Uninstalling Go (golang)

Question

I'm trying to install drive, which requires Go.

I did:

sudo apt-get install golang git mercurial

which successfully installed version 1.2.1. Unfortunately, when I tried to install drive with:

go get -u github.com/odeke-em/drive/cmd/drive

I encountered this error, and now I see I need at least version 1.4 of Go to make things work. The golang doc says you must first remove the existing version.

So I came across this question that says to simply use:

sudo apt-get purge golang

which gave me this output:

The following packages will be REMOVED:
golang*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 16 not upgraded.
After this operation, 92.2 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
(Reading database ... 263287 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing golang (2:1.2.1-2ubuntu1) ...

(no more output after the three dots—just back to the prompt).

But I still see the go directory in /usr/lib/, and there's also still a gopath directory in my home directory.

which I think was created when I did:

$ cat << ! >> ~/.bashrc
> export GOPATH=\$HOME/gopath
> export PATH=\$GOPATH:\$GOPATH/bin:\$PATH
> !
$ source ~/.bashrc # To reload the settings and get the newly set ones # Or open a fresh terminal

during the installation (to create the GOPATH).

So I'm not sure if the uninstall was successful and if it's safe to install a newer version of Go.

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

You get my upvote for the downvoter. Stop that drive-by downvote crap. This is a seriously annoying problem, I was glad to find the question, thanks. — moodboom, Jul 19 '21 at 14:40

score 39 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 14 '22 at 16:17

39

I spent a whole morning fixing this, tried all different solutions, when I type go version, it's still there, really annoying...

This worked for me.

sudo apt-get remove golang-go
sudo apt-get remove --auto-remove golang-go

Check this original post :D

edited Mar 14 '22 at 16:17

M.A.K. Ripon

3,139

answered Jun 23 '17 at 06:45

loukaswho

491

1

--auto-remove force it to remove all from linux-images which consumed around 10 minutes. @loukaswho – alper Aug 27 '18 at 13:40

score 14 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 27 '21 at 13:11

14

I realize that this is a little old, but the answers at https://golang.org/doc/manage-install#uninstalling may help you.

Essentially just removing the directories /usr/local/go or /usr/lib/go and modifying your path at /etc/profile or $HOME/.profile should be enough.

edited Feb 27 '21 at 13:11

Mehmet Karatay

190
11

answered Aug 17 '16 at 20:22

perfect5th

241
2
5

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 18 '17 at 21:12

best way to uninstall is to open terminal and type

sudo apt-get uninstall purge golang*

this removes every package associated with go. Then you can run

sudo apt-get update

But if you did that and nothing worked, you can do this

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go

then try running the purge again. But You should update to Go 1.8, which sets the GOPATH for you. But hey! before updating first remove existing golang.

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited May 24 '17 at 10:05

3

First you have to remove all the go-packages in your system by type this code from terminal

sudo apt-get purge golang*

Then follow the instructions to download and install golang

Official golang website

edited May 24 '17 at 10:05

Ravexina

55,668
25
164
183

answered May 24 '17 at 09:39

user692679

31

Thanks, this was the only solution that worked – brakertech Nov 17 '22 at 05:11

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 15 '23 at 11:06

As mentioned in official docs

Firstly, delete the go directory. Mostly it will be /usr/local/go. If you are not sure check it using which go. So, run sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go.
Next you need to remove the Go bin directory from your PATH environment variable. i.e. remove GOBIN, GOPATH from ~/.bashrc.

Uninstalling Go (golang)

5 Answers5