_content/doc/go1.26.md

---
title: Go 1.26 Release Notes
template: false
---

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## DRAFT RELEASE NOTES — Introduction to Go 1.26 {#introduction}

**Go 1.26 is not yet released. These are work-in-progress release notes.
Go 1.26 is expected to be released in February 2026.**

## Changes to the language {#language}

<!-- https://go.dev/issue/45624 --->

The built-in `new` function, which creates a new variable, now allows
its operand to be an expression, specifying the initial value of the
variable.

This feature is particularly useful when working with serialization
packages such as `encoding/json` or protocol buffers that use a
pointer to represent an optional value, as it enables an optional
field to be populated in a simple expression, for example:

```go
import "encoding/json"

type Person struct {
	Name string   `json:"name"`
	Age  *int     `json:"age"` // age if known; nil otherwise
}

func personJSON(name string, born time.Time) ([]byte, error) {
	return json.Marshal(Person{
		Name: name,
		Age:  new(yearsSince(born)),
	})
}

func yearsSince(t time.Time) int {
	return int(time.Since(t).Hours() / (365.25 * 24)) // approximately
}
```

<!-- https://go.dev/issue/75883 --->

The restriction that a generic type may not refer to itself in its type parameter list
has been lifted.
It is now possible to specify type constraints that refer to the generic type being
constrained.
For instance, a generic type `Adder` may require that it be instantiated with a
type that is like itself:

```go
type Adder[A Adder[A]] interface {
	Add(A) A
}

func algo[A Adder[A]](x, y A) A {
	return x.Add(y)
}
```

Besides making type constraints more powerful, this change also simplifies the spec
rules for type parameters ever so slightly.

## Tools {#tools}

### Go command {#go-command}

<!-- go.dev/issue/74748 -->
`go mod init` now defaults to a lower `go` version in new `go.mod` files. `go mod init`
using a toolchain of version `1.N.X` will create a `go.mod` file
specifying the Go version `go 1.(N-1).0`. Pre-release versions of `1.N` will
create `go.mod` files specifying `go 1.(N-2).0`. In practice, this means Go 1.26
release candidates will create `go.mod` files with `go 1.24.0`, and Go 1.26
and its minor releases will create `go.mod` files with `go 1.25.0`. This is intended
to encourage the creation of modules that are compatible with currently supported
versions of Go. For additional control over the `go` version in new modules,
`go mod init` can be followed up with `go get go@version`.

<!-- go.dev/issue/74667 -->
`cmd/doc`, and `go tool doc` have been deleted. `go doc` can be used as
a replacement for `go tool doc`: it takes the same flags and arguments and
has the same behavior.

<!-- go.dev/issue/75432 -->
The `go fix` command, following the pattern of `go vet` in Go 1.10,
now uses the Go analysis framework (`golang.org/x/tools/go/analysis`).
This means the same analyzers that provide diagnostics in `go vet`
can be used to suggest and apply fixes in `go fix`.
The `go fix` command's historical fixers, all of which were obsolete,
have been removed and replaced by a suite of new analyzers that
offer fixes to use newer features of the language and library.
<!-- I'll write a blog post that discusses this at length. --adonovan -->

### Pprof {#pprof}

<!-- go.dev/issue/74774 -->
The `pprof` tool web UI, enabled with the `-http` flag, now defaults to the flame graph view.
The previous graph view is available in the "View -> Graph" menu, or via `/ui/graph`.

## Runtime {#runtime}

### New garbage collector

The Green Tea garbage collector, previously available as an experiment in
Go 1.25, is now enabled by default after incorporating feedback.

This garbage collector’s design improves the performance of marking and
scanning small objects through better locality and CPU scalability.
Benchmark results vary, but we expect somewhere between a 10—40% reduction
in garbage collection overhead in real-world programs that heavily use the
garbage collector.
Further improvements, on the order of 10% in garbage collection overhead,
are expected when running on newer amd64-based CPU platforms (Intel Ice
Lake or AMD Zen 4 and newer), as the garbage collector now leverages
vector instructions for scanning small objects when possible.

The new garbage collector may be disabled by setting
`GOEXPERIMENT=nogreenteagc` at build time.
This opt-out setting is expected to be removed in Go 1.27.
If you disable the new garbage collector for any reason related to its
performance or behavior, please [file an issue](/issue/new).

### Faster cgo calls

<!-- CL 646198 -->

The baseline runtime overhead of cgo calls has been reduced by ~30%.

### Goroutine leak profiles {#goroutineleak-profiles}

<!-- CL 688335 -->

A new profile type that reports leaked goroutines is now available as an
experiment.
The new profile type, named `goroutineleak` in the
[runtime/pprof](/pkg/runtime/pprof) package, may be enabled by setting
`GOEXPERIMENT=goroutineleakprofile` at build time.
Enabling the experiment also makes the profile available as a
[net/http/pprof](/pkg/net/http/pprof) endpoint,
`/debug/pprof/goroutineleak`.

The following example showcases a real-world goroutine leak that
can be revealed by the new profile:

```go
type result struct {
	res workResult
	err error
}

func processWorkItems(ws []workItem) ([]workResult, error) {
	// Process work items in parallel, aggregating results in ch.
	ch := make(chan result)
	for _, w := range ws {
		go func() {
			res, err := processWorkItem(w)
			ch <- result{res, err}
		}()
	}

	// Collect the results from ch, or return an error if one is found.
	var results []workResult
	for range len(ws) {
		r := <-ch
		if r.err != nil {
			// This early return may cause goroutine leaks.
			return nil, r.err
		}
		results = append(results, r.res)
	}
	return results, nil
}
```

Because `ch` is unbuffered, if `processWorkItems` returns early due to
an error, all remaining `processWorkItem` goroutines will leak.
However, `ch` also becomes unreachable to all other goroutines
not involved in the leak soon after the leak itself occurs.
In general, the runtime is now equipped to identify and report on
any goroutines blocked on operations over concurrency primitives
(for example, channels, [sync.Mutex](/pkg/sync#Mutex),
[sync.Cond](/pkg/sync#Cond), and so forth) that are not reachable
from runnable goroutines.

Note, however, that the runtime may fail to identify leaks caused by
blocking on operations over concurrency primitives reachable
through global variables or the local variables of runnable goroutines.

Special thanks to Vlad Saioc at Uber for contributing this work.
The underlying theory is presented in detail in [a publication by
Saioc et al.](https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3676641.3715990).

The implementation is production-ready, and is only considered an
experiment for the purposes of collecting feedback on the API,
specifically the choice to make it a new profile.
The feature is also designed to not incur any additional run-time
overhead unless it is actively in-use.

We encourage users to try out the new feature in [the Go
playground](/play/p/3C71z4Dpav-?v=gotip),
in tests, in continuous integration, and in production.
We welcome additional feedback on the [proposal
issue](/issue/74609).

We aim to enable goroutine leak profiles by default in Go 1.27.

### Heap base address randomization

<!-- CL 674835 -->

On 64-bit platforms, the runtime now randomizes the heap base address
at startup.
This is a security enhancement that makes it harder for attackers to
predict memory addresses and exploit vulnerabilities when using cgo.
This feature may be disabled by setting
`GOEXPERIMENT=norandomizedheapbase64` at build time.
This opt-out setting is expected to be removed in a future Go release.

## Compiler {#compiler}

<!-- CLs 707755, 722440 -->

The compiler can now allocate the backing store for slices on the stack in more
situations, which improves performance. If this change is causing trouble, the
[bisect tool](https://pkg.go.dev/golang.org/x/tools/cmd/bisect) can be used to
find the allocation causing trouble using the `-compile=variablemake` flag. All
such new stack allocations can also be turned off using
`-gcflags=all=-d=variablemakehash=n`.

## Linker {#linker}

On 64-bit ARM-based Windows (the `windows/arm64` port), the linker now supports internal
linking mode of cgo programs, which can be requested with the
`-ldflags=-linkmode=internal` flag.

There are several minor changes to executable files. These changes do
not affect running Go programs. They may affect programs that analyze
Go executables, and they may affect people who use external linking
mode with custom linker scripts.

 - The `moduledata` structure is now in its own section, named
   `.go.module`.
 - The `moduledata` `cutab` field, which is a slice, now has the
   correct length; previously the length was four times too large.
 - The `pcHeader` found at the start of the `.gopclntab` section no
   longer records the start of the text section. That field is now
   always zero.
 - That `pcHeader` change was made so that the `.gopclntab` section
   no longer contains any relocations. On platforms that support
   relro, the section has moved from the relro segment to the rodata
   segment.
 - The funcdata symbols and the findfunctab have moved from the
   `.rodata` section to the `.gopclntab` section.
 - The `.gosymtab` section has been removed. It was previously always
   present but empty.
 - When using internal linking, ELF sections now appear in the
   section header list sorted by address. The previous order was
   somewhat unpredictable.

The references to section names here use the ELF names as seen on
Linux and other systems. The Mach-O names as seen on Darwin start with
a double underscore and do not contain any dots.

## Bootstrap {#bootstrap}

<!-- go.dev/issue/69315 -->
As mentioned in the [Go 1.24 release notes](/doc/go1.24#bootstrap), Go 1.26 now requires
Go 1.24.6 or later for bootstrap.
We expect that Go 1.28 will require a minor release of Go 1.26 or later for bootstrap.

## Standard library {#library}

### New crypto/hpke package

The new [`crypto/hpke`](/pkg/crypto/hpke) package implements Hybrid Public Key Encryption
(HPKE) as specified in [RFC 9180](https://rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9180.html), including support for post-quantum
hybrid KEMs.

### New experimental simd/archsimd package {#simd}

Go 1.26 introduces a new experimental [`simd/archsimd`](/pkg/simd/archsimd/)
package, which can be enabled by setting the environment variable
`GOEXPERIMENT=simd` at build time.
This package provides access to architecture-specific SIMD operations.
It is currently available on the AMD64 architecture, supporting
128-bit, 256-bit, and 512-bit vector types, such as
[`Int8x16`](/pkg/simd/archsimd#Int8x16) and
[`Float64x8`](/pkg/simd/archsimd#Float64x8), with operations such as
[`Int8x16.Add`](/pkg/simd/archsimd#Int8x16.Add).

This package is architecture-specific, and the API may not be portable
across all architectures.
Building on top of this, we plan to develop a high-level portable SIMD
package in the future.

See the package documentation and the [proposal issue](/issue/73787)
for more details.

### New experimental runtime/secret package

<!-- https://go.dev/issue/21865 --->

The new [`runtime/secret`](/pkg/runtime/secret) package is available as an experiment,
which can be enabled by setting the environment variable
`GOEXPERIMENT=runtimesecret` at build time.
It provides a facility for securely erasing temporaries used in
code that manipulates secret information, typically cryptographic in nature.
It currently supports the AMD64 and ARM64 architectures on Linux.

The [`secret.Do`](/pkg/runtime/secret#Do) function runs its function argument and then erases all
temporary storage (registers, stack, new heap allocations) used by
that function argument. Heap storage is not erased until that storage
is deemed unreachable by the garbage collector, which might take some
time after `secret.Do` completes.

This package is intended to make it easier to ensure [forward
secrecy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_secrecy).

### Minor changes to the library {#minor_library_changes}

#### [`bytes`](/pkg/bytes/)

The new [`Buffer.Peek`](/pkg/bytes#Buffer.Peek) method returns the next n bytes from the buffer without
advancing it.

#### [`crypto`](/pkg/crypto/)

The new [`Encapsulator`](/pkg/crypto#Encapsulator) and [`Decapsulator`](/pkg/crypto#Decapsulator) interfaces allow accepting abstract
KEM encapsulation or decapsulation keys.

#### [`crypto/dsa`](/pkg/crypto/dsa/)

The random parameter to [`GenerateKey`](/pkg/crypto/dsa#GenerateKey) is now ignored.
Instead, it now always uses a secure source of cryptographically random bytes.
For deterministic testing, use the new [`testing/cryptotest.SetGlobalRandom`](/pkg/testing/cryptotest#SetGlobalRandom) function.
The new GODEBUG setting `cryptocustomrand=1` temporarily restores the old behavior.

#### [`crypto/ecdh`](/pkg/crypto/ecdh/)

The random parameter to [`Curve.GenerateKey`](/pkg/crypto/ecdh#Curve.GenerateKey) is now ignored.
Instead, it now always uses a secure source of cryptographically random bytes.
For deterministic testing, use the new [`testing/cryptotest.SetGlobalRandom`](/pkg/testing/cryptotest#SetGlobalRandom) function.
The new GODEBUG setting `cryptocustomrand=1` temporarily restores the old behavior.

The new [`KeyExchanger`](/pkg/crypto/ecdh#KeyExchanger) interface, implemented by [`PrivateKey`](/pkg/crypto/ecdh#PrivateKey), makes it possible
to accept abstract ECDH private keys, e.g. those implemented in hardware.

#### [`crypto/ecdsa`](/pkg/crypto/ecdsa/)

The `big.Int` fields of [`PublicKey`](/pkg/crypto/ecdsa#PublicKey) and [`PrivateKey`](/pkg/crypto/ecdsa#PrivateKey) are now deprecated.

The random parameter to [`GenerateKey`](/pkg/crypto/ecdsa#GenerateKey), [`SignASN1`](/pkg/crypto/ecdsa#SignASN1), [`Sign`](/pkg/crypto/ecdsa#Sign), and [`PrivateKey.Sign`](/pkg/crypto/ecdsa#PrivateKey.Sign) is now ignored.
Instead, they now always use a secure source of cryptographically random bytes.
For deterministic testing, use the new [`testing/cryptotest.SetGlobalRandom`](/pkg/testing/cryptotest#SetGlobalRandom) function.
The new GODEBUG setting `cryptocustomrand=1` temporarily restores the old behavior.

#### [`crypto/ed25519`](/pkg/crypto/ed25519/)

If the random parameter to [`GenerateKey`](/pkg/crypto/ed25519#GenerateKey) is nil, GenerateKey now always uses a
secure source of cryptographically random bytes, instead of [`crypto/rand.Reader`](/pkg/crypto/rand#Reader)
(which could have been overridden). The new GODEBUG setting `cryptocustomrand=1`
temporarily restores the old behavior.

#### [`crypto/fips140`](/pkg/crypto/fips140/)

The new [`WithoutEnforcement`](/pkg/crypto/fips140#WithoutEnforcement) and [`Enforced`](/pkg/crypto/fips140#Enforced) functions now allow running
in `GODEBUG=fips140=only` mode while selectively disabling the strict FIPS 140-3 checks.

[`Version`](/pkg/crypto/fips140#Version) returns the resolved FIPS 140-3 Go Cryptographic Module version when building against a frozen module with GOFIPS140.

#### [`crypto/mlkem`](/pkg/crypto/mlkem/)

The new [`DecapsulationKey768.Encapsulator`](/pkg/crypto/mlkem#DecapsulationKey768.Encapsulator) and
[`DecapsulationKey1024.Encapsulator`](/pkg/crypto/mlkem#DecapsulationKey1024.Encapsulator) methods implement the new
[`crypto.Decapsulator`](/pkg/crypto#Decapsulator) interface.

#### [`crypto/mlkem/mlkemtest`](/pkg/crypto/mlkem/mlkemtest/)

The new [`crypto/mlkem/mlkemtest`](/pkg/crypto/mlkem/mlkemtest) package exposes the [`Encapsulate768`](/pkg/crypto/mlkem/mlkemtest#Encapsulate768) and
[`Encapsulate1024`](/pkg/crypto/mlkem/mlkemtest#Encapsulate1024) functions which implement derandomized ML-KEM encapsulation,
for use with known-answer tests.

#### [`crypto/rand`](/pkg/crypto/rand/)

The random parameter to [`Prime`](/pkg/crypto/rand#Prime) is now ignored.
Instead, it now always uses a secure source of cryptographically random bytes.
For deterministic testing, use the new [`testing/cryptotest.SetGlobalRandom`](/pkg/testing/cryptotest#SetGlobalRandom) function.
The new GODEBUG setting `cryptocustomrand=1` temporarily restores the old behavior.

#### [`crypto/rsa`](/pkg/crypto/rsa/)

The new [`EncryptOAEPWithOptions`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#EncryptOAEPWithOptions) function allows specifying different hash
functions for OAEP padding and MGF1 mask generation.

The random parameter to [`GenerateKey`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#GenerateKey), [`GenerateMultiPrimeKey`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#GenerateMultiPrimeKey), and [`EncryptPKCS1v15`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#EncryptPKCS1v15) is now ignored.
Instead, they now always use a secure source of cryptographically random bytes.
For deterministic testing, use the new [`testing/cryptotest.SetGlobalRandom`](/pkg/testing/cryptotest#SetGlobalRandom) function.
The new GODEBUG setting `cryptocustomrand=1` temporarily restores the old behavior.

If [`PrivateKey`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#PrivateKey) fields are modified after calling [`PrivateKey.Precompute`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#PrivateKey.Precompute),
[`PrivateKey.Validate`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#PrivateKey.Validate) now fails.

[`PrivateKey.D`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#PrivateKey.D) is now checked for consistency with precomputed values, even if
it is not used.

Unsafe PKCS #1 v1.5 encryption padding (implemented by [`EncryptPKCS1v15`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#EncryptPKCS1v15),
[`DecryptPKCS1v15`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#DecryptPKCS1v15), and [`DecryptPKCS1v15SessionKey`](/pkg/crypto/rsa#DecryptPKCS1v15SessionKey)) is now deprecated.

#### [`crypto/subtle`](/pkg/crypto/subtle)

The [`WithDataIndependentTiming`](/pkg/crypto/subtle#WithDataIndependentTiming)
function no longer locks the calling goroutine to the OS thread while executing
the passed function. Additionally, any goroutines which are spawned during the
executed of the passed function and their descendents now inherit the properties of
WithDataIndependentTiming for their lifetime. This change also affects cgo in
the following ways:

- Any C code called via cgo from within the function passed to
  WithDataIndependentTiming, or from a goroutine spawned by the function passed
  to WithDataIndependentTiming and its descendents, will also have data
  independent timing enabled for the duration of the call. If the C code
  disables data independent timing, it will be re-enabled on return to Go.
- If C code called via cgo, from the function passed to
  WithDataIndependentTiming or elsewhere, enables or disables data independent
  timing then calling into Go will preserve that state for the duration of the
  call.

#### [`crypto/tls`](/pkg/crypto/tls/)

The hybrid [`SecP256r1MLKEM768`](/pkg/crypto/tls#SecP256r1MLKEM768) and [`SecP384r1MLKEM1024`](/pkg/crypto/tls#SecP384r1MLKEM1024) post-quantum key
exchanges are now enabled by default. They can be disabled by setting
[`Config.CurvePreferences`](/pkg/crypto/tls#Config.CurvePreferences) or with the `tlssecpmlkem=0` GODEBUG setting.

The new [`ClientHelloInfo.HelloRetryRequest`](/pkg/crypto/tls#ClientHelloInfo.HelloRetryRequest) field indicates if the ClientHello
was sent in response to a HelloRetryRequest message. The new
[`ConnectionState.HelloRetryRequest`](/pkg/crypto/tls#ConnectionState.HelloRetryRequest) field indicates if the server
sent a HelloRetryRequest, or if the client received a HelloRetryRequest,
depending on connection role.

The [`QUICConn`](/pkg/crypto/tls#QUICConn) type used by QUIC implementations includes a new event
for reporting TLS handshake errors.

If [`Certificate.PrivateKey`](/pkg/crypto/tls#Certificate.PrivateKey) implements [`crypto.MessageSigner`](/pkg/crypto#MessageSigner), its SignMessage
method is used instead of Sign in TLS 1.2 and later.

The following GODEBUG settings introduced in [Go 1.22](/doc/godebug#go-122)
and [Go 1.23](/doc/godebug#go-123) will be removed in the next major Go release.
Starting in Go 1.27, the new behavior will apply regardless of GODEBUG setting or go.mod language version.

- `tlsunsafeekm`: [`ConnectionState.ExportKeyingMaterial`](/pkg/crypto/tls#ConnectionState.ExportKeyingMaterial) will require TLS 1.3 or Extended Master Secret.
- `tlsrsakex`: legacy RSA-only key exchanges without ECDH won't be enabled by default.
- `tls10server`: the default minimum TLS version for both clients and servers will be TLS 1.2.
- `tls3des`: the default cipher suites will not include 3DES.
- `x509keypairleaf`: [`X509KeyPair`](/pkg/crypto/tls#X509KeyPair) and [`LoadX509KeyPair`](/pkg/crypto/tls#LoadX509KeyPair) will always populate the [`Certificate.Leaf`](/pkg/crypto/tls#Certificate.Leaf) field.

#### [`crypto/x509`](/pkg/crypto/x509/)

The [`ExtKeyUsage`](/pkg/crypto/x509#ExtKeyUsage) and [`KeyUsage`](/pkg/crypto/x509#KeyUsage) types now have `String` methods that return the
corresponding OID names as defined in RFC 5280 and other registries.

The [`ExtKeyUsage`](/pkg/crypto/x509#ExtKeyUsage) type now has an `OID` method that returns the corresponding OID for the EKU.

The new [`OIDFromASN1OID`](/pkg/crypto/x509#OIDFromASN1OID) function allows converting an [`encoding/asn1.ObjectIdentifier`](/pkg/encoding/asn1#ObjectIdentifier) into
an [`OID`](/pkg/crypto/x509#OID).

#### [`debug/elf`](/pkg/debug/elf/)

Additional `R_LARCH_*` constants from [LoongArch ELF psABI v20250521](https://github.com/loongson/la-abi-specs/blob/v2.40/laelf.adoc)
(global version v2.40) are defined for use with LoongArch systems.

#### [`errors`](/pkg/errors/)

The new [`AsType`](/pkg/errors#AsType) function is a generic version of [`As`](/pkg/errors#As). It is type-safe, faster,
and, in most cases, easier to use.

#### [`fmt`](/pkg/fmt/)

<!-- go.dev/cl/708836 -->
For unformatted strings, `fmt.Errorf("x")` now allocates less and generally matches
the allocations for `errors.New("x")`.

#### [`go/ast`](/pkg/go/ast/)

The new [`ParseDirective`](/pkg/go/ast#ParseDirective) function parses [directive
comments](/doc/comment#Syntax), which are comments such as `//go:generate`.
Source code tools can support their own directive comments and this new API
should help them implement the conventional syntax.

<!-- go.dev/issue/76395 -->
The new [`BasicLit.ValueEnd`](/pkg/go/ast#BasicLit.ValueEnd) field records the precise end position of
a literal so that the [`BasicLit.End`](/pkg/go/ast#BasicLit.End) method can now always return the
correct answer. (Previously it was computed using a heuristic that was
incorrect for multi-line raw string literals in Windows source files,
due to removal of carriage returns.)

Programs that update the `ValuePos` field of `BasicLit`s produced by
the parser may need to also update or clear the `ValueEnd` field to
avoid minor differences in formatted output.

#### [`go/token`](/pkg/go/token/)

The new [`File.End`](/pkg/go/token#File.End) convenience method returns the file's end position.

#### [`go/types`](/pkg/go/types/)

The `gotypesalias` GODEBUG setting introduced in [Go 1.22](/doc/godebug#go-122)
will be removed in the next major Go release.
Starting in Go 1.27, the [go/types](/pkg/go/types) package will always produce an
[Alias type](/pkg/go/types#Alias) for the representation of [type aliases](/ref/spec#Type_declarations)
regardless of GODEBUG setting or go.mod language version.

#### [`image/jpeg`](/pkg/image/jpeg/)

The JPEG encoder and decoder have been replaced with new, faster, more accurate implementations.
Code that expects specific bit-for-bit outputs from the encoder or decoder may need to be updated.

#### [`io`](/pkg/io/)

<!-- go.dev/cl/722500 -->
[ReadAll](/pkg/io#ReadAll) now allocates less intermediate memory and returns a minimally sized
final slice. It is often about two times faster while typically allocating around half
as much total memory, with more benefit for larger inputs.

#### [`log/slog`](/pkg/log/slog/)

The [`NewMultiHandler`](/pkg/log/slog#NewMultiHandler) function creates a
[`MultiHandler`](/pkg/log/slog#MultiHandler) that invokes all the given Handlers.
Its `Enable` method reports whether any of the handlers' `Enabled` methods
return true.
Its `Handle`, `WithAttr` and `WithGroup` methods call the corresponding method
on each of the enabled handlers.

#### [`net`](/pkg/net/)

The new [`Dialer`](/pkg/net/#Dialer) methods
[`DialIP`](/pkg/net/#Dialer.DialIP),
[`DialTCP`](/pkg/net/#Dialer.DialTCP),
[`DialUDP`](/pkg/net/#Dialer.DialUDP), and
[`DialUnix`](/pkg/net/#Dialer.DialUnix)
permit dialing specific network types with context values.

#### [`net/http`](/pkg/net/http/)

The new
[`HTTP2Config.StrictMaxConcurrentRequests`](/pkg/net/http#HTTP2Config.StrictMaxConcurrentRequests)
field controls whether a new connection should be opened
if an existing HTTP/2 connection has exceeded its stream limit.

The new [`Transport.NewClientConn`](/pkg/net/http#Transport.NewClientConn) method returns a client connection
to an HTTP server.
Most users should continue to use [`Transport.RoundTrip`](/pkg/net/http#Transport.RoundTrip) to make requests,
which manages a pool of connections.
`NewClientConn` is useful for users who need to implement their own connection management.

[`Client`](/pkg/net/http#Client) now uses and sets cookies scoped to URLs with the host portion matching
[`Request.Host`](/pkg/net/http#Request.Host) when available.
Previously, the connection address host was always used.

#### [`net/http/httptest`](/pkg/net/http/httptest/)

The HTTP client returned by [`Server.Client`](/pkg/net/http/httptest#Server.Client) will now redirect requests for
`example.com` and any subdomains to the server being tested.

#### [`net/http/httputil`](/pkg/net/http/httputil/)

The [`ReverseProxy.Director`](/pkg/net/http/httputil#ReverseProxy.Director) configuration field is deprecated
in favor of [`ReverseProxy.Rewrite`](/pkg/net/http/httputil#ReverseProxy.Rewrite).

A malicious client can remove headers added by a `Director` function
by designating those headers as hop-by-hop. Since there is no way to address
this problem within the scope of the `Director` API, we added a new
`Rewrite` hook in Go 1.20. `Rewrite` hooks are provided with both the
unmodified inbound request received by the proxy and the outbound request
which will be sent by the proxy.

Since the `Director` hook is fundamentally unsafe, we are now deprecating it.

#### [`net/netip`](/pkg/net/netip/)

The new [`Prefix.Compare`](/pkg/net/netip#Prefix.Compare) method compares two prefixes.

#### [`net/url`](/pkg/net/url/)

[`Parse`](/pkg/net/url#Parse) now rejects malformed URLs containing colons in the host subcomponent,
such as `http://::1/` or `http://localhost:80:80/`.
URLs containing bracketed IPv6 addresses, such as `http://[::1]/` are still accepted.
The new GODEBUG setting `urlstrictcolons=0` restores the old behavior.

#### [`os`](/pkg/os/)

The new [`Process.WithHandle`](/pkg/os#Process.WithHandle) method provides access to an internal process
handle on supported platforms (Linux 5.4 or later, and Windows). On Linux,
the process handle is a `pidfd`. The method returns [`ErrNoHandle`](/pkg/os#ErrNoHandle) on unsupported
platforms or when no process handle is available.

On Windows, the [`OpenFile`](/pkg/os#OpenFile) `flag` parameter can now contain any combination of
Windows-specific file flags, such as `FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED` and
`FILE_FLAG_SEQUENTIAL_SCAN`, for control of file or device caching behavior,
access modes, and other special-purpose flags.

#### [`os/signal`](/pkg/os/signal/)

[`NotifyContext`](/pkg/os/signal#NotifyContext) now cancels the returned context with [`context.CancelCauseFunc`](/pkg/context#CancelCauseFunc)
and an error indicating which signal was received.

#### [`reflect`](/pkg/reflect/)

The new methods [`Type.Fields`](/pkg/reflect#Type.Fields),
[`Type.Methods`](/pkg/reflect#Type.Methods),
[`Type.Ins`](/pkg/reflect#Type.Ins)
and [`Type.Outs`](/pkg/reflect#Type.Outs)
return iterators for a type's fields (for a struct type), methods,
inputs and outputs parameters (for a function type), respectively.

Similarly, the new methods [`Value.Fields`](/pkg/reflect#Value.Fields)
and [`Value.Methods`](/pkg/reflect#Value.Methods) return iterators over
a value's fields or methods, respectively.
Each iteration yields the type information ([`StructField`](/pkg/reflect#StructField) or
[`Method`](/pkg/reflect#Method)) of a field or method,
along with the field or method [`Value`](/pkg/reflect#Value).

#### [`runtime/metrics`](/pkg/runtime/metrics/)

Several new scheduler metrics have been added, including counts of
goroutines in various states (waiting, runnable, etc.) under the
`/sched/goroutines` prefix, the number of OS threads the runtime is
aware of with `/sched/threads:threads`, and the total number of
goroutines created by the program with
`/sched/goroutines-created:goroutines`.

#### [`testing`](/pkg/testing/)

The new methods [`T.ArtifactDir`](/pkg/testing#T.ArtifactDir), [`B.ArtifactDir`](/pkg/testing#B.ArtifactDir), and [`F.ArtifactDir`](/pkg/testing#F.ArtifactDir)
return a directory in which to write test output files (artifacts).

When the `-artifacts` flag is provided to `go test`,
this directory will be located under the output directory
(specified with `-outputdir`, or the current directory by default).
Otherwise, artifacts are stored in a temporary directory
which is removed after the test completes.

The first call to `ArtifactDir` when `-artifacts` is provided
writes the location of the directory to the test log.

For example, in a test named `TestArtifacts`,
`t.ArtifactDir()` emits:

```
=== ARTIFACTS Test /path/to/artifact/dir
```

#### [`testing/cryptotest`](/pkg/testing/cryptotest/)

The new [`SetGlobalRandom`](/pkg/testing/cryptotest#SetGlobalRandom) function configures a global, deterministic
cryptographic randomness source for the duration of the test. It affects
`crypto/rand`, and all implicit sources of cryptographic randomness in the
`crypto/...` packages.

#### [`time`](/pkg/time/)

The `asynctimerchan` GODEBUG setting introduced in [Go 1.23](/doc/godebug#go-123)
will be removed in the next major Go release.
Starting in Go 1.27, the [time](/pkg/time) package will always use unbuffered
(synchronous) channels for timers regardless of GODEBUG setting or go.mod language version.

## Ports {#ports}

### Darwin

<!-- go.dev/issue/75836 -->

Go 1.26 is the last release that will run on macOS 12 Monterey. Go 1.27 will require macOS 13 Ventura or later.

### FreeBSD

<!-- go.dev/issue/76475 -->

The freebsd/riscv64 port (`GOOS=freebsd GOARCH=riscv64`) has been marked broken.
See [issue 76475](/issue/76475) for details.

### Windows

<!-- go.dev/issue/71671 -->

As [announced](/doc/go1.25#windows) in the Go 1.25 release notes, the [broken](/doc/go1.24#windows) 32-bit windows/arm port (`GOOS=windows` `GOARCH=arm`) is removed.

### PowerPC

<!-- go.dev/issue/76244 -->

Go 1.26 is the last release that supports the ELFv1 ABI on the big-endian
64-bit PowerPC port on Linux (`GOOS=linux` `GOARCH=ppc64`).
It will switch to the ELFv2 ABI in Go 1.27.
As the port does not currently support linking against other ELF objects,
we expect this change to be transparent to users.

### RISC-V

<!-- CL 690497 -->

The `linux/riscv64` port now supports the race detector.

### S390X

<!-- CL 719482 -->

The `s390x` port now supports passing function arguments and results using registers.

### WebAssembly {#wasm}

<!-- CL 707855 -->

The compiler now unconditionally makes use of the sign extension
and non-trapping floating-point to integer conversion instructions.
These features have been standardized since at least Wasm 2.0.
The corresponding `GOWASM` settings, `signext` and `satconv`, are now ignored.

<!-- CL 683296 -->

For WebAssembly applications, the runtime now manages chunks of
heap memory in much smaller increments, leading to significantly
reduced memory usage for applications with heaps less than around
16 MiB in size.