GO-BUILD(1)

NAME
go-build - compile packages and dependencies

SYNOPSIS
go build [-o output] [build flags] [packages]

DESCRIPTION
Build compiles the packages named by the import paths, along with their dependencies, but it does not install the results.

If the arguments to build are a list of .go files from a single directory, build treats them as a list of source files specifying a single package.

When compiling packages, build ignores files that end in `_test.go'.

When compiling a single main package, build writes the resulting executable to an output file named after the last non-major-version component of the package import path. The `.exe' suffix is added when writing a Windows executable. So `go build example/sam' writes `sam' or `sam.exe'. `go build example.com/foo/v2' writes `foo' or `foo.exe', not `v2.exe'.

When compiling a package from a list of .go files, the executable is named after the first source file. `go build ed.go rx.go' writes `ed' or `ed.exe'.

When compiling multiple packages or a single non-main package, build compiles the packages but discards the resulting object, serving only as a check that the packages can be built.

The -o flag forces build to write the resulting executable or object to the named output file or directory, instead of the default behavior described in the last two paragraphs. If the named output is an existing directory or ends with a slash or backslash, then any resulting executables will be written to that directory.

OPTIONS
The build flags are shared by the build, clean, get, install, list, run, and test commands:

-C dir

    Change to dir before running the command. Any files named on the command line are interpreted after changing directories. If used, this flag must be the first one in the command line.

-a

    force rebuilding of packages that are already up-to-date.

-n

    print the commands but do not run them.

-p n

    the number of programs, such as build commands or test binaries, that can be run in parallel.
    The default is GOMAXPROCS, normally the number of CPUs available.

-race

    enable data race detection.
    Supported only on darwin/amd64, darwin/arm64, freebsd/amd64, linux/amd64, linux/arm64 (only for 48-bit VMA), linux/ppc64le, linux/riscv64 and windows/amd64.

-msan

    enable interoperation with memory sanitizer.
    Supported only on linux/amd64, linux/arm64, linux/loong64, freebsd/amd64 and only with Clang/LLVM as the host C compiler. PIE build mode will be used on all platforms except linux/amd64.

-asan

    enable interoperation with address sanitizer.
    Supported only on linux/arm64, linux/amd64, linux/loong64.
    Supported on linux/amd64 or linux/arm64 and only with GCC 7 and higher or Clang/LLVM 9 and higher.
    And supported on linux/loong64 only with Clang/LLVM 16 and higher.

-cover

    enable code coverage instrumentation.

-covermode set,count,atomic

    set the mode for coverage analysis. The default is “set” unless -race is enabled, in which case it is “atomic”.
    The values:
    set: bool: does this statement run?
    count: int: how many times does this statement run?
    atomic: int: count, but correct in multithreaded tests; significantly more expensive.
    Sets -cover.

-coverpkg pattern1,pattern2,pattern3

    For a build that targets package `main' (e.g. building a Go executable), apply coverage analysis to each package whose import path matches the patterns. The default is to apply coverage analysis to packages in the main Go module. See `go help packages' for a description of package patterns. Sets -cover.

-v

    print the names of packages as they are compiled.

-work

    print the name of the temporary work directory and do not delete it when exiting.

-x

    print the commands.

-asmflags `[pattern=]arg list'

    arguments to pass on each go tool asm invocation.

-buildmode mode

    build mode to use. See `go help buildmode' for more.

-buildvcs

    Whether to stamp binaries with version control information (“true”, “false”, or “auto”). By default (“auto”), version control information is stamped into a binary if the main package, the main module containing it, and the current directory are all in the same repository. Use -buildvcs=false to always omit version control information, or -buildvcs=true to error out if version control information is available but cannot be included due to a missing tool or ambiguous directory structure.

-compiler name

    name of compiler to use, as in runtime.Compiler (gccgo or gc).

-gccgoflags `[pattern=]arg list'

    arguments to pass on each gccgo compiler/linker invocation.

-gcflags `[pattern=]arg list'

    arguments to pass on each go tool compile invocation.

-installsuffix suffix

    a suffix to use in the name of the package installation directory, in order to keep output separate from default builds. If using the -race flag, the install suffix is automatically set to race or, if set explicitly, has _race appended to it. Likewise for the -msan and -asan flags. Using a -buildmode option that requires non-default compile flags has a similar effect.

-json

    Emit build output in JSON suitable for automated processing. See `go help buildjson' for the encoding details.

-ldflags `[pattern=]arg list'

    arguments to pass on each go tool link invocation.

-linkshared

    build code that will be linked against shared libraries previously created with -buildmode=shared.

-mod mode

    module download mode to use: readonly, vendor, or mod. By default, if a vendor directory is present and the go version in go.mod is 1.14 or higher, the go command acts as if -mod=vendor were set. Otherwise, the go command acts as if -mod=readonly were set.
    See https://go.dev/ref/mod#build-commands for details.

-modcacherw

    leave newly-created directories in the module cache read-write instead of making them read-only.

-modfile file

    in module aware mode, read (and possibly write) an alternate go.mod file instead of the one in the module root directory. A file named “go.mod” must still be present in order to determine the module root directory, but it is not accessed. When -modfile is specified, an alternate go.sum file is also used: its path is derived from the -modfile flag by trimming the “.mod” extension and appending “.sum”.

-overlay file

    read a JSON config file that provides an overlay for build operations. The file is a JSON object with a single field, named `Replace', that maps each disk file path (a string) to its backing file path, so that a build will run as if the disk file path exists with the contents given by the backing file paths, or as if the disk file path does not exist if its backing file path is empty. Support for the -overlay flag has some limitations: importantly, cgo files included from outside the include path must be in the same directory as the Go package they are included from, overlays will not appear when binaries and tests are run through go run and go test respectively, and files beneath GOMODCACHE may not be replaced.

-pgo file

    specify the file path of a profile for profile-guided optimization (PGO). When the special name “auto” is specified, for each main package in the build, the go command selects a file named “default.pgo” in the package’s directory if that file exists, and applies it to the (transitive) dependencies of the main package (other packages are not affected). Special name “off” turns off PGO. The default is “auto”.

-pkgdir dir

    install and load all packages from dir instead of the usual locations. For example, when building with a non-standard configuration, use -pkgdir to keep generated packages in a separate location.

-tags tag,list

    a comma-separated list of additional build tags to consider satisfied during the build. For more information about build tags, see `go help buildconstraint'. (Earlier versions of Go used a space-separated list, and that form is deprecated but still recognized.)

-trimpath

    remove all file system paths from the resulting executable. Instead of absolute file system paths, the recorded file names will begin either a module path@version (when using modules), or a plain import path (when using the standard library, or GOPATH).

-toolexec `cmd args'

    a program to use to invoke toolchain programs like vet and asm. For example, instead of running asm, the go command will run `cmd args /path/to/asm <arguments for asm>'. The TOOLEXEC_IMPORTPATH environment variable will be set, matching `go list -f {{.ImportPath}}' for the package being built.

The -asmflags, -gccgoflags, -gcflags, and -ldflags flags accept a space-separated list of arguments to pass to an underlying tool during the build. To embed spaces in an element in the list, surround it with either single or double quotes. The argument list may be preceded by a package pattern and an equal sign, which restricts the use of that argument list to the building of packages matching that pattern (see `go help packages' for a description of package patterns). Without a pattern, the argument list applies only to the packages named on the command line. The flags may be repeated with different patterns in order to specify different arguments for different sets of packages. If a package matches patterns given in multiple flags, the latest match on the command line wins. For example, `go build -gcflags=-S fmt' prints the disassembly only for package fmt, while `go build -gcflags=all=-S fmt' prints the disassembly for fmt and all its dependencies.

For more about specifying packages, see `go help packages'.
For more about where binaries are installed, run `go help gopath'.
For more about calling between Go and C/C++, run `go help c'.
For more about project organization, run `go help modules'.

Note: go build adheres to certain conventions for organizing projects: it primarily supports go modules (see `go help modules') while also supporting an alternative GOPATH mode (see `go help gopath'). Not all projects can follow these conventions, however. Installations that have their own conventions or that use a separate software build system may choose to use lower-level invocations such as `go tool compile' and `go tool link' to avoid some of the overheads and design decisions of the build tool.

SEE ALSO
go install(1), go get(1), go clean(1).

AUTHOR
This manual page was created using help2man and afterwards updating the output. It is maintained by the Debian Go Compiler Team <team+go-compiler@tracker.debian.org> for the Debian project (and may be used by others).