protoc-gen-go: program not found or is not executable

Question

I am trying to build a sample application with Go gRPC, but I am unable to generate the code using "protoc"

I have installed the required libraries and Go packages using:

1. go get -u google.golang.org/grpc
2. go get -u github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go

I have tried setting the path as well, but no luck.

Sample "proto" file:

syntax = "proto3";

package greet;
option go_package="greetpb";

service GreetService{}

Error message:

"protoc-gen-go: program not found or is not executable
--go_out: protoc-gen-go: Plugin failed with status code 1."

Answer 1

There are two ways to install the protobuf compiler. If you're on Ubuntu you can use this:

sudo apt install protobuf-compiler 

Then of course there's the standard way:

go get -u github.com/golang/protobuf/{proto,protoc-gen-go} 

Here forward it's just adding the path. Assuming when you installed Go you did this,

echo 'export GOPATH=$HOME/Go' >> $HOME/.bashrc source $HOME/.bashrc 

Now you can just extend this:

echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin' >> $HOME/.bashrc source $HOME/.bashrc 

Strangely protoc can't expand ~.

Answer 2

Tannisha Hill indicated that the following package had to be added:

sudo apt install protobuf-compiler

In my case, I also had to add this one:

sudo apt install golang-goprotobuf-dev

Answer 3

I resolved it by following these steps:

Install the Go library using:

go get -u github.com/golang/protobuf/{proto,protoc-gen-go}

1. Run vim ~/.bash_profile
2. Add:

   export GO_PATH=~/go
   export PATH=$PATH:/$GO_PATH/bin
   

3. Run source ~/.bash_profile

Reference: Unable to build protobuf to go endpoint