must be incremented, and the patch version must be set to 0.
module: A collection of packages that are released, versioned, and distributed together.
module cache: A local directory storing downloaded modules, located in GOPATH/pkg/mod. See Module cache.
module graph: The directed graph of module requirements, rooted at the main module. Each vertex in the graph is a module; each edge is a version from a require statement in a go.mod file (subject to replace and exclude statements in the main module's go.mod file.
module path: A path that identifies a module and acts as a prefix for package import paths within the module. For example, "golang.org/x/net".
module proxy: A web server that implements the GOPROXY protocol. The go command downloads version information, go.mod files, and module zip files from module proxies.
module root directory: The directory that contains the go.mod file that defines a module.
module subdirectory: The portion of a module path after the repository root path that indicates the subdirectory where the module is defined. When non-empty, the module subdirectory is also a prefix for semantic version tags. The module subdirectory does not include the major version suffix, if there is one, even if the module is in a major version subdirectory. See Module paths.
package: A collection of source files in the same directory that are compiled together. See the Packages section in the Go Language Specification.
package path: The path that uniquely identifies a package. A package path is a module path joined with a subdirectory within the module. For example "golang.org/x/net/html" is the package path for the package in the module "golang.org/x/net" in the "html" subdirectory. Synonym of import path.
patch version: The third number in a semantic version (3 in v1.2.3). In a release with no changes to the module's public interface, the patch version must be incremented.
pre-release version: A version with a dash followed by a series of dot-separated identifiers immediately following the patch version, for example, v1.2.3-beta4. Pre-release versions are considered unstable and are not assumed to be compatible with other versions. A pre-release version sorts before the corresponding release version: v1.2.3-pre comes before v1.2.3. See also release version.
pseudo-version: A version that encodes a revision identifier (such as a Git commit hash) and a timestamp from a version control system. For example, v0.0.0-20191109021931-daa7c04131f5. Used for compatibility with non-module repositories and in other situations when a tagged version is not available.
release version: A version without a pre-release suffix. For example, v1.2.3, not v1.2.3-pre. See also pre-release version.
repository root path: The portion of a module path that corresponds to a version control repository's root directory. See Module paths.
semantic version tag: A tag in a version control repository that maps a version to a specific revision. See Mapping versions to commits.
version: An identifier for an immutable snapshot of a module, written as the letter v followed by a semantic version. See the section on Versions.