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Dependency Management in Go

Go takes an unusual approach to dependency management, in that it is source-based instead of artifact-based. In an artifact-based dependency management system, packages consist of artifacts generated from source code and are stored in a separate repository system from source code. For example, many NodeJS packages use npmjs.org as a package repository and github.com as a source repository. On the other hand, packages in Go are source code and releasing a package does not involve artifact generation or a separate repository. Go packages must be stored in a version control repository on a VCS server. Dependencies are fetched directly from their VCS server or via an intermediary proxy which itself fetches them from their VCS server.

Versioning

Go 1.11 introduced modules and first-class package versioning to the Go ecosystem. Prior to this, Go did not have any well-defined mechanism for version management. While 3rd party version management tools existed, the default Go experience had no support for versioning.

Go modules use semantic versioning. The versions of a module are defined as VCS (version control system) tags that are valid semantic versions prefixed with v. For example, to release version 1.0.0 of gitlab.com/my/project, the developer must create the Git tag v1.0.0.

For major versions other than 0 and 1, the module name must be suffixed with /vX where X is the major version. For example, version v2.0.0 of gitlab.com/my/project must be named and imported as gitlab.com/my/project/v2.

Go uses 'pseudo-versions', which are special semantic versions that reference a specific VCS commit. The prerelease component of the semantic version must be or end with a timestamp and the first 12 characters of the commit identifier:

  • vX.0.0-yyyymmddhhmmss-abcdefabcdef, when no earlier tagged commit exists for X.
  • vX.Y.Z-pre.0.yyyymmddhhmmss-abcdefabcdef, when most recent prior tag is vX.Y.Z-pre.
  • vX.Y.(Z+1)-0.yyyymmddhhmmss-abcdefabcdef, when most recent prior tag is vX.Y.Z.

If a VCS tag matches one of these patterns, it is ignored.

For a complete understanding of Go modules and versioning, see this series of blog posts on the official Go website.

'Module' vs 'Package'

  • A package is a folder containing *.go files.
  • A module is a folder containing a go.mod file.
  • A module is usually also a package, that is a folder containing a go.mod file and *.go files.
  • A module may have subdirectories, which may be packages.
  • Modules usually come in the form of a VCS repository (Git, SVN, Hg, and so on).
  • Any subdirectories of a module that themselves are modules are distinct, separate modules and are excluded from the containing module.
    • Given a module repo, if repo/sub contains a go.mod file then repo/sub and any files contained therein are a separate module and not a part of repo.

Naming

The name of a module or package, excluding the standard library, must be of the form (sub.)*domain.tld(/path)*. This is similar to a URL, but is not a URL. The package name does not have a scheme (such as https://) and cannot have a port number. example.com:8443/my/package is not a valid name.

Fetching Packages

Prior to Go 1.12, the process for fetching a package was as follows:

  1. Query https://{package name}?go-get=1.
  2. Scan the response for the go-import meta tag.
  3. Fetch the repository indicated by the meta tag using the indicated VCS.

The meta tag should have the form <meta name="go-import" content="{prefix} {vcs} {url}">. For example, gitlab.com/my/project git https://gitlab.com/my/project.git indicates that packages beginning with gitlab.com/my/project should be fetched from https://gitlab.com/my/project.git using Git.

Fetching Modules

Go 1.12 introduced checksum databases and module proxies.

Checksums

In addition to go.mod, a module has a go.sum file. This file records a SHA-256 checksum of the code and the go.mod file of every version of every dependency that is referenced by the module or one of the module's dependencies. Go continually updates go.sum as new dependencies are referenced.

When Go fetches the dependencies of a module, if those dependencies already have an entry in go.sum, Go verifies the checksum of these dependencies. If the checksum does not match what is in go.sum, the build fails. This ensures that a given version of a module cannot be changed by its developers or by a malicious party without causing build failures.

Go 1.12+ can be configured to use a checksum database. If configured to do so, when Go fetches a dependency and there is no corresponding entry in go.sum, Go queries the configured checksum databases for the checksum of the dependency instead of calculating it from the downloaded dependency. If the dependency cannot be found in the checksum database, the build fails. If the downloaded dependency's checksum does not match the result from the checksum database, the build fails. The following environment variables control this:

  • GOSUMDB identifies the name, and optionally the public key and server URL, of the checksum database to query.
    • A value of off entirely disables checksum database queries.
    • Go 1.13+ uses sum.golang.org if GOSUMDB is not defined.
  • GONOSUMDB is a comma-separated list of module suffixes that checksum database queries should be disabled for. Wildcards are supported.
  • GOPRIVATE is a comma-separated list of module names that has the same function as GONOSUMDB in addition to disabling other features.

Proxies

Go 1.12+ can be configured to fetch modules from a Go proxy instead of directly from the module's VCS. If configured to do so, when Go fetches a dependency, it attempts to fetch the dependency from the configured proxies, in order. The following environment variables control this:

  • GOPROXY is a comma-separated list of module proxies to query.
    • A value of direct entirely disables module proxy queries.
    • If the last entry in the list is direct, Go falls back to the process described above if none of the proxies can provide the dependency.
    • Go 1.13+ uses proxy.golang.org,direct if GOPROXY is not defined.
  • GONOPROXY is a comma-separated list of module suffixes that should be fetched directly and not from a proxy. Wildcards are supported.
  • GOPRIVATE is a comma-separated list of module names that has the same function as GONOPROXY in addition to disabling other features.

Fetching

From Go 1.12 onward, the process for fetching a module or package is as follows:

  1. If GOPROXY is a list of proxies and the module is not excluded by GONOPROXY or GOPRIVATE, query them in order, and stop at the first valid response.
  2. If GOPROXY is direct, or the module is excluded, or GOPROXY ends with ,direct and no proxy provided the module, fall back.
    1. Query https://{module or package name}?go-get=1.
    2. Scan the response for the go-import meta tag.
    3. Fetch the repository indicated by the meta tag using the indicated VCS.
    4. If the {vcs} field is mod, the URL should be treated as a module proxy instead of a VCS.
  3. If the module is being fetched directly and not as a dependency, stop.
  4. If go.sum contains an entry corresponding to the module, validate the checksum and stop.
  5. If GOSUMDB identifies a checksum database and the module is not excluded by GONOSUMDB or GOPRIVATE, retrieve the module's checksum, add it to go.sum, and validate the downloaded source against it.
  6. If GOSUMDB is off or the module is excluded, calculate a checksum from the downloaded source and add it to go.sum.

The downloaded source must contain a go.mod file. The go.mod file must contain a module directive that specifies the name of the module. If the module name as specified by go.mod does not match the name that was used to fetch the module, the module fails to compile.

If the module is being fetched directly and no version was specified, or if the module is being added as a dependency and no version was specified, Go uses the most recent version of the module. If the module is fetched from a proxy, Go queries the proxy for a list of versions and chooses the latest. If the module is fetched directly, Go queries the repository for a list of tags and chooses the latest that is also a valid semantic version.

Authenticating

In versions prior to Go 1.13, support for authenticating requests made by Go was somewhat inconsistent. Go 1.13 improved support for .netrc authentication. If a request is made over HTTPS and a matching .netrc entry can be found, Go adds HTTP Basic authentication credentials to the request. Go does not authenticate requests made over HTTP. Go rejects HTTP-only entries in GOPROXY that have embedded credentials.

In a future version, Go may add support for arbitrary authentication headers. Follow golang/go#26232 for details.