How to checkout a release with go get?

Question

I have been trying to install a module using go get github.com/xxx/xxx . It used to get installed easily previously, but the maintainers release a new release and it's not working for me anymore. I am looking to know if there is any way I can get the previous release to install? By default it is installing the master branch. Is there any flag where I can put the branch info like go get github.com/xxx/xxx --branch=xxx ?

Answer 1

No, you'll need to use an external dependency management tool that can handle branch and version freezes. Then you use it instead of calling go get directly - this changes from tool to tool - and you can freeze versions. A few popular tools:

1. Godep (I personally use it): https://github.com/tools/godep

2. Nut https://github.com/jingweno/nut

3. Gopm https://github.com/gpmgo/gopm

4. Some libraries use gopkg.in which embeds vesions into the import urls. http://labix.org/gopkg.in This does allow to use go-get directly, but it depends on whether the libraries are released via gopkg

Answer 2

You can fork the library and decide if you want to pull new versions to your fork. And roll back if the new version break you application.