Package a Go Program into an RPM Quickly with go-bin-rpm

First, install the rpmbuild toolchain required for any language that needs to be packaged as an RPM:

yum install -y gcc make rpm-build redhat-rpm-config

The go-bin-rpm utility simplifies the packaging process. Install it with the following one‑liner:

wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mh-cbon/latest/master/bintray.sh \
| GH=mh-cbon/go-bin-rpm sh -xe

Verify the installation:

$ go-bin-rpm --version
go-bin-rpm version 1.0.0

Create a rpm.json file (the default name can be used so you don’t need to pass it explicitly). A minimal example looks like this:

{
  "name": "you-service-name",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "release": "20221110",
  "arch": "x86_64",
  "summary": "",
  "description": "",
  "license": "iswbm.com",
  "url": "https://gtihub.com/iswbm/!name!",
  "files": [
    {
      "from": "./bin/!name!",
      "to": "/usr/local/!name!/",
      "base": "",
      "type": ""
    },
    {
      "from": "./!name!.service",
      "to": "/usr/lib/systemd/system/",
      "base": "",
      "type": ""
    }
  ]
}

If the RPM should install a systemd service, the files array must contain the binary, the service unit file, and any configuration files needed.

An example .service template:

[Unit]
Description
After=syslog.target network.target

[Service]
Environment=key=value
Type=simple
NotifyAccess=all
TimeoutStartSec=0
Restart=always
User=root
ExecStart=/usr/local/xxxx/bin/xxxx

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

After the configuration is ready, generate the RPM (replace VERSION and RELEASE with the appropriate values):

# VERSION and RELEASE should be substituted
go-bin-rpm generate -o rpms/xxxx-$(VERSION)-$(RELEASE).rpm

If you need different binaries for different platforms, create separate rpm.json files and specify the one to use with the -f rpm.json flag.

To avoid typing the long commands each time, a Makefile can automate the workflow:

VERSION = 1.0.0
RELEASE = $(shell date +"%Y%m%d")

.PHONY: build-go
build-go:
    go build -o ./bin/hello .

.PHONY: build
build: build-go
    sed -i "s/VERSION/$(VERSION)/g" rpm.json
    sed -i "s/RELEASE/$(RELEASE)/g" rpm.json
    mkdir -p rpms
    go-bin-rpm generate -o rpms/hellp-$(VERSION)-$(RELEASE).rpm

Running make build compiles the Go binary, updates the version fields in rpm.json, creates the output directory, and produces the final RPM in a single step.