How To Set up Golang on Debian 11

In this article, we want to teach you How To Set up Golang on Debian 11. Golang is an open-source programming language created by Google. This language has gained immense fame because of its top-notch security, concurrency, and user-friendliness. Golang combines the notable performance and top security features of C++ with the speed of Python.

You can now follow the guide steps below on the Orcacore website to set up Golang on Debian 11.

Set up Golang on Debian 11

Before you start to install Golang on Debian 11, you need to log in to your server as a non-root user with sudo privileges. To do this, you can follow our article The Initial Server Setup with Debian 11.

Now, follow the steps below to install Golang on Debian 11.

1. Download and Install Golang on Debian 11

First, you need to update your local package index with the command below:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Then, you need to visit the Go Downloads page to check the latest version of Golang.

Next, install the wget tool on your server to download the Go:

sudo apt install wget -y

Now use the following command to download Golang on your Debian 11:

sudo wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.24.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Extract your Golang downloaded file to the /usr/local directory with the command below:

sudo tar -zxvf go1.24.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /usr/local/

At this point, you need to set the PATH environment variable to include Go’s bin directory. To do this, run the following command:

sudo echo "export PATH=/usr/local/go/bin:${PATH}" | sudo tee /etc/profile.d/go.sh

Next, you need to source the file with the command below:

sudo source /etc/profile.d/go.sh

Verify your Golang installation on Debian 11 by checking its version:

go version

In your output, you will see:

Output
go version go1.24.5 linux/amd64

Also, you can check the Golang environment variables on Debian 11:

go env

In your output, you will see:

2. Create a Sample Project with Golang

At this point, we will show you how to use Golang by creating your first project. First, create a hello directory for your project with the command below:

sudo mkdir -p hello

Switch to your directory:

cd hello

Then, create a simple program to test your Golang installation on Debian 11. Create the file with your favorite text editor; here, we use the vi editor:

sudo vi hello.go

Add the following content to your file:

package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
fmt.Printf("Welcome To orcacore\n")
}

When you are done, save and close the file.

Now you need to build go.mod files so that you can execute the Golang file that you have created on Debian 11:

sudo vi go.mod

Add the following line to the file:

module example.com/mod

When you are done, save and close the file.

Build the program with the command below:

sudo go build

Then, execute the program with the following command:

sudo ./mod

In your output, you will see:

Output
Welcome To orcacore

Conclusion

Installing Go (Golang) on Debian 11 is a straightforward process that sets up a powerful development environment for building fast, efficient, and scalable applications. With Go installed, you can explore its capabilities for building web apps, APIs, CLI tools, and more.

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