The Go Programming Language

go-legacy-win7 is a fork of the Go programming language that maintains Windows 7 support and allows for deprecated go get behaviour. This project aims to provide a stable Go environment for users who need to support legacy Windows systems or prefer the traditional Go workflow.

Gopher image by Renee French, licensed under Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution licence.

Differences from Upstream Go

1. Windows 7 Support
   Whilst the official Go project has dropped support for Windows 7, this fork maintains compatibility with Windows 7 systems.

2. Classic go get Behaviour
   This fork allows for the deprecated go get behaviour when GO111MODULE is set to "off" or "auto". This means:

   • In GOPATH/src, go get and go install can operate in GOPATH mode.
   • Outside of GOPATH/src, these commands can use module-aware mode when appropriate.

3. Compatibility Notes
   Please be aware that some newer Go features may not be fully compatible with Windows 7. We try to maintain as much functionality as possible, but some limitations may exist.

Changes in Each Release

Every release includes the following modifications:

• Restored Windows 7 support by reverting 693def1
  • The Windows binary provided here also supports Windows 7
• Restored deprecated go get behaviour for use outside modules (reverted de4d503)
• Includes all improvements and bug fixes from the corresponding upstream Go release

Download and Install

Binary Distributions

Binary distributions are available at the release page.

Windows Installation

1. Download the go-legacy-win7-<version>.windows-<arch>.zip file.
2. Extract the ZIP to C:\Go (or any preferred location).
3. Add C:\Go\bin (or your chosen path) to the system PATH.
4. Add %USERPROFILE%\go\bin to the user PATH.
5. Add %USERPROFILE%\go as GOPATH to user variables.

macOS Installation

1. Download the appropriate go-legacy-win7-<version>.darwin-<arch>.tar.gz file.
2. Extract the archive to /usr/local:

   sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go-legacy-win7-<version>.darwin-<arch>.tar.gz
   

3. Add /usr/local/go-legacy-win7/bin to your PATH and set GOPATH:
   • For bash (if you're using bash):

     echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go-legacy-win7/bin:$HOME/go-legacy-win7/bin' >> ~/.bash_profile
     echo 'export GOPATH=$HOME/go' >> ~/.bash_profile
     source ~/.bash_profile
     

   • For zsh (default on macOS Catalina and later):

     echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go-legacy-win7/bin:$HOME/go-legacy-win7/bin' >> ~/.zshrc
     echo 'export GOPATH=$HOME/go' >> ~/.zshrc
     source ~/.zshrc
     

Linux Installation

1. Download the appropriate go-legacy-win7-<version>.linux-<arch>.tar.gz file.
2. Extract the archive to /usr/local:

   sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go-legacy-win7-<version>.linux-<arch>.tar.gz
   

3. Add /usr/local/go-legacy-win7/bin to your PATH and set GOPATH:
   • For bash (default on most Linux distributions):

     echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go-legacy-win7/bin:$HOME/go-legacy-win7/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
     echo 'export GOPATH=$HOME/go' >> ~/.bashrc
     source ~/.bashrc
     

   • For zsh (if you're using zsh):

     echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go-legacy-win7/bin:$HOME/go-legacy-win7/bin' >> ~/.zshrc
     echo 'export GOPATH=$HOME/go' >> ~/.zshrc
     source ~/.zshrc
     

After installation, verify the installation by opening a new terminal and running:

go version

Install From Source

To install from source, please follow the steps on the official website.

Contributing

Feedback and issue reports are welcome, and we encourage you to open pull requests to contribute to the project. We appreciate your help!

Note that the Go project uses the issue tracker for bug reports and proposals only. See https://go.dev/wiki/Questions for a list of places to ask questions about the Go language.