How to Install Go on Linux and Configure Environment Variables in Minutes

Install Go

Go installation is very simple compared to other language environments: just download the archive and extract it.

1. Download the archive (official site https://golang.org/dl/ is blocked in China, use the Chinese mirror https://studygolang.com/dl). Example:

wget https://studygolang.com/dl/golang/go1.17.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz

# If wget is not installed:
# yum install wget  OR  download via browser and upload via FTP

2. Extract to the application directory

$ tar -zxvf go1.17.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /usr/local/

"-C" specifies the target directory; typically programs are installed under /usr/local/.

3. Verify the installation

$ /usr/local/go/bin/go version

go version go1.17.1 linux/amd64

Environment Variable Configuration

After installation you still need to set environment variables, mainly GOROOT and GOPATH, to simplify command usage.

Check current Go environment:

$ /usr/local/go/bin/go env

GO111MODULE=""
GOARCH="amd64"
GOBIN=""
GOCACHE="/root/.cache/go-build"
GOENV="/root/.config/go/env"
GOHOSTARCH="amd64"
GOHOSTOS="linux"
GOPATH="/root/go"
GOROOT="/usr/local/go"
... (other variables omitted for brevity)

To understand each field, refer to the official documentation; for most projects you only need to know GOROOT and GOPATH.

Set the variables system‑wide so you can run go directly:

echo 'export GOROOT=/usr/local/go' >> /etc/profile
echo 'export GOPATH=$HOME/go' >> /etc/profile
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$GOROOT/bin:$GOPATH/bin' >> /etc/profile

source /etc/profile

Now the go command works without the full path.

Modify Go environment variables using the go env -w flag, e.g.:

go env -w GOPATH=/path/to/your/go
go env -w GO111MODULE=on
go env -w GOPROXY=https://goproxy.cn,direct

These settings complete the Go environment configuration.

Article source: SegmentFault (copyright belongs to the original author).