Install Go on Linux

In order to install go on Linux, copy, paste, and execute the following command:

curl -s https://scripts.programster.org/scripts/15?output=raw | bash

... or copy, paste, and execute the following script:

#!/bin/bash
if ! [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ];then
    echo "this is not bash, calling self with bash....";
    SCRIPT=$(readlink -f "$0")
    /bin/bash $SCRIPT
    exit;
fi

cd $HOME

# Download and extract Go for linux
VERSION="1.7"
curl -O https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go$VERSION.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar --extract --gzip --file go$VERSION.linux-amd64.tar.gz

# /usr/local/go is the officially-recommended location
sudo chown -R root:root ./go
sudo mv go /usr/local

# Create the local directory for go projects
mkdir -p $HOME/work/src

# Set up go paths
echo 'export GOPATH=$HOME/work' >> ~/.profile 
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$GOPATH/bin' >> ~/.profile

You will need to log out and in again, or run source $HOME/.profile in order to start using the go commands.

All your go projects need to be in folders under $HOME/work/src in order to be compiled easily.

HelloWorld

Lets create, build, and execute a hello world application. First lets create our project folder:

mkdir -p $HOME/work/src/hello

Now create our source code:

editor $HOME/work/src/hello/hello.go

Fill it with the following contents:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Printf("hello, world\n")
}

Compile and install the application:

go install hello

Execute the application:

hello

You should get the output:

hello, world

The hello application (along with any others you build) will be located under: $HOME/work/bin/ which you will see by executing:

which hello

References

• DigitalOcean - How to Install Go 1.6 on Ubuntu 16.04