The Vendor Tool for Go

go get -u github.com/kardianos/govendor

Use Go modules

Go modules were initially released with Go1.11. Fixes and improvements in Go1.11.2 and the to-be-released Go1.12 have and will make Go modules even better.

Go modules as a release and build tool are ready to use now. Tool support for Go modules (such as static analysis tools or auto-complete tools in editors) should be in a much better state when Go1.12 is released.

Please begin thinking about code organization in terms of modules today. Please begin to release modules with standardized build tags (vX.Y.Z) today. Please consider adding go.mod files to your projects if you consider them more of a "library" module. Please use Go modules in small or personal projects.

For larger code bases with many different programmers, you may wish to hold off on migrating to Go modules until you have verified that all your existing tooling (editors, static analizers, and code generators) have support for Go modules.

Govendor Introduction

New users please read the FAQ

Package developers should read the developer guide.

For a high level overview read the whitepaper

Uses the go1.5+ vendor folder. Multiple workflows supported, single tool.

• Copy existing dependencies from $GOPATH with govendor add/update.
• If you ignore vendor/*/, restore dependencies with govendor sync.
• Pull in new dependencies or update existing dependencies directly from remotes with govendor fetch.
• Migrate from legacy systems with govendor migrate.
• Supports Linux, OS X, Windows, probably all others.
• Supports git, hg, svn, bzr (must be installed and on the PATH).

Notes

• The project must be within a $GOPATH/src.
• If using go1.5, ensure you set GO15VENDOREXPERIMENT=1.

Quick Start, also see the FAQ

# Setup your project.
cd "my project in GOPATH"
govendor init

# Add existing GOPATH files to vendor.
govendor add +external

# View your work.
govendor list

# Look at what is using a package
govendor list -v fmt

# Specify a specific version or revision to fetch
govendor fetch golang.org/x/net/context@a4bbce9fcae005b22ae5443f6af064d80a6f5a55
govendor fetch golang.org/x/net/context@v1   # Get latest v1.*.* tag or branch.
govendor fetch golang.org/x/net/context@=v1  # Get the tag or branch named "v1".

# Update a package to latest, given any prior version constraint
govendor fetch golang.org/x/net/context

# Format your repository only
govendor fmt +local

# Build everything in your repository only
govendor install +local

# Test your repository only
govendor test +local

Sub-commands

	init     Create the "vendor" folder and the "vendor.json" file.
	list     List and filter existing dependencies and packages.
	add      Add packages from $GOPATH.
	update   Update packages from $GOPATH.
	remove   Remove packages from the vendor folder.
	status   Lists any packages missing, out-of-date, or modified locally.
	fetch    Add new or update vendor folder packages from remote repository.
	sync     Pull packages into vendor folder from remote repository with revisions
  	             from vendor.json file.
	migrate  Move packages from a legacy tool to the vendor folder with metadata.
	get      Like "go get" but copies dependencies into a "vendor" folder.
	license  List discovered licenses for the given status or import paths.
	shell    Run a "shell" to make multiple sub-commands more efficient for large
	             projects.

	go tool commands that are wrapped:
	  `+<status>` package selection may be used with them
	fmt, build, install, clean, test, vet, generate, tool

Status

Packages can be specified by their "status".

	+local    (l) packages in your project
	+external (e) referenced packages in GOPATH but not in current project
	+vendor   (v) packages in the vendor folder
	+std      (s) packages in the standard library

	+excluded (x) external packages explicitly excluded from vendoring
	+unused   (u) packages in the vendor folder, but unused
	+missing  (m) referenced packages but not found

	+program  (p) package is a main package

	+outside  +external +missing
	+all      +all packages

Status can be referenced by their initial letters.

• +std same as +s
• +external same as +ext same as +e
• +excluded same as +exc same as +x

Status can be logically composed:

• +local,program (local AND program) local packages that are also programs
• +local +vendor (local OR vendor) local packages or vendor packages
• +vendor,program +std ((vendor AND program) OR std) vendor packages that are also programs or std library packages
• +vendor,^program (vendor AND NOT program) vendor package that are not "main" packages.

Package specifier

The full package-spec is: <path>[{/...|/^}][::<origin>][@[<version-spec>]]

Some examples:

• github.com/kardianos/govendor specifies a single package and single folder.
• github.com/kardianos/govendor/... specifies govendor and all referenced packages under that path.
• github.com/kardianos/govendor/^ specifies the govendor folder and all sub-folders. Useful for resources or if you don't want a partial repository.
• github.com/kardianos/govendor/^::github.com/myself/govendor same as above but fetch from user "myself".
• github.com/kardianos/govendor/...@abc12032 all referenced packages at revision abc12032.
• github.com/kardianos/govendor/...@v1 same as above, but get the most recent "v1" tag, such as "v1.4.3".
• github.com/kardianos/govendor/...@=v1 get the exact version "v1".

Packages and Status

You may specify multiple package-specs and multiple status in a single command. Commands that accept status and package-spec:

• list
• add
• update
• remove
• fetch

You may pass arguments to govendor through stdin if the last argument is a "-". For example echo +vendor | govendor list - will list all vendor packages.

Ignoring build tags and excluding packages

Ignoring build tags is opt-out and is designed to be the opposite of the build file directives which are opt-in when specified. Typically a developer will want to support cross platform builds, but selectively opt out of tags, tests, and architectures as desired.

To ignore additional tags edit the "vendor.json" file and add tag to the vendor "ignore" file field. The field uses spaces to separate tags to ignore. For example the following will ignore both test and appengine files.

{
	"ignore": "test appengine",
}

Similarly, some specific packages can be excluded from the vendoring process. These packages will be listed as excluded (x), and will not be copied to the "vendor" folder when running govendor add|fetch|update.

Any sub-package foo/bar of an excluded package foo is also excluded (but package bar/foo is not). The import dependencies of excluded packages are not listed, and thus not vendored.

To exclude packages, also use the "ignore" field of the "vendor.json" file. Packages are identified by their name, they should contain a "/" character (possibly at the end):

{
	"ignore": "test appengine foo/",
}