Distributing Go Applications with GoReleaser

#go #githubactions

This article was originally published on bmf-tech.com.

GoReleaser was used to cross-compile and distribute binaries for a Go application.

What is GoReleaser

GoReleaser is a tool that automates the build, packaging, and release of applications written in Go.

It can perform cross-compilation, compress binaries, create archives, and upload artifacts to platforms like GitHub.

Distributing Binaries with GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions provides an official GoReleaser Action, which can be used. Although GoReleaser can be configured with a settings file, it can also be used without one.

Below is an example workflow implementation assuming a build under the cmd directory.

Dry run

Incorporating a dry run into the CI process ensures that binaries can be distributed when releasing, avoiding distribution failures.

name: Dry run GoReleaser

on: [push]

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  goreleaser:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        go-version: [ '1.21.x' ]
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: Set up Go
        uses: actions/setup-go@v4
        with:
          go-version: ${{ matrix.go-version }}
      - name: Dry run GoReleaser
        uses: goreleaser/goreleaser-action@v5
        with:
          distribution: goreleaser
          version: latest
          args: release --rm-dist --skip-publish --snapshot
          workdir: cmd

Release

Execute binary distribution upon tag release. Once this job is complete, artifacts will be attached to the GitHub release tag page.

name: GoReleaser

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - '*'

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  goreleaser:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        go-version: [ '1.21.x' ]
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: Set up Go
        uses: actions/setup-go@v4
        with:
          go-version: ${{ matrix.go-version }}
      - name: Run GoReleaser
        uses: goreleaser/goreleaser-action@v5
        with:
          distribution: goreleaser
          version: latest
          args: release --clean
          workdir: cmd
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}