Installing Go

Context

To start programming in Go, you need to install the Go toolchain (compiler, standard library, and command‑line tools). Go supports Linux, macOS, Windows, and several other platforms.

Installation steps per operating system

Linux

Download the latest tarball from go.dev/dl, e.g., go1.24.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz.
Remove any previous Go installation (usually /usr/local/go):
Terminal window
```
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go
```

Extract the tarball into /usr/local:

sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.24.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Add /usr/local/go/bin to your PATH environment variable (add to ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc):
Terminal window
```
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
```

macOS

Using the official installer: download the .pkg file from go.dev/dl and run it.
Using Homebrew: brew install go.

Windows

Download the MSI installer from go.dev/dl and run it. It will automatically set up the PATH environment variable.

Verify the installation

After installation, open a new terminal and run:

Code example

go version

Output

go version go1.24.0 linux/amd64

Additional verification

Check the Go environment:

go env

This shows variables like GOROOT (installation path), GOPATH (legacy workspace, not needed with modules), and GOOS/GOARCH.