I want GOPATH==GOROOT effect without creating extra directory

[neochine]

Go version

go version go1.23.2 linux/amd64

Output of go env in your module/workspace:

GO111MODULE=''
GOARCH='amd64'
GOBIN=''
GOCACHE='/root/.cache/go-build'
GOENV='/root/.config/go/env'
GOEXE=''
GOEXPERIMENT=''
GOFLAGS=''
GOHOSTARCH='amd64'
GOHOSTOS='linux'
GOINSECURE=''
GOMODCACHE='/opt/go/pkg/mod'
GONOPROXY=''
GONOSUMDB=''
GOOS='linux'
GOPATH='/opt/go/'
GOPRIVATE=''
GOPROXY='https://proxy.golang.org,direct'
GOROOT='/opt/go'
GOSUMDB='sum.golang.org'
GOTMPDIR=''
GOTOOLCHAIN='auto'
GOTOOLDIR='/opt/go/pkg/tool/linux_amd64'
GOVCS=''
GOVERSION='go1.23.2'
GODEBUG=''
GOTELEMETRY='local'
GOTELEMETRYDIR='/root/.config/go/telemetry'
GCCGO='gccgo'
GOAMD64='v1'
AR='ar'
CC='gcc'
CXX='g++'
CGO_ENABLED='1'
GOMOD='/dev/null'
GOWORK=''
CGO_CFLAGS='-O2 -g'
CGO_CPPFLAGS=''
CGO_CXXFLAGS='-O2 -g'
CGO_FFLAGS='-O2 -g'
CGO_LDFLAGS='-O2 -g'
PKG_CONFIG='pkg-config'
GOGCCFLAGS='-fPIC -m64 -pthread -Wl,--no-gc-sections -fmessage-length=0 -ffile-prefix-map=/tmp/go-build345801054=/tmp/go-build -gno-record-gcc-switches'

What did you do?

Downloaded tar from golang website, tar -xvf in /opt.
Now
i) GOPATH="/opt/go"
ii) GOROOT="/opt/go"
Then, install any go program
go install github.com/go-acme/lego/v4/cmd/lego@latest
It will be downloaded in /opt/go/pkg cleanly which is desirable but also splits out warning
warning: GOPATH set to GOROOT (/opt/go/) has no effect
but installs go program cleanly.
Now change env to
GOROOT="/opt/go"
GOPATH="/opt/go/pkg"
Then it will unnecessarily create /opt/go/pkg/pkg instead of just using /opt/go/pkg similar to when GOPATH==GOROOT. I am trying to avoid warning of GOPATH==GOROOT but at the same time its unnecessarily creating extra /opt/go/pkg/pkg folder.

What did you see happen?

Extra pkg directory /opt/go/pkg/pkg

What did you expect to see?

No extra pkg directory. Simply install in /opt/go/pkg

[gabyhelp]

Related Issues and Documentation

• cmd/go: misleading warning on GOROOT == GOPATH in module mode #47889
• cmd/go: emits warning when GOPATH == GOROOT #65656 (closed)
• cmd/go: go list should set Package.Root to the module root directory, not GOPATH #46119 (closed)
• cmd/go: go get no longer creates $GOPATH/pkg dir in 1.10 #24360 (closed)
• cmd/go: /root/go as GOROOT results in "missing $GOPATH" #34488 (closed)
• cmd/go: warn if implicit GOPATH is equal to GOROOT #24623 (closed)
• cmd/go: multiple GOPATH entries don't work as expected #3652 (closed)
• cmd/go: env should populate GOBIN as effective install target directory for main packages #28337 (closed)
• cmd/go: error for unset $GOPATH when GOROOT is $HOME/go is unhelpful #34628
• cmd/go: go install should warn when installing outside PATH #35912

_{(Emoji vote if this was helpful or unhelpful; more detailed feedback welcome in this discussion.)}

[neochine]

I wanted behaviour of /opt/go/pkg/mod/github.com being added packages when GOROOT="/opt/go" AND GOPATH="/opt/go/pkg" but when i add that it causes /opt/go/pkg/pkg/mod/github.com

Having no GOPATH creates /root/go folder which is also undesirable

[seankhliao]

I believe the separation is intentional, see also GOMODCACHE.