go install Provider

Wraps go install for installing Go-based CLI tools from source. If you write Go, you already know the drill — go install github.com/x/y@latest drops a binary into $GOBIN. hams records the fact so you can reproduce it later.

Platforms: macOS, Linux

Usage

# Install (full import path)
hams goinstall install github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/v2/cmd/golangci-lint@latest
 
# No version? hams defaults to @latest
hams goinstall install github.com/goreleaser/goreleaser
 
# See what hams is managing
hams goinstall list

go install doesn’t have a native “uninstall” — to remove, hams deletes the matching binary from $GOBIN.

Hamsfile example

# macOS/goinstall.hams.yaml
schema_version: 1
provider: goinstall
 
groups:
  - tag: go-tools
    items:
      - app: github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/v2/cmd/golangci-lint
        version: latest
        intro: Go linter aggregator.
      - app: golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports
        intro: Go import organizer.
      - app: github.com/goreleaser/goreleaser
        version: v1.25.1
        intro: Go release tool.

• app is the full import path — same shape you’d hand to go install
• version is optional; skip it and you get latest. Pin a tag to freeze the version

How state is probed

Go has no native “list my globally-installed tools” command (because go install is stateless). hams’s workaround:

1. Scan $GOBIN (defaults to $GOPATH/bin, or ~/go/bin if $GOPATH isn’t set)
2. For each binary, run go version -m <bin> to read its embedded module info
3. Match those against the import paths declared in the Hamsfile

So even on a machine packed with random Go binaries, hams only claims the ones it’s actually managing.

Bootstrap

You need go itself. Easiest path is Homebrew or apt:

# Homebrew.hams.yaml
- app: go
  intro: Go programming language.

Then make sure Homebrew (or apt) comes before goinstall in provider_priority.

@latest and versioning

go install x@latest hits the module proxy each time to fetch the newest release. hams records the actual version installed into .state/. So on subsequent applies, as long as the Hamsfile says latest and there’s a state entry, hams won’t re-fetch unnecessarily — unless you explicitly run hams refresh --force or install x@latest again to pull a newer version.