How to go get github library or package

[witenitenz]

Hi guys,

I normally use my Linux machine, running VS Code and the Go extension for all my Go projects. This works fine, however now i am using my work laptop which is unfortunately Windows based.

I have Windows 10 running on the laptop, along with VS Code and Go version 1.14.6. Not completely up to date, but no older than 6 months.

I have been completely unable to figure out how to download/install a particular library or package from github. Ordinarily this is a piece of cake on my Linux machine, however in Windows I can’t seem to get this to work.

When I run the code (which I know works, as I have seen it built and run on another machine) I get the following error:
main.go:6:2: cannot find package “github com/jedib0t/go-pretty/v6/table” in any of:
C:\Go\src\github.com\jedib0t\go-pretty\v6\table (from $GOROOT)
C:\Gowork\src\github.com\jedib0t\go-pretty\v6\table (from $GOPATH)

NOTE IGNORE THE MISSING DOT. Go forum refuses to let me put the dot between github and com in the error stated above!

If I try to run the following (or various derivatives of it) in the command line:
go get github.com/jedib0t/...

It doesn’t come up with an error, and in fact appears to complete, but I still have no library to compile against.

If I try what makes more sense to me:
go get github.com/jedib0t/go-pretty
I get told the following:
go build github.com/jedib0t/go-pretty: no non-test Go files in C:\Gowork\src\github.com\jedib0t\go-pretty

What am I doing wrong in Windows? Why can’t I do something that is so straighforward in Linux?

Thanks for the help!

[NobbZ (Norbert Melzer)]

Does your own project use go modules or is it legacy, or does it even vendor its dependencies?

As you have trouble finding the dependencies, its probably that you are not vendoring them.

So, if you use legacy, prepare your project by cloning it to the correct location of the GOPATH.

And then, regardless of legacy or go modules, cd into your project folder and run go get. Go should now figure out dependencies and download them.

[witenitenz]

Thanks NobbZ, I resolved the problem ultimately by using another machine. I suspect the key part I was possibly missing is cd’ing to my project directory prior to using go get (I never realized this was a requirement, and probably just got lucky over the last 6 months when using go get).

In terms of vendoring, while I understand what you mean, I am still not clear on how Go manages vendorization (IE what command do I run to ensure I have a library locally cloned or vendored? is go get xxx sufficient for this? Do I have to manually keep it up to date? is a vendored package unique to one project, or globally accessible to all projects?) I haven’t found a suitable online source that clearly answers questions like these.

[NobbZ (Norbert Melzer)]

Vendoring in legacy projects is a manual task, though tools exist that promise to help with this. I never used those.

Vendoring in modules is possible via a go command as I far as I know. Though I never actually used it, as the lockfile approach is sufficient in my team.

Perhaps someone else can tell more?