proposal: x/tools/cmd/getgo: document and possibly ship in distributions

[jezek]

Feature request:

Provide a go tool to update go to latest stable version, or to a user selected version.

Examples:

Update go to latest stable version.

go version -update

Replace current version with version 1.x.y

go version -update -v 1.x.y

[ALTree]

The version tool currently has a very narrow scope: it just shows the version of the toolchain it's invoked from. I think it's unlikely it'll be expanded to become an installer.

OTOH, we already have a tool called getgo (https://github.com/golang/tools/tree/master/cmd/getgo) that can be used to install go toolchains. Note that (from its docs):

If Go is already installed via this installer it will upgrade it to the latest version of Go.

which is similar to what you're asking.

[jezek]

Thank you for the getgo command, I should have searched harder.

But IMHO this command should be installed by default like gofmt or godoc. Or am I wrong?

[rsc]

go version -update is definitely too difficult. (The go command should not be attempting to overwrite itself.) Changing to a proposal to document and ship getgo.

[rsc]

/cc @andybons for triage. If no one is available now maybe put on hold.

[agnivade]

Shipping getgo is a great idea. From what I see in HN, the community will definitely benefit from this. But there are some pending issues which need attention - #21277, #21533.

Also, note that if one already has a go distribution, it is possible to do go get golang.org/dl/<> to install/update go. Although, it will install in $HOME/sdk and not in /usr/local/go. But ideally, we should promote and use only one tool for installing/updating go.

[andybons]

Putting on hold for now while we figure out next steps so that proposal committee doesn’t need to see it each week.