go versions

govs. A tool for installing and managing multiple go versions. A cross platform solution written in go.

Example

$ govs get 1.20 # install go v1.20 and set it as the default `go` version
$ govs install 1.19 # install go v1.19 and make it executable with `go1.19`
$ govs set 1.19 # set go v1.19 as the default `go` version
$ govs list # list installed go versions (1.19 and 1.20 in this example)
$ govs remove 1.20 # remove go v1.20

Installation

0. Add $GOPATH/bin to your path
1. Install with go install github.com/lpww/govs@latest

Alternatively, download one of the latest binary releases.

If you already have multiple go versions installed using the recommended approach, they will be automatically detected by govs.

Overview

govs can be used to manage multiple go versions on your system. It is designed to be simple with a very small api. It implements the recommended approach for managing multiple installations according the go team with some convient extras.

Extras

Go's recommended approach does come with some minor pain points that we aim to improve:

1. The first is the requirement for a version of go to already be installed on the machine. This can cause issues when attempting to symlink a different version to the go command.

2. The second is that symlinks need to be handled manually. It is easy to forget the exact syntax and paths if you don't switch versions very often. Our govs set command simplifies this process.

3. The third is that the recommended approach requires manually deleting old versions. We have a govs remove command to handle that.

API

get

Install and set a specific go version as the default with govs get {version}. Eg: govs get 1.18.5. This will install and set in a single command.

install

Install a specific go version with govs install {version}. Eg: govs install 1.18.5. This will add a version specific binary to your path. Eg: go1.18.5`.

set

Set a default go version with govs set {version}. Eg: govs set 1.18.5. This will set 1.18.5 as the default version when using the go command directly.

remove

Remove a specific go version with govs remove {version}. Eg: govs remove 1.18.5`. This will remove the version from your path.

list

List the currently installed go versions with govs list.

releases

List all official go releases with govs releases.

help

List all the available commands and their descriptions with govs help

version

Display the govs version with govs version

Details

GOPATH

If you have a $GOPATH set, it will be used. If you do not have it set, $HOME/go will be the default. This follows the convention set by the go team.

Source

Source code is installed to $HOME/sdk/go{version}.

Binaries

Binaries are installed to $GOPATH/bin/go{version}.

Each version can be called directly using it's version specific executable name. Eg go1.18.5.

Use the govs set command to symlink a specific version to the $GOPATH/bin/go executable.

Uninstall govs

Keeping go versions

If you want to remove govs while keeping your go versions and symlinks intact, simply remove the binary. You will need to manually manage your own versions going forward.

1. Remove the binary

Removing go versions

If you want to remove go completely, you can use govs to delete all go versions before removing govs itself.

1. Remove all go versions: govs list | xargs -n 1 govs remove
2. Remove the binary