Why "go build" depends on $GOROOT/src/pkg

[gopherbot]

by xuxinhua1984:

The code is:(test.go)
package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, World")
}

Then, I build it: go build test.go. It is OK.

But when I delete $GOROOT/src/pkg/fmt directory, then build test.go, it failed:
cannot find package "fmt" in any of:
    /usr/local/go/src/pkg/fmt (from $GOROOT)

However, I can build it by 6g and link it by 6l:
   go tool 6g test.go
   go tool 6l test.6
this will generate 6.out

Why "go build" depends on $GOROOT/src/pkg ?

[alberts]

Comment 1:

issue #2775, more or less...

[davecheney]

Comment 2:

The go tool currently requires the source to be present, even if the compiled package is
present. There is a workaround, if you leave an empty directory, _with_ an mtime older
than the compiled package, in src/ then the go tool _should_ work.

Status changed to Duplicate.

Merged into issue #2775.