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by IgorPartola 3936 days ago
This is why I advocate that software authors package their software for a variety of OS's in their native format. Yes, technically anyone can use Ruby gems or Python eggs or wheels or whatever Go calls their packages, but practically if I can apt-get/brew/emerge/rpm your package, I don't care what language it is written in. It is more effort but it makes a big difference in adoption IMO.
1 comments
fizzbatter 3936 days ago
> whatever Go calls their packages

Just fyi, but go doesn't have packages (in this context). Just native binaries with no dependencies.

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IgorPartola 3936 days ago
Well, it has `go get foo` which I'd consider a kind of installer/package manager. That's what I'm referring to since I've seen a good chunk of Go software distributed this way. The README usually says "install Go, then run `go get foo`".

Edit: in fact https://golang.org/doc/code.html refers to this as "Remote packages".

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fizzbatter 3936 days ago
That's fair - i just make the distinction because there's a difference, imo.

In the case of `go get`, there is no preconfigured package, it's akin to a pull and make. Because of that, `go get` tends to be targeted at Go developers. Unlike Python/Ruby/etc, typically only Go developers have the Go compiler at hand.

I mean, i'm in a similar camp with the OP (that you replied to), i don't like installing a runtime just for a specific package. But i typically look at projects that use Ruby as targeted for Ruby developers - not me.

Go is slightly different though, because the compiler is mainly for developers. You don't have to know what Go is to run a "Go binary". So, it's worth an asterisk. That's all i meant :)

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slrz 3936 days ago
Go get is a thin wrapper around git/hg/cvs/whatever. It's supposed to be used by developers, not end users. Note that your link is titled "How to write Go code". For distribution to end users just do whatever you'd do for a program written in C/C++/Java/Erlang/whatever. No need to rub your favorite programming language into your users' face constantly.

But yeah, there's a bunch of Go programmers (presumably those coming from Python or Ruby) that don't really seem to get that you don't need to put source code and a compiler onto your production servers.

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