Modules in Go (Golang)

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Overview

Module is go support for dependency management. A module by definition is a collection of related packages with go.mod at its root. The go.mod file defines the

  • Module import path.
  • Dependencies requirements of the module for a successful build. It defines both project’s dependencies requirement and also locks them to their correct version.

Consider module as a directory containing a collection of packages. The packages can be nested as well. Modules provides

  • Dependency Management
  • With modules go project doesn’t necessarily have to lie the $GOPATH/src folder.

Also in addition to go.mod file go also keeps a go.sum file which contains the cryptographic hash of bits of all project’s dependent modules. This to make validate that your project’s dependent modules are not changed.

Before Modules World

Let’s see version wise changes to fully understand what was the limitations earlier and what has changed since modules

  • Pre Go version 1.11 – Modules did not existed at all
  • Go Version 1.11 – Modules was introduced but not finalized
  • Go Version 1.13 – Modules was introduced

Pre Go version 1.11

Before modules go only had packages. $GOPATH location would have three directories

  • src
  • pkg
  • bin

These were the problems which existed before the modules era

  • All Go project in $GOPATH/src directory
  • No native dependency management support
  • All the dependency will be downloaded in the $GOPATH/src  directory without versioning

Let’s look at each problem one by one

  • Any GO project has to be inside the $GOPATH/src directory

This was a big limitation in terms of that it restricted where you can keep your project.

  • No native dependency management support

Also, one issue before modules was that there was no way to specify a dependency in a project. Alternate solutions such as dep, glide were available but a native solution was missing.

  • All the dependency will be downloaded in the $GOPATH/src  directory without versioning

When we do a go get it will download the required package in the $GOPATH/src directory.  Run the below go get command.

go get github.com/pborman/uuid

It will download the package at location

$GOPATH/src/github.com/pborman/uuid

Notice one thing about the go get command above that no version was specified. Hence it downloads the latest version present. Also notice the downloaded package. Even it doesn’t list down any versioning info. Now this is a problem. What if there is an update in the github.com/pborman/uuid package and you want to get that update. Since there is no versioning the updated package will get downloaded at the same location replacing the older one.

In Go version 1.11

In Go 1.11. modules was introduced but not finalized. So if you still using it then better to switch to the latest version

After Go Version 1.13

We already discussed all the problems which existed before the pre-modules era. Now let’s see how each of these problems got resolved with the introduction of modules.

The first problem was

  • All Go project in $GOPATH/src directory

With modules this is no longer a requirement.

  • No native dependency management support

Modules introduced native dependency management within go. With modules, it provides two new files that will lie

  1. go.mod
  2. go.sum

With go.mod and go.sum files we are able to install precise version of a dependency without breaking anything.We already gave a brief introduction of these files in the beginning of this tutorial. Later in the tutorial we will look at it in detail

  • All the dependency will be downloaded in the $GOPATH/pkg/mod  directory with versioning

So if you download different version of the same library then both will be downloaded in different directory inside $GOPATH/pkg/mod without overriding each other.  . $GOPATH/pkg/mod  will have two things inside it

  • cache – This is the folder where all dependencies will get downloaded along with the zipped code
  • Zipped code of all downloaded dependencies will get copied over from the cache directory.

Also there is a new env introduced named GO111MODULE

When GO111MODULE=off, then go get will behave in the old way where it will download the dependency in the $GOPATH/src folder

When GO111MODULE=on, then go get will behave in a new way and all the modules will get downloaded in the $GOPATH/pkg/mod/cache folder with versioning.
When GO111MODULE=auto, then

  • When running go get outside the $GOPATH/src folder, then will behave as if it is GO111MODULE=on
  • When running go get inside the $GOPATH/src folder, then will behave as if it is GO111MODULE=off

Let’s now create a module. What ever we discussed will be more clear then

Creating Modules

Below command can be used to create a module.

go mod init {module_import_path}

Let’s see go.mod and go.sum file again that we had discussed earlier

go.mod

It is the module dependency file. It will have three things

  • Name of the module at the top
  • Version of go with which the module is created
  • Direct dependencies of the module.

go.sum

This file lists down the checksum of direct and indirect dependency required along with the version.It is to be mentioned that go.mod file is enough for a successful build. The checksum present in go.sum file is used to validate the checksum of each of direct and indirect dependency.

Now question is what is import_path. import_path is the prefix path that will be used by any other module to import your module.

Go to any directory outside $GOPATH/src folder. Let’s say the directory name is learn.

mkdir learn
cd learn

Let’s say module name is also learn

go mod init learn

This command will create a go.mod file in the same directory. Now what is go.mod file

Let’s examine the contents of this file

Do a cat go.mod

module learn
go 1.14

When the module is first created using the init command, go.mod file will have two things only

  • Name of the module at the top
module learn

Version of go with which the module was created

go 1.14

Since it is an empty module it doesn’t have any direct dependency specified yet. Let’s create a file named uuid.go in the same directory with below contents

uuid.go

package main
import (
"fmt"
"strings"
"github.com/pborman/uuid"
)
func main() {
uuidWithHyphen := uuid.NewRandom()
uuid := strings.Replace(uuidWithHyphen.String(), "-", "", -1)
fmt.Println(uuid)
}

Notice that we have imported the dependency in the uuid.go as well

"github.com/pborman/uuid"

Let’s run the below command

go mod tidy

This command will download all the dependencies that are required in your source files and update go.mod file with that dependency. After running this command let’s now let’s again examine the contents of go.mod file

Do a cat go.mod

module learn
go 1.14
require github.com/pborman/uuid v1.2.1

It lists direct dependency which was specified in the uuid file along with exact version of the dependency as well. Now let’s check the go.sum file as well

Do a cat go.sum

github.com/google/uuid v1.0.0 h1:b4Gk+7WdP/d3HZH8EJsZpvV7EtDOgaZLtnaNGIu1adA=
github.com/google/uuid v1.0.0/go.mod h1:TIyPZe4MgqvfeYDBFedMoGGpEw/LqOeaOT+nhxU+yHo=
github.com/pborman/uuid v1.2.1 h1:+ZZIw58t/ozdjRaXh/3awHfmWRbzYxJoAdNJxe/3pvw=
github.com/pborman/uuid v1.2.1/go.mod h1:X/NO0urCmaxf9VXbdlT7C2Yzkj2IKimNn4k+gtPdI/k=

go.sum file lists down the checksum of direct and indirect dependency required by the module. github.com/google/uuid is internally used by the github.com/pborman/uuid . It is an indirect dependency of the module and hence it is recorded in the go.sum file.

We can also run this file now and it will give the correct output

go run uuid.go

Output

e594dc4d9a754bcb83b56e89b18b4b46

The above way we added a dependency in the source file and used go mod tidy command to download that dependency and add it in the go.mod file.

Types of Modules

We learn that module is a directory containing nested go packages. So essentially module can be treated as a package only which contains nested package. We have seen in the package tutorial can package can be either an executable package or utility package (non-executable). Similar to package, modules can be of two types.

  • Executable module – We already know that main is the executable package in GoLang. Hence a module containing the main package is the executable module. The main package will contain a main function that denotes the start of a program. On installing the module having the main package it will create an executable in the $GOBIN directory.
  • Non-Executable module or Utility Module– Any package other than main package is a non-executable package. It is not self-executable. It just contains the utility function and other utility things that can be utilized by an executable package. Hence if the module doesn’t contain the main package then it will be a non-executable or utility module. This module is meant to be used as a utility and will be imported by other modules.

To create an executable for a module (Only for the module with the main package)

  • Do a go build and it will create the executable in the current directory
  • Do a go install and it will create the executable in the $GOBIN directory

Add a dependency to your project

Let’s explore some ways of adding dependency to your project

  • Directly adding it to the go.mod file
  • Do a go get
  • Add the dependency to your source code and do a go mod tidy

Before looking at each of the ways, again let’s create a module first

go mod init learn

Directly adding it to the go.mod file

We can add direct dependency to the go.mod file too. Let’s do that

Add below dependency to the go.mod file

require github.com/pborman/uuid v1.2.1

With this dependency go.mod file will look like below

module learn
go 1.14
require github.com/pborman/uuid v1.2.1

Now we need to download the newly added dependency as well. Fo that we can use the below command

go mod download

This command will download the github.com/pborman/uuid module as well all its dependencies. Also it will update the go.sum file with the checksum and version of all direct and indirect dependencies. go build as well as go install also will download the dependencies and also build the binary. go run will also download and and run the binary as well. go mod download command is used when you want to pre download the dependencies without build or running it.

Do a go get

Simply doing a go get will also the add the dependency in the go.mod file. Remove the uuid dependency we added above from go.mod file and clean up go.sum file. Now run below command

export GO111MODULE=on
go get github.com/pborman/uuid

Now check the contents of go.mod file

Do a cat go.mod

module learn
go 1.14
require github.com/pborman/uuid v1.2.1 //indirect

The dependency will be marked as //indirect as it is not being used in any of the source files. Once you do a go build after using this in the source files, the //indirect will be removed automatically by go. Also it will update the go.sum file with the checksum and version of all direct and indirect dependencies.

Add the dependency to your source code and do a go mod tidy

This method we already saw in the above example. Basically, go mod tidy command makes sure that your go.mod files reflects the dependencies that you have actually used in your project. When we run go mod tidy command then it will do two things

  • Add any dependency which is imported in the source files
  • Remove any dependency which is mentioned in the go.mod file but not imported in any of the source files.

Adding a vendor directory

If you want to vendor your dependencies, then below command can be used to achieve the same

go mod vendor

It will create a vendor directory inside your project directory. You can also check in the vendor directory to your VCS (Version Control System). This becomes useful in sense that none of the dependency needs to be downloaded at run time as it is already present in the vendor folder checked into VCS

Module Import Path

We have already seen that module import path is the prefix path that is used to import all packages within that module

There can be three cases which decide what import path name can be used with modules.

  • The module is a utility module and you plan to publish your module
  • The module is a utility module and you don’t plan to publish your module
  • The module is a executable module

The module is a utility module and you plan to publish your module

If you plan to publish your module then the module name should match the URL of the repo which host that module. Go tries to download dependencies from the VCS using the same import path of the module.

The module is a utility module and you don’t plan to publish your module

This is the case when you only mean to use the utility module locally only. In this case the import path can be anything.

The module is a executable module

In this case also module import path can be anything. The module import path can be a non-url even if you plan to commit your module into VCS as it will not be used by any other module

However it is a good practice to use meaningful import path while creating module

Importing package within same module

Any package within the same module can be imported using the import path of module + directory containing that package. To illustrate lets create a module

  • Make a learn directory
  • Create a module with import path as “learn”
go mod init learn
  • Now create main.go (Having main package and main function)
  • And math/math.go – math package

main.go

package main
import (
"fmt"
"learn/math"
)
func main() {
fmt.Println(math.Add(1, 2))
}

math/math.go

package math
func Add(a, b int) int {
return a + b
}

See how we have imported the math package in the main.go file

"learn/math"

Here the import path is import path of module which is learn + directory containing the package which is math. Hence “learn/math” . Packages in nested directory can also be imported in the same way. The way it works is that since the prefix is the module import path, hence go will know that you are trying to import from the same module. So it will directly refer it instead of downloading it.

Importing package from different module locally

There are cases when we want to import a module which is present locally. Let’s understand how we can import such module. But first, we have to create a module that can be used by others and then import it into the other module.For that let’s create two modules

  • sample.com/math module
  • school module

school module will be calling code of the sample.com/math module

Let’s first create the sample.com/math module which will be used by school module

  • Make a math directory
  • Create a module with import path as sample.com/math
go mod init sample.com/math
  • Create a file math.go with below contents in the math directory
package math
func Add(a, b int) int {
return a + b
}

Now let’s create the school module

  • Now create a school directory in the same path as math directory side by side
  • Create a module name school
go mod init school
  • Now let’s modify the go.mod file to import the math module in the school module. To import a local module that is not pushed to VCS, we are going to use replace directory. The replace directory will replace the module path with the path you specify.
module school
go 1.14
replace sample.com/math => ../math
  • Create file school.go which is going to use the Add function in sample.com/math module
package main
import (
"fmt"
"sample.com/math"
)
func main() {
fmt.Println(math.Add(2, 4))
}

Now do a go run

go run school.go

It is able to call the Add function of the sample.com/math module and correctly gives the output as 6.

Also it will update the go.mod with version information of the sample.com/math module

module school
go 1.14
replace sample.com/math => ../math
require sample.com/math v0.0.0-00010101000000-000000000000

Selecting the version of library

To understand how does GO’s approach while selecting the version of the library of which two versions are specified in the go.mod file, we have to first understand Semantic VersioningSemantic Versioning is comprised of three parts separated by dots. Below is the format for versioning.

v{major_version}.{minor_version}.{patch_version}

where

  • v – it is just an indicator that it is a version
  • major_version – It represents the incompatible API changes in the library. So when there are changes in the library that is not backward compatible, in that case, major_version is incremented
  • minor_version – It represents the change in functionality of the library in a backward-compatible manner. So when there are some functionality changes in the library but those changes are backward compatible then, in that case, the minor version is incremented
  • patch_version – It represents the bug fixes in the library in a backward-compatible manner. So when there are bug fixes to the existing functionality of the library, then, in that case, patch_version is incremented.

Now there can be two cases

  • Two versions of the same library are used which only differ in the minor and patch version. Their major version is the same.
  • Two version of the same library is used which differ in the major.

Let’s see what approach does go follows in the above two cases

Differ in minor or patch version

Go follows the minimum version policy approach while selecting the version of the library of which two versions are specified in the go.mod file which differ only in their minor or patch version.

For example in case you are using the two versions of same library which are

1.2.0

and

1.3.0

then go will choose 1.3.0 as it is the latest version.

Differ in major version

Go treats the major version as a different module itself. Now, what does that means? This essentially means that the import path will have a major version as its suffix. Let’s take the example of any go library with VCS as github.com/sample. Let’s latest semantic version is

v8.2.3

Then the go.mod file will like below

module github.com/sample/v8
go 1.13
..

It has major version in its import path. So any library which is using this sample library have to import it like

import "github.com/sample/v8"

If in future v9 version is released than it has to be imported in the application like

import "github.com/sample/v9"

Also go-redis library will change its go.mod file to reflect the v9 major version

module github.com/samples/v9

What it essentially allows is to use different major version of the same library to be used within same go application. We can also give meaningful names when different major version of the same library is imported in the same application. For eg

import redis_v8 "github.com/sample/v8"
import redis_v9 "github.com/sample/v9"

This is also known as Semantic Import Versioning. Also note that

  • For the first version, it is ok to not specify the version in the go.mod file.
  • Also, be careful when importing a different major versions of the same library. Look out for the new functionality that might be available with new versions.

Also for the same reason when you update a specific module using

go get -u

then it will only upgrade to the latest minor version or patch version whichever applicable. For example let’s say the current version used by an application is

v1.1.3

Also let’s say we have below versions available

v1.2.0
v2.1.0

Then when we run

go get

then it will update to

v1.2.0

The reason is because go get will only update the minor or patch version but never the major version as go treats major version of a module as a different module entirely.

To upgrade the major version, specify that upgraded dependency explicitly in the go.mod file or do a go get of that version.

Also couple of points to note about upgrading module

  • To upgrade a dependency to its latest patch version only, use below command
go get -u=patch
  • To upgrade a dependency to a specific version, use below command
go get dependency@version
  • To upgrade a dependency to a specific commit, use below command
go get @commit_number
  • To upgrade all dependency to their latest minor and patch version, use below command
go get ./...

go mod command

Below are some of the options for the go mod command.

  • download – It will download the required dependencies to the $GOPATH/pkg/mod/cache folder. Also, it will update the go.sum file with the checksum and version of all direct and indirect dependencies
  • edit – This is for editing the go.mod file. It provides a set of editing flags. Run the below command to see the set of all editing flags available
go help mod edit

For eg below are some editing flags available

  1. -fmt flag will format the go.mod file. It will not make any other change
  2. -module flag can be used to set the module’s import path
  • graph – This can be used to print the module requirement dependency graph
  • init – We already have seen the usage of this command above. It is used to init a new module
  • tidy – This command will download all the dependencies that are required in your source files
  • vendor – If you want to vendor your dependencies, then the below command can be used to achieve the same. It will create a vendor directory inside your project directory. You can also check in the vendor directory to your VCS (Version Control System)
  • verify – This command checks for the modification of currently downloaded dependencies. If any of the downloaded dependency has been verified that it will exit with a non-zero code
  • why – this command analyzes the graph of packages from the main module. It prints the shortest path from the main module to the given package. For instance the school module which we created in section “Importing package from different module locally” if we print why command as below
go mod why sample.com/math

then below will be the output

# sample.com/math
school
sample.com/math

The output illustrates that the sample.com/math package is at one distance in the graph from main module which is school here.

Direct vs Indirect Dependencies in go.mod file

A direct dependency is the dependency which the module directly imports . An indirect dependency is the dependency which are imported by module’s direct dependencies. Also, any dependency that is mentioned in the go.mod file but not imported in any of the source files of the module is also treated as an indirect dependency.

go.mod file only records the direct dependency. However, it may record an indirect dependency in the below cases

  • Any indirect dependency which is not listed in the go.mod file of your direct dependency or if direct dependency doesn’t have a go.mod file, then that direct dependency will be added to the go.mod file with //direct as the suffix
  • Any dependency which is not imported in any of the source files of the module (Example of this we have already seen earlier in the tutorial)

go.sum will record the checksum of direct and indirect dependencies.

Example of Indirect Dependencies in go.mod file

Let’s understand it with an example. For that let’s first create a module

git mod init learn

Let’s add colly lib version v1.2.0 as a dependency in the go.mod file. colly version v1.2.0 doesn’t have a go.mod file.

module learn
go 1.14
require github.com/gocolly/colly v1.2.0

Now create a file learn.go

package main
import (
"github.com/gocolly/colly"
)
func main() {
_ = colly.NewCollector()
}

Now do a go build. Since colly version v1.2.0 doesn’t have a go.mod file , all dependencies required by colly will be added to the go.mod file with //indirect as suffix

Do a go build. Now check the go.mod file. You will see below contents of the file

module learn
go 1.14
require (
github.com/PuerkitoBio/goquery v1.6.0 // indirect
github.com/antchfx/htmlquery v1.2.3 // indirect
github.com/antchfx/xmlquery v1.3.3 // indirect
github.com/gobwas/glob v0.2.3 // indirect
github.com/gocolly/colly v1.2.0
github.com/kennygrant/sanitize v1.2.4 // indirect
github.com/saintfish/chardet v0.0.0-20120816061221-3af4cd4741ca // indirect
github.com/temoto/robotstxt v1.1.1 // indirect
golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20231027133719-8eef5233e2a1 // indirect
google.golang.org/appengine v1.6.7 // indirect
)

All other dependencies are suffixed by //indirect. Also check that all direct and indirect dependencies will be recorded in the go.sum file.

Conclusion

This is all about modules in golang. Hope you have liked this article. Please share feedback in comments

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