multiple go versions.md

Managing Tool Versions with asdf and direnv

Managing multiple go versions

This guide will show you how to install multiple versions of go and have the version switch automatically when you change directory.

The two main tools used are asdf which is a general tool version manager with support for multiple languages (like nvm, pyenv, rbenv) and programming tools. And direnv which is a tool to load environment variables depending on the current directory.

Install and setup direnv

Note: for the brew install and asdf install steps you may need to disconnect from the VPN.

1. Install via homebrew

brew install direnv

2. Configure hook for your shell

ZSH

Add the following line at the end of the ~/.zshrc file:

echo -e '\neval "$(direnv hook zsh)"' >> ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zshrc

FISH

Add the following line at the end of the ~/.config/fish/config.fish file:

echo -e "direnv hook fish | source" >> ~/.config/fish/config.fish

Install and setup asdf

1. Install via homebrew

brew install asdf

2. Configure hook for your shell

ZSH

Add asdf.sh to your ~/.zshrc with:

echo -e "\n. $(brew --prefix asdf)/libexec/asdf.sh" >> ${ZDOTDIR:-~}/.zshrc

FISH

Add asdf.fish to your ~/.config/fish/config.fish with:

echo -e "\nsource "(brew --prefix asdf)"/libexec/asdf.fish" >> ~/.config/fish/config.fish

3. Install plugins

Install the golang and direnv plugins

asdf plugin-add golang

asdf plugin-add direnv
# substitute zsh for bash, fish etc
asdf direnv setup --shell zsh --version system

Configuration for multiple versions

First remove your existing go installation and unset GOROOT from your profile. If you have installed via homebrew:

brew uninstall go

Set a global go version

Then install and configure a global go version

asdf install golang 1.18
asdf global golang 1.18

This populates a global ~/.tool-versions file with the configured tool version.

Verify with go version

Set a repo specific go version

Then navigate to a repo and set a local go version

asdf install golang 1.16
asdf local golang 1.16

This populates a local .tool-versions file with the local golang version. To have your local go variables set automatically add the following to an .envrc file in the repo folder. You can also set other repo-specific environment variables here to load automatically e.g. CGO_ENABLED or GO_FLAGS

# .envrc in project root folder

CGO_ENABLED=0 # add other project variables you need

use asdf # adds shims for tools defined in .tool-versions

Anytime you change the .envrc file, direnv will warn you that it's changed and prompt you to review and approve before automatically loading the variables. This is to prevent automatically loading unexpected changes. If you edit the file with direnv edit your changes will be approved automatically.

You may also need to configure a global ~/.envrc with

use asdf

export GOROOT="$(asdf where golang)/go"

Finally, the .tool-versions and .envrc files should be added to your global ~/.gitignore to avoid conflicting with other developers.

Configure

To configure GoLand you can set the GOROOT in the preferences to ~/.asdf/installs/golang/VERSION/go

TODO find a way to automate this.

https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/GO-9008/Support-local-Go-installations-with-asdf