How to install Go when you're using zsh

LuisPa García

The official Go installation instructions is confusing, here's a quick tutorial on how I setup Go on a Mac environment using Oh My Zsh.

Steps

  1. Download Go
  2. Configure the Environment
  3. Validate the installation
  4. Run a program to test

1. Download Go

The easiest way to do this is to install it using brew, you can read more about brew here:

$ brew install go

After the installation, you should be able to run this command and see an output that is not an error.

$ go version
go version go1.18.4 darwin/arm64

2. Configure the Environment

I like to keep all my Go projects in $HOME/go directory. Depending on your setup, add the following 2 env variables to your shell configs and define the desired paths:

First check your shell:

$ echo $SHELL
/usr/bin/zsh

Because I'm using ZSH, I'll add the 2 vars to the $HOME/.zshrc config file:

$ export GOPATH=$HOME/go
$ export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$GOPATH/bin

Reload the configuration:

source $HOME/.zshrc

3. Validate the installation

$ go version
go version go1.18.4 darwin/arm64

$ echo $GOPATH
/home/luispa/go

$ echo $PATH
usr/local/go/bin:/home/luispa/go/bin

4. Run a program to test

Let's create a directory with a testing program:

$ mkdir -p $HOME/go/src/hello
$ cd $HOME/go/src/hello
$ nano hello.go # or open the file using your favorite editor

Paste the following Hello's code into the ./hello.go file:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, World!")
}

4. Run a program to test

Run this script to create the go.mod file.

# Go to the go path
$ cd $GOPATH

# Go to the hello path
$ cd src/hello

# Create the `.mod` file
$ go mod init example.com/hello
go: creating new go.mod: module example.com/greetings
go: to add module requirements and sums:
    go mod tidy

# See the content of the directory
$ ls
go.mod  main.go

# See the content of the go.mod file
$ cat go.mod
module example.com/greetings

go 1.18

Then, run this to install your package.

# Install the package and generate the bin
$ go install

# Go to the directory `bin` to see the executable.
$ cd ../../bin

# See the content of the bin directory
$ ls
hello

# Run the binary
$ ./hello
Hello, World!

hello is your new generated program binary. You can now execute it from any directory because the $GOPATH/bin is included in your previously configured $PATH.

Wrap up

You installed Go and fully setup its environment.

Happy coding!