Go Release GitHub Action

Automatically publish Go binaries to Github Release Assets through Github Action.

Features

• Build Go binaries for release and publish to Github Release Assets.
• Customizable Go versions. latest by default.
• Support different Go project path in repository.
• Support multiple binaries in same repository.
• Customizable binary name.
• Support multiple GOOS/GOARCH build in parallel by Github Action Matrix Strategy gracefully.
• Publish .zip for windows and .tar.gz for Unix-like OS by default, optionally to disable the compression.
• No musl library dependency issue on linux.
• Support extra command that will be executed before go build. You may want to use it to solve dependency if you're NOT using Go Modules.
• Rich parameters support for go build(e.g. -ldflags, etc.).
• Support package extra files into artifacts (e.g., LICENSE, README.md, etc).
• Support customize build command, e.g., use packr2(packr2 build) instead of go build. Another important usage is to use make(Makefile) for building on Unix-like systems.
• Support optional .md5 along with artifacts.
• Support optional .sha256 along with artifacts.
• Customizable release tag to support publish binaries per push or workflow_dispatch(manually trigger).
• Support overwrite assets if it's already exist.
• Support customizable asset names.
• Support private repositories.
• Support executable compression by upx.
• Support retry if upload phase fails.
• Support build multiple binaries and include them in one package(.zip/.tar.gz).

Usage

Basic Example

# .github/workflows/release.yaml

on:
  release:
    types: [created]

permissions:
    contents: write
    packages: write

jobs:
  release-linux-amd64:
    name: release linux/amd64
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: wangyoucao577/go-release-action@v1
      with:
        github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        goos: linux
        goarch: amd64

Input Parameters

Parameter	Mandatory/Optional	Description
github_token	Mandatory	Your GITHUB_TOKEN for uploading releases to Github assets.
goos	Mandatory	GOOS is the running program's operating system target: one of darwin, freebsd, linux, and so on.
goarch	Mandatory	GOARCH is the running program's architecture target: one of 386, amd64, arm, arm64, s390x, loong64 and so on.
goamd64	Optional	GOAMD64 is the running programs amd64 microarchitecture level, which is available since go1.18. It should only be used when GOARCH is amd64: one of v1, v2, v3, v4.
goarm	Optional	GOARM is the running programs arm microarchitecture level, which is available since go1.1. It should only be used when GOARCH is arm: one of 5, 6, 7,
goversion	Optional	The Go compiler version. latest(check it here) by default, optional 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19. You can also define a specific minor release, such as 1.19.5. Alternatively takes a download URL or a path to go.mod instead of version string. Make sure your URL references the linux-amd64 package. You can find the URL on Go - Downloads. e.g., https://dl.google.com/go/go1.13.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz.
project_path	Optional	Where to run go build. Use . by default. If enable multi_binaries: true, you can use project_path: ./cmd/... or project_path: ./cmd/app1 ./cmd/app2 to build multiple binaries and include them in one package.
binary_name	Optional	Specify another binary name if do not want to use repository basename. Use your repository's basename if not set.
pre_command	Optional	Extra command that will be executed before go build. You may want to use it to solve dependency if you're NOT using Go Modules.
build_command	Optional	The actual command to build binary, typically go build. You may want to use other command wrapper, e.g., packr2, example build_command: 'packr2 build'. Remember to use pre_command to set up packr2 command in this scenario. It also supports the make(Makefile) building system, example build_command: make. In this case both build_flags and ldflags will be ignored since they should be written in your Makefile already. Also, please make sure the generated binary placed in the path where make runs, i.e., project_path.
executable_compression	Optional	Compression executable binary by some third-party tools. It takes compression command with optional args as input, e.g., upx or upx -v. Only upx is supported at the moment.
build_flags	Optional	Additional arguments to pass the go build command.
ldflags	Optional	Values to provide to the -ldflags argument.
extra_files	Optional	Extra files that will be packaged into artifacts either. Multiple files separated by space. Note that extra folders can be allowed either since internal cp -r already in use. E.g., extra_files: LICENSE README.md
md5sum	Optional	Publish .md5 along with artifacts, TRUE by default.
sha256sum	Optional	Publish .sha256 along with artifacts, FALSE by default.
release_tag	Optional	Target release tag to publish your binaries to. It's dedicated to publish binaries on every push into one specified release page since there's no target in this case. DON'T set it if you trigger the action by release: [created] event as most people do.
release_name	Optional	Alternative to release_tag for release target specification and binary push. The newest release by given release_name will be picked from all releases. Useful for e.g. untagged(draft) ones.
release_repo	Optional	Repository where the build should be pushed to. By default the value for this is the repo from where the action is running. Useful if you use a different repository for your releases (private repo for code, public repo for releases).
overwrite	Optional	Overwrite asset if it's already exist. FALSE by default.
asset_name	Optional	Customize asset name if do not want to use the default format ${BINARY_NAME}-${RELEASE_TAG}-${GOOS}-${GOARCH}. Make sure set it correctly, especially for matrix usage that you have to append -${{ matrix.goos }}-${{ matrix.goarch }}. A valid example could be asset_name: binary-name-${{ matrix.goos }}-${{ matrix.goarch }}.
retry	Optional	How many times retrying if upload fails. 3 by default.
post_command	Optional	Extra command that will be executed for teardown work. e.g. you can use it to upload artifacts to AWS s3 or aliyun OSS
compress_assets	Optional	auto default will produce a zip file for Windows and tar.gz for others. zip will force the use of zip. OFF will disable packaging of assets.
upload	Optional	Upload release assets or not. It'll be useful if you'd like to use subsequent workflow to process the file, such as signing it on macos, and so on.

Output Parameters

Parameter	Description
release_asset_dir	Release file directory provided for use by other workflows.

Advanced Example

• Release for multiple OS/ARCH in parallel by matrix strategy.
• Go code is not in . of your repository.
• Customize binary name.
• Use go 1.13.1 from downloadable URL instead of the default version.
• Package extra LICENSE and README.md into artifacts.

# .github/workflows/release.yaml

on:
  release:
    types: [created]

permissions:
    contents: write
    packages: write

jobs:
  releases-matrix:
    name: Release Go Binary
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        # build and publish in parallel: linux/386, linux/amd64, linux/arm64, windows/386, windows/amd64, darwin/amd64, darwin/arm64
        goos: [linux, windows, darwin]
        goarch: ["386", amd64, arm64]
        exclude:
          - goarch: "386"
            goos: darwin
          - goarch: arm64
            goos: windows
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: wangyoucao577/go-release-action@v1
      with:
        github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        goos: ${{ matrix.goos }}
        goarch: ${{ matrix.goarch }}
        goversion: "https://dl.google.com/go/go1.13.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
        project_path: "./cmd/test-binary"
        binary_name: "test-binary"
        extra_files: LICENSE README.md

More Examples

Welcome share your usage for other people's reference!

• wiki/More-Examples

👏👏👏 Enjoy! Welcome star if like it😄