Learn How To Install Golang 1.8 on Ubuntu 16.04

October 27, 2019

Table of Contents

    Go (Golang) is a modern programming language developed at Google, and focused on simplicity and safety. It has become a popular language used for server-side development.

    First, you need to download Golang.

    cd ~
    wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.8.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz
    

    Now, you need to decompress the files.

    tar -xf go1.8.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz
    

    Move the folder to /opt/ or some other directory of your choice. Remember that if you choose another directory, you need to correct the path accordingly in the next steps.

    mv go /opt/
    

    Add the environment path.

    mkdir /opt/gopkg
    export GOPATH="/opt/gopkg" 
    export GOROOT="/opt/go"
    

    Now you will need to add these to your PATH variable.

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

    If you wish for the changes to be permanent, you will need to put the following commands into the .profile file.

    Open the file.

    sudo nano ~/.profile
    

    Insert the following at the end.

    export GOPATH="/opt/gopkg" 
    export GOROOT="/opt/go"
    export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin:$GOROOT/bin 
    

    Verify installation.

    go version
    

    Check the installation by running the go command. When you run the command, you will see a list of options.

    Create a file called hello.go.

    cd /opt/gopkg
    nano hello.go
    

    Insert the following code.

    package main
    import "fmt"
    func main(){
            fmt.Printf("Hello IT Web Servicesn");
    }
    

    You can run this test script with the following.

    go run hello.go
    

    The message “Hello IT Web Services” will show in your terminal.

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