CODEWITHSUNDEEP
go
Sebastian Meier zu Biesen
Sebastian Meier zu Biesen

Reputation: 949

Is there a `go uninstall`?

As stated, I get that go install copies the executable to {GOPATH}/bin but is there such a thing as go uninstall?

After go clean, the executable is still in {GOPATH}/bin; I found nothing in the docs, bar a rather blunt force rm -f {filename}.

Upvotes: 81

Views: 50941

Answers (2)

Taylan
Taylan

Reputation: 3167

If the removed bin file keeps coming back, you might be using a version manager.

Let's say you're using mise version manager. In that case just removing the ~/.local/share/mise/shims/some-bin will not be enough. The removed bin file will come back on each reshim action. You also need to remove the ~/.local/share/mise/installs/go/{go_version}/bin/some-bin file.

This probably applies for other version managers such as asdf, gvm, goenv etc.

Upvotes: 1

Eli Bendersky
Eli Bendersky

Reputation: 273706

Removing the installed executable with rm is the right way to go.

In Go, go install builds a single-file binary and "installs" it by copying it to the appropriate directory (*). To "uninstall" this binary, simply remove it with rm.

It may feel "blunt force" to you, but it's actually reassuring if you think about it. There's little magic involved. Installation means a single binary gets placed in some directory (which is likely in your $PATH).

See also this answer for a relevant discussion of removing packages installed with go get

(*) From go help install:

Executables are installed in the directory named by the GOBIN environment variable, which defaults to $GOPATH/bin or $HOME/go/bin if the GOPATH environment variable is not set. Executables in $GOROOT are installed in $GOROOT/bin or $GOTOOLDIR instead of $GOBIN.

Upvotes: 84

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