GOPATH value setting

Question

I'm install the go with the go1.3.1.windows-amd64.msi, after installation GOROOT is default setting, I found the D:\Programs\Go\bin in the PATH,then I create a GOPATH environment variant, when using the 'go get' command, error occurs:

package github.com/coreos/etcd: cannot download, $GOPATH must not be set to $GOROOT. For more details see: go help gopath

OS: windows 7

GOPATH will conflict with GOROOT?

How can I set these two PATH values?

Answer 1

• GOROOT must reference the folder where you installed GO
• GOPATH must reference an empty folder which will be your workspace (src/pkg/bin for your projects)

Add those two variables in your user environment variables.

A go get github.com/coreos/etcd should:

• download the sources in %GOPATH%/src/github.com/coreos/etcd (src is created for you)
• compile it in %GOPATH%/pkg/windows_amd64 (pkg/ is created for you, windows_amd64 reflects your windows architecture)
• with go install, install it in %GOPATH%/bin (bin/ is also created for you)

Note: with Go 1.8+ (Q2 2017), GOPATH might be set for you by default to (on Windows) %USERPROFILE%/go.
On Linux, it would be $HOME/go: see issue 17262.

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Update 2018, three years later: GOPATH is becoming obsolete with Go 1.11 modules:

mkdir newProject
cd newProject
set GO111MODULE=on
go mod init myproject

Answer 2

I faced with the same problem. However i set everything as it was said in the tutorial but forgot to restart cmd. So the steps were:

1. Download and install Go distribution(the GOROOT variable was set automatically)
2. Create new folder wherever you like for your workspace, create there 3 directories: bin, src and pkg
3. Then go to Control Panel -> All Control Panel Items -> System -> Advansed System Settings -> tab Advanced -> Environment Variables -> add new system variable by clicking New on System varaibles -> Variable name = GOPATH, Variable value = Your:\directory\that\you\created
4. When you're done, RESTART your cmd or Bash(that's important) and you have your GOPATH set. To be sure run go env and you will see your value.