Semantic Version Comparison with Go

I was writing a script to update Go to a newer version if an update was available. For that, I needed to compare the currently installed version with the latest remote version.Then I came across golang.org/x/mod/semver and used it to compare the local and remote versions.

Follow the steps below to get started.

Install the semver module

go get golang.org/x/mod/semver 

Import the package in your code

In your code, import the semver package like this:

import "golang.org/x/mod/semver" 

Use it in your code:

v := "v1.24.6" w := "v1.25.0" semver.Compare(v, w) 

The rules are simple:

• -1 if v < w
• 1 if v > w
• 0 if v == w

Full Example

Here’s the complete code to check if your local Go version needs an update:

package main import ( "fmt" "golang.org/x/mod/semver" ) func main() { local := "v1.24.6" remote := "v1.25.0" switch semver.Compare(local, remote) { case -1: fmt.Println("Update available") case 1: fmt.Println("You're already up to date") case 0: fmt.Println("Both local and remote version are same") } } 

That’s it! Pretty neat and super straightforward. With just one function, you can easily handle semantic version comparisons with Go.