Importing specific versions of packages

Sometimes, you need a specific version of a third-party package because of API incompatibilities or a particular behavior you depend on.

How to do it...

• To get a specific version of a package, specify the version label:

  $ go get modernc.org/[email protected]

• To get the latest release of a specific major version of a package, use this:

  $ go get gopkg.in/yaml.v3

  Alternatively, use this:

  $ go get github.com/ory/dockertest/v3

• To import the latest available version, use this:

  $ go get modernc.org/sqlite

• You can also specify a different branch. The following will get a module from the devel branch, if there is one:

  $ go get modernc.org/sqlite@devel

• Alternatively, you can get a specific commit:

  $ go get modernc.org/sqlite@a8c3eea199bc8fdc39391d5d261eaa3577566050

As you can see, you can get a specific revision of a module using the @revision convention:

$ go get modernc.org/[email protected]

The revision part of the URL is evaluated by the version control system, which, in this case, is git, so any valid git revision syntax can be used.

Tip:

You can find which revision control systems are supported by checking out the src/cmd/go/alldocs.go file under your Go installation.

That also means you can use branches:

$ go get modernc.org/sqlite@master

Tip

The https://gopkg.in service translates version numbers to URLs compatible with the Go build system. Refer to the instructions on that website on how to use it.