How To Install Go on Ubuntu 20.04

Check Ubuntu version

First, run this command to make sure what version of Ubuntu you have:

lsb_release -a 

Output example:

No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS Release: 20.04 Codename: focal 

Install GoLang

Download the latest GoLang archive:

curl -OL https://golang.org/dl/go1.17.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz 

Check SHA256 Checksum just in case:

sha256sum go1.17.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz 

Extract everything to the usr/local directory:

sudo tar -C /usr/local -xvf go1.17.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz 

Update PATH variable in ~/.profile file:

sudo nano ~/.profile 

Add new row with export at the end of the ~/.profile file:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin 

Save the changes and exit nano editor. Now we have to refresh your profile. Run this command:

source ~/.profile 

Installation and setup is done. Let's check if everything works.

Make sure everything works

We will check Go version and create and run a simple program.

Check the version

Run this command to check Go version:

go version 

Output:

go version go1.17.3 linux/amd64 

Create and run 'Hello, World!'

Let's create a simple Go program and run it.

Create a directory and switch to it.

mkdir hello_go cd hello_go 

Now we have to create go.mod file with the go mod init command:

go mod init test/hello_go 

Create a file where we'll write the program code in Go.

nano hello.go 

Copy this example code to the file and save changes.

package main import "fmt" func main() { fmt.Println("Hello, World!") } 

Save the changes and exit nano editor.

Run the program:

go run . 

Output:

Hello, World! 

Done!