GoArm
Go is fully supported on Linux and Darwin. Any Go program that you can compile for x86/x86_64 should work on Arm. Besides Linux and Darwin, Go is also experimentally supported on FreeBSD, and NetBSD.
Go supports the following ARM architectural families.
| Architecture | Status | GOARM value |
|---|---|---|
| ARMv4 and below | sorry, not supported | n/a |
| ARMv5 | supported | GOARM=5 |
| ARMv6 | supported | GOARM=6 |
| ARMv7 | supported | GOARM=7 |
| ARMv8 | supported | GOARCH=arm64 |
Starting from Go 1.1, the appropriate GOARM value will be chosen if you compile the program from source on the target machine. In cross compilation situations, it is recommended that you always set an appropriate GOARM value.
- ARM on Linux. You must run an EABI kernel. These are generally known as
armelfor softfloat (compatible with ARMv5) orarmhffor hardware floating point (ARMv6 and above). - ARM on Darwin.
- ARM on FreeBSD and OpenBSD.
The recommended minimum version for running Go on arm systems is Go 1.1.
The go build tool uses /tmp when compiling and testing, this can cause heavy wear and tear if /tmp lives on your SD card. To minimise this effect, either export TMPDIR to somewhere that lives on another filesystem. Alternatively if you have lots of physical memory you can mount a swap backed tmpfs filesystem on /tmp by adding this line to /etc/fstab
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid,mode=1777 0 0
Building Go from source requires at least 256mb of RAM. Running the tests requires at least 256mb of memory and at least 512mb of swap space.
The Go tool will try to keep all your cpu cores busy when installing packages (during make.bash),
this is normally preferable on PCs where memory is abundant.
However, some powerful multicore ARM machines don't have enough memory to support parallel
builds utilizing all available cores, and you can work around that by using the taskset(1) utility
to limit Go to only use one core without resorting to swaps.
taskset 1 ./make.bash # use 3 if you want to use two cores
Note: the 1 here is a bitmask for cpu affinity and it's not the number of cpu cores you're
willing to use, please refer to taskset(1) manual for details.
The major issue with ARMv5 is the lack of floating point support in common ARMv5 harware†. When compiled with the GOARM=5 environment variable, the 5l linker will insert a call to _sfloat before any block of floating point instructions to branch into the floating point emulator. This means that binaries produced with a Go installation that was compiled with soft float support will work on all supported architectures, but builds compiled without soft floating point support will not work on ARMv5.
† This isn't strictly true, there exist ARMv5 implementations which have VFP1 floating point. However the compiler doesn't support VFP1 yet.
html/template test and test/nilptr.go is known to fail on HTC's Android kernels (ref), because the kernel will kill the application after 10 segfaults.
See Issue 5466 for details. Updating to 3.2.0-4-kirkwood solved the issue.
ARM hardware comes in a myriad of shapes and sizes. If you've had a success story building and running Go on your Arm system, please detail your results here.
Architecture: ARMv5
Operating System: Debian Sid
The Netgear Stora is an ARMv5 (Marvell Kirkwood) platform. I flashed mine with a Debian Sid distribution and it was, until Go1, a solid platform for Go development. The main drawback is the Stora only has 128mb of ram, which is not quite enough to run ./all.bash as 5l can use more than 100mb of ram when linking some commands.
Instructions for installing Debian on your Stora can be found on the OpenStora website, http://www.openstora.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_install_Debian_Linux_on_NETGEAR_Stora.
-- dave cheney
Architecture: ARMv5
Operating System: Debian Squeeze
The Qnap TS series of NASs are excellent hackable little linux hosts. The TS-11P9 II is a 2Ghz Marvell Kirkwood ARMv5 processor with 512mb of ram and a single SATA drive bay.
The kirkwood platform is supported by the native debian installer. http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/qnap/ts-119/install.html
-- dave cheney
Architecture: ARMv7
Operating System: Ubuntu 12.04LTS (armhf)
The Pandaboard is a dual core ARMv7 development board based on the Texas Instruments OMAP4 SoC platform. I run ubuntu 12.04 LTS server on mine, which is an excellent distribution for Arm development. The Pandaboard has a gig of ram which makes it excellent for development and benchmarking.
Instructions and SD card image can be found on on the Ubuntu wiki, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/Server/Install#Installing_pre-installed_OMAP4_Precise_.2812.04.29_Server_Images.
-- dave cheney
Architecture: ARMv7 single core, Cortex-A8, 256MB RAM, 720 MHz
Operating System: Angstrom Linux
BeagleBone is similar to Beagleboard, but without the video components. Angstrom is a very small Linux distribution for ARM based systems. It is built on top of Yocto and OpenEmbedded with additional tools and recipes to make it even easier to build a distribution. You can think of Angstrom as Ubuntu and OpenEmbedded/Yocto as Debian. Angstrom is very light weight and fast compared to Ubuntu. It uses systemd instead of the sys5 scripts which help give you a very fast boot time of a few seconds.
BeagleBone is probably faster than a RasberryPI because of it's newer Cortex-A8 dual-issue superscalar architecture, but the PI has the GPU which theoretically could be used with something like OpenCL to really run circles around the BeagleBone. However, for embedded applications the BeagleBone is easier to work with because it is ready out of the box with GPIO connections.
I've cross compiled for ARM with 5g from a Mac and so far I haven't run into any problems. You can build on the BeagleBone, but cross compiling with Go is so easy that it is better to save wear and tear on the flash drive and just compile somewhere else.
-- hans stimer
Architecture: ARM5 Platform: Debian Wheeze
Successfuly built default branch, going to write fan control daemon for this device in golang.
Architecture: ARM1176JZFS, with floating point, running at 700Mhz
Operating System: Debian Wheezy beta distribution (http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1435) reported as:
Linux raspberrypi 3.1.9+ #125 PREEMPT Sun Jun 17 16:09:36 BST 2012 armv6l GNU/Linux
Memory Split: the Pi shares its 256mb of memory between the CPU and the GPU. You should allocate as much memory as possible to the CPU for a successful compilation. The configuration for the memory split is stored on your SD card. This link has a script to adjust the configuration, http://sirlagz.net/?p=445.
Go version weekly.2012-03-27 +645947213cac, with timeout and GOARM 7 patches http://codereview.appspot.com/5987063/) builds with 2 test failures: encoding/gob fails with out of memory, and fmt fails the NaN test.
Successfully installed and run SVGo via go get github.com/ajstarks/svgo, tested with goplay:
Division benchmark via http://codereview.appspot.com/6258067:
$ cd $GOROOT/src/pkg/runtime
$ go test -test.bench=BenchmarkUint
BenchmarkUint32Div7 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Div37 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Div123 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Div763 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Div1247 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Div9305 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Div13307 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Div52513 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Div60978747 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Div106956295 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Mod7 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Mod37 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Mod123 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Mod763 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Mod1247 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Mod9305 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Mod13307 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Mod52513 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Mod60978747 5000000 547 ns/op
BenchmarkUint32Mod106956295 5000000 547 ns/op
Running the hardware floating point distribution, Raspbian "pisces" (http://www.raspbian.org/PiscesImages) and applying the patches in https://gist.github.com/3116118, here are the results of the Eleanor McHugh gospeed benchmark:
raspbian@pisces:~/gowork/src/github.com/feyeleanor/gospeed$ uname -a
Linux pisces 3.1.9+ #171 PREEMPT Tue Jul 17 01:08:22 BST 2012 armv6l GNU/Linux
raspbian@pisces:~/gowork/src/github.com/feyeleanor/gospeed$ go test -test.bench=".*"
PASS
BenchmarkBaselineCastInt32ToInt 100000000 13.5 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineCastIntToInt32 100000000 13.5 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineCastInt64ToUint64 100000000 17.8 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineCastUint64ToInt64 100000000 17.2 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineVariableGet 100000000 13.4 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineVariableSet 100000000 22.4 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineVariableGetInterface 100000000 13.5 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineVariableSetInterface 50000000 31.3 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineVariableIncrement 100000000 23.9 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineVariableDecrement 100000000 23.9 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineFieldGet 100000000 13.5 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineFieldSet 100000000 20.9 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineSliceGet 50000000 32.9 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineSliceSet 50000000 34.5 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMapIntGet 1000000 1448 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMapIntSet 1000000 1968 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMapStringGet 1000000 1119 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMapStringSet 1000000 1675 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineIf 100000000 15.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineIfElse 100000000 15.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineSwitchDefault 100000000 13.5 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineSwitchOneCase 100000000 15.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineSwitchTwoCases 100000000 18.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineSwitchTwoCasesFallthrough 100000000 18.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForLoopIteration 50000000 42.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForReverseLoopIteration 50000000 36.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForRange 20000000 80.9 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForSliceLength 50000000 39.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForReverseSliceLength 50000000 36.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForLoopIteration10 20000000 119 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForReverseLoopIteration10 20000000 92.9 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForRange10 10000000 215 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForSliceLength10 20000000 109 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForReverseSliceLength10 20000000 92.9 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForLoopIteration100 2000000 929 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForReverseLoopIteration100 5000000 700 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForRange100 1000000 1567 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForSliceLength100 2000000 853 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForReverseSliceLength100 5000000 700 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForLoopIteration10000 10000 106006 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForReverseLoopIteration10000 50000 67480 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForRange10000 10000 153841 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForSliceLength10000 20000 85735 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineForReverseSliceLength10000 50000 69461 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMakeChannelBoolUnbuffered 200000 10162 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMakeChannelBool1 200000 12517 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMakeChannelBool10 200000 12521 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMakeChannelStringUnbuffered 500000 10369 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMakeChannelString1 200000 12576 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMakeChannelString10 100000 22358 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineGo 50000 367593 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineFunctionCall 50000000 57.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineFunctionCallArg 20000000 81.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineFunctionCall5VarArgs 500000 6852 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineFunctionCallInt 50000000 60.3 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineFunctionCall5VarInts 1000000 3185 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineFunctionCallWithDefer 1000000 2330 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineFunctionCallPanicRecover 500000 6222 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMethodCallDirect 20000000 83.8 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMethodCallDirect1Arg 20000000 106 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMethodCallDirect1Int 20000000 85.2 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMethodCallDirect5Args 5000000 368 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMethodCallDirect5Ints 10000000 233 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMethodCallIndirect 100000000 18.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMethodCallIndirect1Arg 50000000 42.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMethodCallIndirect1Int 100000000 19.5 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMethodCallIndirect5Args 5000000 309 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineMethodCallIndirect5Ints 10000000 168 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeAssertion 10000000 218 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeAssertionEmptyInterface 20000000 106 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeAssertionInterface1 5000000 576 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeAssertionInterface2 5000000 579 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeReflectPrimitiveToValue 5000000 425 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeReflectSliceToValue 1000000 3218 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeReflectStructToValue 500000 4760 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeCheck 10000000 189 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeCheckEmptyInterface 20000000 93.1 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeCheckInterface1 5000000 511 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeCheckInterface2 5000000 516 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeSwitchOneCase 10000000 262 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeSwitchBasicTypesCase 10000000 295 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeSwitchEmptyInterface 10000000 163 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeSwitchInterface1 5000000 588 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineTypeSwitchInterface2 5000000 602 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewStructureLiteral 20000000 84.0 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewStructure 20000000 127 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewSliceLiteral 50000000 54.2 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewSlice 1000000 3124 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapLiteralIntToInt 500000 9083 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapLiteralIntToInterface 500000 9807 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapLiteralStringToInt 500000 9792 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapLiteralStringToInterface 500000 10595 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapLiteralIntToInt2Item 200000 14265 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapLiteralIntToInterface2Item 200000 14669 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapLiteralStringToInt2Item 200000 14025 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapLiteralStringToInterface2Item 200000 15086 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapIntToInt 500000 9025 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapIntToInterface 500000 9753 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapStringToInt 500000 9740 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewMapStringToInterface 500000 10486 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineSliceCopy 5000000 300 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewSliceAppendElement1 1000000 3318 ns/op
BenchmarkBaselineNewSliceAppendElement10 1000000 5174 ns/op
ok github.com/feyeleanor/gospeed 417.296s
-- anthony starks
Architecture: ARMv7 quad-core Cortex-A9 (Samsung Exynos 4412 1.4GHz), 1GB RAM, Mali graphics (untested).
Operating System: Archlinux ARM
Go pre-1.1 compiles out of the box. The four cores make it particularly suited to Go multi-threaded programs. An ODROID-X2 is coming (Nov 2012) with more RAM.
-- Rémy Oudompheng
BananaPi has a few enhanced hardware components compare with Raspberry Pi.
| Architecture | Comments |
|---|---|
| Allwinner A20(ARM Cortex-A7 Dual-core, 1GHz, Mali400MP2 GPU) | tbc |
| eSATA | No worry to wear out your root SD Card |
| Onboard Microphone | tbc |
| 1G Etherenet | tbc |
| 1G RAM | tbc |
| Reset Switch | To reset the board ? |
| Power Switch | To power cycle the board ? |
root@bpi01:/data/go13/src# cat ./buildgo.bash
#!/bin/bash
# use 1 CPU to avoid out of memory compilation issue.
time taskset 2 ./make.bash
root@bpi01:/data/go13/src# ./buildgo.bash
<snipped>
Installed Go for linux/arm in /data/go1.3
Installed commands in /data/go1.3/bin
real 9m9.222s
user 8m18.960s
sys 0m40.920s
root@bpi01:/data/go1.3/src#
--T.J. Yang
Architecture: ARMv8 (64-bit) 8-core, 2.4GHz, 16GB RAM
Operating Systems: Linux, Fedora 21
You will need to cross-compile a toolchain using bootstrap.bash. After you copy it to the arm64 system and set GOROOT_BOOTSTRAP, you can build go natively.
Architecture: ARMv8 (64-bit) 8-core, 1.2GHz, 1GB RAM
Operating System: Linux (Linaro)
Go Version: 1.5Beta1
Special Notes: Enable a swap partition (<=1GB is fine). Build process is CPU-intensive and may cause the internal 90C temperature threshold to be exceeded - keep the HiKey cool during the build.
As mentioned above, use bootstrap.sh (e.g. on Ubuntu AMD64) for ARM64, then transfer over the bootstrap tbx file, untar it, and use it as GOROOT_BOOTSTRAP. Check out the Go sources into a separate GOROOT, and build.
--Andrew Cencini ([email protected])
Architecture: armv7l
Operating System: Debian 8.2 (armhf)
Go Version: 1.5
The Scaleway C1 Server is a dedicated ARM server with 2GiB RAM using a SAN for storage.
I used the following guide: Building Go 1.5 on the Raspberry Pi
_--Laurent Debacker