Does Go support incremental builds?

Go support incremental builds

The Go language is known in the programmer community for its fast compilation speed. This is due to the fact that Go chose to abandon the header file inclusion mechanism of its C ancestor in favor of package as the basic unit of compilation, which makes dependency analysis very simple and avoids the huge overhead of analyzing dependencies through header files as in C. Three specific reasons for Go’s fast compilation are.

Go requires that each source file explicitly list all dependent package imports at the beginning, so that the Go compiler does not have to read and process the entire file to determine the list of packages it depends on.
Go requires that there be no circular dependencies between packages, so that a package’s dependencies form a directed acyclic graph. packages can be compiled individually or in parallel, due to the acyclic nature
The target file (file_name.o or package_name.a) corresponding to a compiled Go package records not only the exported symbolic information of the package itself, but also the exported symbolic information of the packages it depends on. In this way, when the Go compiler compiles a package P, for each package import that P depends on (e.g., import package Q), it only needs to read one target file (e.g., the target file into which package Q is compiled, which already contains the export information of package Q’s dependencies), and does not need to read the information in other files.

However, a reader recently asked: Does Go support incremental builds? That’s a good question. But as fast as a language compiler can compile, without incremental builds, it won’t take long to build large code projects. So does Go support incremental builds? In this article, I’ll tell you the answer.

1. What is incremental build?

When it comes to build, we usually refer to statically compiled languages such as C, Go, Java, etc. Dynamic languages such as Python do not need to be built, they can be run directly with the interpreter. Each static compiled programming language usually has its own compilation unit, for example, Go’s compilation unit is a package, c/c++’s compilation unit is a c/c++ source file, java takes class as its compilation unit, etc. The process of building a static language is to compile the source code of the compilation unit into the corresponding intermediate target files (.o/.a/.class), and then link these target files together through a linker to form the final executable . The exception is Java, which does not have a linking process in the compilation process, but a linking process when jvm loads the class file.

So the question is: do all the source files in the project have to be recompiled each time the project is built to form a new intermediate target file? If I change just a few lines of code in one source file, do all the other source files in the project have to be recompiled as well? We obviously don’t want this to be a waste of computing power and developer time!

To avoid this, “incremental builds” have been introduced. To avoid this, “incremental builds” have been introduced. Simply put, each build recompiles only the source code of the changed compilation units and the compilation units that have dependencies on those changed compilation units!

incremental builds

The above figure shows the dependencies of compilation units of a project. When a developer modifies the source code of compilation unit C, if the project supports incremental compilation, then when the project is built again, only the source code of the changed compilation unit C, as well as B, which directly depends on C, and A, which indirectly depends on C, will be recompiled, while D and E will not be recompiled, and their intermediate target files will be reused by the linker.

There are two strategies to support incremental compilation: one is supported by the compiler of the programming language itself, such as Rust, and the other is not supported by the language’s own compiler and needs to be implemented with the help of third-party project build management tools, most typically the combination of C/C++ and Make/CMake.

So does the Go compiler (gc) support incremental compilation itself? Does it need to be assisted by an external project build management tool? Let’s move on to the next section.

2. See if Go supports incremental builds with examples

The Go language provides a unified go toolchain with a single command for building, go build, and a series of examples to see if Go natively supports incremental builds.

The project structure of the example is as follows.

demo1/
├── go.mod
├── main.go
├── pkg1/
│   └── pkg1.go
└── pkg2/
    └── pkg2.go

a) First build

In this project, the top-level module is demo1, and the main package depends on the pkg1 package and the pkg2 package. We first do the first build of the project with the go build command. We output the detailed log of the build with the command line parameter -x -v so that we can analyze.

cat >$WORK/b004/importcfg << 'EOF' # internal
# import config
packagefile internal/abi=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/abi.a
packagefile internal/bytealg=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/bytealg.a
packagefile internal/cpu=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/cpu.a
packagefile internal/goarch=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goarch.a
packagefile internal/goexperiment=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goexperiment.a
packagefile internal/goos=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goos.a
packagefile runtime/internal/atomic=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/atomic.a
packagefile runtime/internal/math=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/math.a
packagefile runtime/internal/sys=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/sys.a
EOF

### 笔者注：由于笔者在执行build前使用go clean -cache将所有cache清空，因此这里go build会重新编译Go运行时库并缓存到gocache中

cd /Users/tonybai/test/go/incremental-build/demo1
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/compile -o $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -p runtime -std -+ -buildid cjuCOFTfsWmpOEnkAPsP/cjuCOFTfsWmpOEnkAPsP -goversion go1.18rc1 -symabis $WORK/b004/symabis -c=4 -nolocalimports -importcfg $WORK/b004/importcfg -pack -asmhdr $WORK/b004/go_asm.h /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/alg.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/asan0.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/atomic_pointer.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/cgo.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/cgocall.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/cgocallback.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/cgocheck.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/chan.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/checkptr.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/compiler.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/complex.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/cpuflags.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/cpuflags_amd64.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/cpuprof.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/cputicks.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/debug.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/debugcall.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/debuglog.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/debuglog_off.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/defs_darwin_amd64.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/env_posix.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/error.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/extern.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/fastlog2.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/fastlog2table.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/float.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/hash64.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/heapdump.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/histogram.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/iface.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/lfstack.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/lfstack_64bit.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/lock_sema.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/lockrank.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/lockrank_off.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/malloc.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/map.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/map_fast32.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/map_fast64.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/map_faststr.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mbarrier.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mbitmap.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mcache.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mcentral.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mcheckmark.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mem_darwin.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/metrics.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mfinal.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mfixalloc.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mgc.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mgcmark.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mgcpacer.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mgcscavenge.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mgcstack.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mgcsweep.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mgcwork.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mheap.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mpagealloc.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mpagealloc_64bit.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mpagecache.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mpallocbits.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mprof.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mranges.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/msan0.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/msize.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mspanset.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mstats.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/mwbbuf.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/nbpipe_pipe.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/netpoll.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/netpoll_kqueue.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/os_darwin.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/os_nonopenbsd.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/panic.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/plugin.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/preempt.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/preempt_nonwindows.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/print.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/proc.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/profbuf.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/proflabel.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/race0.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/rdebug.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/relax_stub.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/runtime.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/runtime1.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/runtime2.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/rwmutex.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/select.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/sema.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/signal_amd64.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/signal_darwin.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/signal_darwin_amd64.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/signal_unix.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/sigqueue.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/sizeclasses.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/slice.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/softfloat64.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/stack.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/string.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/stubs.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/stubs_amd64.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/stubs_nonlinux.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/symtab.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/sys_darwin.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/sys_libc.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/sys_nonppc64x.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/sys_x86.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/time.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/time_nofake.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/timestub.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/tls_stub.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/trace.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/traceback.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/type.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/typekind.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/utf8.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/vdso_in_none.go /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime/write_err.go
cd /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/src/runtime
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/asm -p runtime -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -I $WORK/b004/ -I /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/include -D GOOS_darwin -D GOARCH_amd64 -compiling-runtime -D GOAMD64_v1 -o $WORK/b004/asm.o ./asm.s
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/asm -p runtime -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -I $WORK/b004/ -I /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/include -D GOOS_darwin -D GOARCH_amd64 -compiling-runtime -D GOAMD64_v1 -o $WORK/b004/asm_amd64.o ./asm_amd64.s
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/asm -p runtime -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -I $WORK/b004/ -I /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/include -D GOOS_darwin -D GOARCH_amd64 -compiling-runtime -D GOAMD64_v1 -o $WORK/b004/duff_amd64.o ./duff_amd64.s
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/asm -p runtime -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -I $WORK/b004/ -I /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/include -D GOOS_darwin -D GOARCH_amd64 -compiling-runtime -D GOAMD64_v1 -o $WORK/b004/memclr_amd64.o ./memclr_amd64.s
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/asm -p runtime -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -I $WORK/b004/ -I /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/include -D GOOS_darwin -D GOARCH_amd64 -compiling-runtime -D GOAMD64_v1 -o $WORK/b004/memmove_amd64.o ./memmove_amd64.s
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/asm -p runtime -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -I $WORK/b004/ -I /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/include -D GOOS_darwin -D GOARCH_amd64 -compiling-runtime -D GOAMD64_v1 -o $WORK/b004/preempt_amd64.o ./preempt_amd64.s
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/asm -p runtime -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -I $WORK/b004/ -I /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/include -D GOOS_darwin -D GOARCH_amd64 -compiling-runtime -D GOAMD64_v1 -o $WORK/b004/rt0_darwin_amd64.o ./rt0_darwin_amd64.s
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/asm -p runtime -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -I $WORK/b004/ -I /Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/include -D GOOS_darwin -D GOARCH_amd64 -compiling-runtime -D GOAMD64_v1 -o $WORK/b004/sys_darwin_amd64.o ./sys_darwin_amd64.s
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/pack r $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a $WORK/b004/asm.o $WORK/b004/asm_amd64.o $WORK/b004/duff_amd64.o $WORK/b004/memclr_amd64.o $WORK/b004/memmove_amd64.o $WORK/b004/preempt_amd64.o $WORK/b004/rt0_darwin_amd64.o $WORK/b004/sys_darwin_amd64.o # internal
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a # internal
cp $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a /Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/0e/0e28018e12d646c32443e88953b839c7ba0be3198e6a61afc8a74c0b3e76696a-d # internal
demo1
mkdir -p $WORK/b001/
cat >$WORK/b001/importcfg << 'EOF' # internal
# import config
packagefile demo1/pkg1=$WORK/b002/_pkg_.a
packagefile demo1/pkg2=$WORK/b003/_pkg_.a
packagefile runtime=$WORK/b004/_pkg_.a
EOF

### 笔者注：编译main包并缓存

cd /Users/tonybai/test/go/incremental-build/demo1
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/compile -o $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a -trimpath "$WORK/b001=>" -p main -lang=go1.18 -complete -buildid ZhPqHmBh6WQ6HFsDI1Yh/ZhPqHmBh6WQ6HFsDI1Yh -goversion go1.18rc1 -c=4 -nolocalimports -importcfg $WORK/b001/importcfg -pack ./main.go
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a # internal
cp $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a /Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/e8/e86257379cbdd59856f799594b63f3bb33ae89011955fee50e6fe90d3809ce5a-d # internal
cat >$WORK/b001/importcfg.link << 'EOF' # internal
packagefile demo1=$WORK/b001/_pkg_.a
packagefile demo1/pkg1=$WORK/b002/_pkg_.a
packagefile demo1/pkg2=$WORK/b003/_pkg_.a
packagefile runtime=$WORK/b004/_pkg_.a
packagefile internal/abi=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/abi.a
packagefile internal/bytealg=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/bytealg.a
packagefile internal/cpu=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/cpu.a
packagefile internal/goarch=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goarch.a
packagefile internal/goexperiment=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goexperiment.a
packagefile internal/goos=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goos.a
packagefile runtime/internal/atomic=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/atomic.a
packagefile runtime/internal/math=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/math.a
packagefile runtime/internal/sys=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/sys.a
modinfo "0w\xaf\f\x92t\b\x02A\xe1\xc1\a\xe6\xd6\x18\xe6path\tdemo1\nmod\tdemo1\t(devel)\t\nbuild\t-compiler=gc\nbuild\tCGO_ENABLED=1\nbuild\tCGO_CFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_CPPFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_CXXFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_LDFLAGS=\nbuild\tGOARCH=amd64\nbuild\tGOOS=darwin\nbuild\tGOAMD64=v1\nbuild\tvcs=git\nbuild\tvcs.revision=6534186d4b5b80c6c056237191fc703fa99cd19e\nbuild\tvcs.time=2022-03-12T13:52:57Z\nbuild\tvcs.modified=true\n\xf92C1\x86\x18 r\x00\x82B\x10A\x16\xd8\xf2"
EOF
mkdir -p $WORK/b001/exe/
cd .

### 笔者注：执行链接过程

/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/link -o $WORK/b001/exe/a.out -importcfg $WORK/b001/importcfg.link -buildmode=exe -buildid=mzN3WRwHiNhsESy6r89L/ZhPqHmBh6WQ6HFsDI1Yh/Nvx0U2gM2zWzj7FTESXk/mzN3WRwHiNhsESy6r89L -extld=clang $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b001/exe/a.out # internal

### 笔者注：将构建出来的可执行文件放到正确位置并改名
mv $WORK/b001/exe/a.out demo1
rm -r $WORK/b001/

b) Delete the executable and build it again

Next, we delete the executable demo1 from the previous build, and then execute go build again.

$go build -x -v
WORK=/var/folders/cz/sbj5kg2d3m3c6j650z0qfm800000gn/T/go-build3889005616
cd /Users/tonybai/test/go
git status --porcelain
cd /Users/tonybai/test/go
git show -s --no-show-signature --format=%H:%ct
mkdir -p $WORK/b001/
cat >$WORK/b001/importcfg.link << 'EOF' # internal

### 笔者注：这次构建直接使用了上一次缓存的各个包的缓存结果 

packagefile demo1=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/e8/e86257379cbdd59856f799594b63f3bb33ae89011955fee50e6fe90d3809ce5a-d
packagefile demo1/pkg1=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/24/24519941f74b316c8e83f2d2462b62370692c5f56b04ec3df97e3124ff8b4633-d
packagefile demo1/pkg2=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/fe/fef7890aa0cf3bb97e872d2b49cd834a5fad87cd5d8bf052dca65e4cecb541d2-d
packagefile runtime=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/0e/0e28018e12d646c32443e88953b839c7ba0be3198e6a61afc8a74c0b3e76696a-d

packagefile internal/abi=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/abi.a
packagefile internal/bytealg=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/bytealg.a
packagefile internal/cpu=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/cpu.a
packagefile internal/goarch=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goarch.a
packagefile internal/goexperiment=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goexperiment.a
packagefile internal/goos=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goos.a
packagefile runtime/internal/atomic=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/atomic.a
packagefile runtime/internal/math=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/math.a
packagefile runtime/internal/sys=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/sys.a
modinfo "0w\xaf\f\x92t\b\x02A\xe1\xc1\a\xe6\xd6\x18\xe6path\tdemo1\nmod\tdemo1\t(devel)\t\nbuild\t-compiler=gc\nbuild\tCGO_ENABLED=1\nbuild\tCGO_CFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_CPPFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_CXXFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_LDFLAGS=\nbuild\tGOARCH=amd64\nbuild\tGOOS=darwin\nbuild\tGOAMD64=v1\nbuild\tvcs=git\nbuild\tvcs.revision=6534186d4b5b80c6c056237191fc703fa99cd19e\nbuild\tvcs.time=2022-03-12T13:52:57Z\nbuild\tvcs.modified=true\n\xf92C1\x86\x18 r\x00\x82B\x10A\x16\xd8\xf2"
EOF
mkdir -p $WORK/b001/exe/
cd .
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/link -o $WORK/b001/exe/a.out -importcfg $WORK/b001/importcfg.link -buildmode=exe -buildid=mzN3WRwHiNhsESy6r89L/ZhPqHmBh6WQ6HFsDI1Yh/Nvx0U2gM2zWzj7FTESXk/mzN3WRwHiNhsESy6r89L -extld=clang /Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/e8/e86257379cbdd59856f799594b63f3bb33ae89011955fee50e6fe90d3809ce5a-d
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b001/exe/a.out # internal
mv $WORK/b001/exe/a.out demo1
rm -r $WORK/b001/

We can see from the log output of the go build command that go build does not recompile the source files in each package, but directly uses the demo1, demo1/pkg1 and demo1/pkg2 cached in the cache from the previous build to link and output the final executable. Initially, the Go compiler is able to identify if the source files in the project have changed and decide whether to recompile them.

c) Adding pkg3

We add pkg3 to demo1 and call the functions in the pkg3 package in main.go, which is equivalent to creating a dependency on pkg3, and then we build the project.

$go build -x -v
WORK=/var/folders/cz/sbj5kg2d3m3c6j650z0qfm800000gn/T/go-build3890553968
cd /Users/tonybai/test/go
git status --porcelain
cd /Users/tonybai/test/go
git show -s --no-show-signature --format=%H:%ct
demo1/pkg3
mkdir -p $WORK/b004/
cat >$WORK/b004/importcfg << 'EOF' # internal
# import config
EOF

### 笔者注：构建pkg3

cd /Users/tonybai/test/go/incremental-build/demo1
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/compile -o $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -p demo1/pkg3 -lang=go1.18 -complete -buildid yVeHBkrjxeJ1Ib-jc5Fu/yVeHBkrjxeJ1Ib-jc5Fu -goversion go1.18rc1 -c=4 -nolocalimports -importcfg $WORK/b004/importcfg -pack ./pkg3/pkg3.go
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a # internal
cp $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a /Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/2c/2c02674d62c50d4f2b8439c9314ef51b3e211d45d4114fa495fdd0e20c43440d-d # internal
demo1
mkdir -p $WORK/b001/
cat >$WORK/b001/importcfg << 'EOF' # internal
# import config

### 笔者注：直接重用demo1/pkg1和demo1/pkg2在cache中的目标文件

packagefile demo1/pkg1=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/24/24519941f74b316c8e83f2d2462b62370692c5f56b04ec3df97e3124ff8b4633-d
packagefile demo1/pkg2=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/fe/fef7890aa0cf3bb97e872d2b49cd834a5fad87cd5d8bf052dca65e4cecb541d2-d
packagefile demo1/pkg3=$WORK/b004/_pkg_.a
packagefile runtime=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/0e/0e28018e12d646c32443e88953b839c7ba0be3198e6a61afc8a74c0b3e76696a-d
EOF

### 笔者注：重新编译main.go

/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/compile -o $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a -trimpath "$WORK/b001=>" -p main -lang=go1.18 -complete -buildid Jii_iiylmm9d82X_Mzem/Jii_iiylmm9d82X_Mzem -goversion go1.18rc1 -c=4 -nolocalimports -importcfg $WORK/b001/importcfg -pack ./main.go
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a # internal
cp $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a /Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/52/52b5b7e233ac17201702c26f1da97c5a23e42e68f74040d576905323a016f66e-d # internal
cat >$WORK/b001/importcfg.link << 'EOF' # internal
packagefile demo1=$WORK/b001/_pkg_.a
packagefile demo1/pkg1=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/24/24519941f74b316c8e83f2d2462b62370692c5f56b04ec3df97e3124ff8b4633-d
packagefile demo1/pkg2=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/fe/fef7890aa0cf3bb97e872d2b49cd834a5fad87cd5d8bf052dca65e4cecb541d2-d
packagefile demo1/pkg3=$WORK/b004/_pkg_.a
packagefile runtime=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/0e/0e28018e12d646c32443e88953b839c7ba0be3198e6a61afc8a74c0b3e76696a-d
packagefile internal/abi=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/abi.a
packagefile internal/bytealg=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/bytealg.a
packagefile internal/cpu=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/cpu.a
packagefile internal/goarch=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goarch.a
packagefile internal/goexperiment=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goexperiment.a
packagefile internal/goos=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goos.a
packagefile runtime/internal/atomic=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/atomic.a
packagefile runtime/internal/math=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/math.a
packagefile runtime/internal/sys=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/sys.a
modinfo "0w\xaf\f\x92t\b\x02A\xe1\xc1\a\xe6\xd6\x18\xe6path\tdemo1\nmod\tdemo1\t(devel)\t\nbuild\t-compiler=gc\nbuild\tCGO_ENABLED=1\nbuild\tCGO_CFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_CPPFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_CXXFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_LDFLAGS=\nbuild\tGOARCH=amd64\nbuild\tGOOS=darwin\nbuild\tGOAMD64=v1\nbuild\tvcs=git\nbuild\tvcs.revision=6534186d4b5b80c6c056237191fc703fa99cd19e\nbuild\tvcs.time=2022-03-12T13:52:57Z\nbuild\tvcs.modified=true\n\xf92C1\x86\x18 r\x00\x82B\x10A\x16\xd8\xf2"
EOF
mkdir -p $WORK/b001/exe/
cd .
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/link -o $WORK/b001/exe/a.out -importcfg $WORK/b001/importcfg.link -buildmode=exe -buildid=GM4wTB4eDZmuIuIaQgup/Jii_iiylmm9d82X_Mzem/5aVh7LKgEkk3c4g5_WBq/GM4wTB4eDZmuIuIaQgup -extld=clang $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b001/exe/a.out # internal
mv $WORK/b001/exe/a.out demo1
rm -r $WORK/b001/

We see that Go only compiles the new pkg3 and the main.go that depends on pkg3. The pkg1 and pkg2 packages are not recompiled, but directly use the intermediate target files cached in the gocache.

d) Is it better to recompile a single changed source file or to recompile the whole package?

If a go package contains multiple source files, does the go compiler only compile the source files or the whole package when one of the source files has changed its contents? Let’s verify this.

Let’s add another source file pkg3_1.go to pkg3, and then do a build. After that, modify pkg3_1.go and do the build again.

$go build -x -v
WORK=/var/folders/cz/sbj5kg2d3m3c6j650z0qfm800000gn/T/go-build213842995
cd /Users/tonybai/test/go
git status --porcelain
cd /Users/tonybai/test/go
git show -s --no-show-signature --format=%H:%ct
demo1/pkg3
mkdir -p $WORK/b004/
cat >$WORK/b004/importcfg << 'EOF' # internal
# import config
EOF
cd /Users/tonybai/test/go/incremental-build/demo1

### 笔者注：编译pkg3包

/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/compile -o $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -p demo1/pkg3 -lang=go1.18 -complete -buildid pX9UOIUBAZfMKmMgHv3q/pX9UOIUBAZfMKmMgHv3q -goversion go1.18rc1 -c=4 -nolocalimports -importcfg $WORK/b004/importcfg -pack ./pkg3/pkg3.go ./pkg3/pkg3_1.go
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a # internal
cp $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a /Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/0c/0c3ce444d214c6c2999ba01b01eb4888c7864947d88bfcf63a41db4ac44002c2-d # internal
demo1
mkdir -p $WORK/b001/
cat >$WORK/b001/importcfg << 'EOF' # internal
# import config
packagefile demo1/pkg1=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/24/24519941f74b316c8e83f2d2462b62370692c5f56b04ec3df97e3124ff8b4633-d
packagefile demo1/pkg2=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/fe/fef7890aa0cf3bb97e872d2b49cd834a5fad87cd5d8bf052dca65e4cecb541d2-d
packagefile demo1/pkg3=$WORK/b004/_pkg_.a
packagefile runtime=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/0e/0e28018e12d646c32443e88953b839c7ba0be3198e6a61afc8a74c0b3e76696a-d
EOF

### 笔者注：编译依赖pkg3包的main.go

/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/compile -o $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a -trimpath "$WORK/b001=>" -p main -lang=go1.18 -complete -buildid cQBq3r5n1_wurKrb8Xmq/cQBq3r5n1_wurKrb8Xmq -goversion go1.18rc1 -c=4 -nolocalimports -importcfg $WORK/b001/importcfg -pack ./main.go
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a # internal
cp $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a /Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/e2/e2818b14455f4dd54caf5f731c7b3b6b8254a37a8912e73c33b327771069bde7-d # internal
cat >$WORK/b001/importcfg.link << 'EOF' # internal
packagefile demo1=$WORK/b001/_pkg_.a
packagefile demo1/pkg1=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/24/24519941f74b316c8e83f2d2462b62370692c5f56b04ec3df97e3124ff8b4633-d
packagefile demo1/pkg2=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/fe/fef7890aa0cf3bb97e872d2b49cd834a5fad87cd5d8bf052dca65e4cecb541d2-d
packagefile demo1/pkg3=$WORK/b004/_pkg_.a
packagefile runtime=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/0e/0e28018e12d646c32443e88953b839c7ba0be3198e6a61afc8a74c0b3e76696a-d
packagefile internal/abi=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/abi.a
packagefile internal/bytealg=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/bytealg.a
packagefile internal/cpu=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/cpu.a
packagefile internal/goarch=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goarch.a
packagefile internal/goexperiment=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goexperiment.a
packagefile internal/goos=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goos.a
packagefile runtime/internal/atomic=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/atomic.a
packagefile runtime/internal/math=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/math.a
packagefile runtime/internal/sys=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/sys.a
modinfo "0w\xaf\f\x92t\b\x02A\xe1\xc1\a\xe6\xd6\x18\xe6path\tdemo1\nmod\tdemo1\t(devel)\t\nbuild\t-compiler=gc\nbuild\tCGO_ENABLED=1\nbuild\tCGO_CFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_CPPFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_CXXFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_LDFLAGS=\nbuild\tGOARCH=amd64\nbuild\tGOOS=darwin\nbuild\tGOAMD64=v1\nbuild\tvcs=git\nbuild\tvcs.revision=6534186d4b5b80c6c056237191fc703fa99cd19e\nbuild\tvcs.time=2022-03-12T13:52:57Z\nbuild\tvcs.modified=true\n\xf92C1\x86\x18 r\x00\x82B\x10A\x16\xd8\xf2"
EOF
mkdir -p $WORK/b001/exe/
cd .
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/link -o $WORK/b001/exe/a.out -importcfg $WORK/b001/importcfg.link -buildmode=exe -buildid=qvFsK1K1jm8CeANRL3a2/cQBq3r5n1_wurKrb8Xmq/BB3nEx0b9edm7IM0XGAQ/qvFsK1K1jm8CeANRL3a2 -extld=clang $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b001/exe/a.out # internal
mv $WORK/b001/exe/a.out demo1
rm -r $WORK/b001/

We see that although only the source file pkg3_1.go is modified under the pkg3 package, go build recompiles all the source files of the whole package. The main.go, which depends on the pkg3 package, is also recompiled with it. This confirms that Go’s incremental compilation is based on Go packages, not on individual source files . This is consistent with the intermediate target file (pkg.a) cached by the go tools in the gocache as a package unit.

e) When a package with indirect dependencies changes

The previous examples show the scope of the compilation unit covered by the incremental build when a directly dependent package changes. If a package’s indirect dependency package changes, does that package participate in the incremental build? The answer is yes. Let’s continue with the example to prove it.

Let’s add the pkg4 package to the demo1 project and make pkg3 dependent on pkg4. This will result in a situation where main.go depends directly on the pkg3 package and indirectly on the pkg4 package. After we add the pkg4 package, we do a build. After that, we modify some parts of the pkg4 package and then execute the build again, the output log is as follows.


cd /Users/tonybai/test/go/incremental-build/demo1
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/compile -o $WORK/b005/_pkg_.a -trimpath "$WORK/b005=>" -p demo1/pkg4 -lang=go1.18 -complete -buildid AIv0TfCgKL2o00SexGru/AIv0TfCgKL2o00SexGru -goversion go1.18rc1 -c=4 -nolocalimports -importcfg $WORK/b005/importcfg -pack ./pkg4/pkg4.go
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b005/_pkg_.a # internal
cp $WORK/b005/_pkg_.a /Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/7e/7e2b8f229f8ca2f1ee315438f61cad5421bb5af9ed155e88a460faca806f4f90-d # internal
demo1/pkg3
mkdir -p $WORK/b004/
cat >$WORK/b004/importcfg << 'EOF' # internal
# import config
packagefile demo1/pkg4=$WORK/b005/_pkg_.a
EOF

### 笔者注：编译直接依赖demo1/pkg4包的demo1/pkg3包

/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/compile -o $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a -trimpath "$WORK/b004=>" -p demo1/pkg3 -lang=go1.18 -complete -buildid ObVmRzLu3J1liPWzEiXx/ObVmRzLu3J1liPWzEiXx -goversion go1.18rc1 -c=4 -nolocalimports -importcfg $WORK/b004/importcfg -pack ./pkg3/pkg3.go ./pkg3/pkg3_1.go
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a # internal
cp $WORK/b004/_pkg_.a /Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/4f/4f69cad7558ecf297799e29353bc802415785847c195555c22151f52abe1d9d9-d # internal
demo1
mkdir -p $WORK/b001/
cat >$WORK/b001/importcfg << 'EOF' # internal
# import config
packagefile demo1/pkg1=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/24/24519941f74b316c8e83f2d2462b62370692c5f56b04ec3df97e3124ff8b4633-d
packagefile demo1/pkg2=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/fe/fef7890aa0cf3bb97e872d2b49cd834a5fad87cd5d8bf052dca65e4cecb541d2-d
packagefile demo1/pkg3=$WORK/b004/_pkg_.a
packagefile runtime=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/0e/0e28018e12d646c32443e88953b839c7ba0be3198e6a61afc8a74c0b3e76696a-d
EOF

### 笔者注：编译间接依赖demo1/pkg4包的main.go

/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/compile -o $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a -trimpath "$WORK/b001=>" -p main -lang=go1.18 -complete -buildid i543xzAqlwVlWgQBYhsS/i543xzAqlwVlWgQBYhsS -goversion go1.18rc1 -c=4 -nolocalimports -importcfg $WORK/b001/importcfg -pack ./main.go
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a # internal
cp $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a /Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/67/67a5ff80f6dbbbe01fcf9efb4d6ff380cb27fd1723b06b209a17987f1c74f425-d # internal
cat >$WORK/b001/importcfg.link << 'EOF' # internal
packagefile demo1=$WORK/b001/_pkg_.a
packagefile demo1/pkg1=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/24/24519941f74b316c8e83f2d2462b62370692c5f56b04ec3df97e3124ff8b4633-d
packagefile demo1/pkg2=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/fe/fef7890aa0cf3bb97e872d2b49cd834a5fad87cd5d8bf052dca65e4cecb541d2-d
packagefile demo1/pkg3=$WORK/b004/_pkg_.a
packagefile runtime=/Users/tonybai/Library/Caches/go-build/0e/0e28018e12d646c32443e88953b839c7ba0be3198e6a61afc8a74c0b3e76696a-d
packagefile demo1/pkg4=$WORK/b005/_pkg_.a
packagefile internal/abi=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/abi.a
packagefile internal/bytealg=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/bytealg.a
packagefile internal/cpu=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/cpu.a
packagefile internal/goarch=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goarch.a
packagefile internal/goexperiment=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goexperiment.a
packagefile internal/goos=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/internal/goos.a
packagefile runtime/internal/atomic=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/atomic.a
packagefile runtime/internal/math=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/math.a
packagefile runtime/internal/sys=/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/darwin_amd64/runtime/internal/sys.a
modinfo "0w\xaf\f\x92t\b\x02A\xe1\xc1\a\xe6\xd6\x18\xe6path\tdemo1\nmod\tdemo1\t(devel)\t\nbuild\t-compiler=gc\nbuild\tCGO_ENABLED=1\nbuild\tCGO_CFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_CPPFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_CXXFLAGS=\nbuild\tCGO_LDFLAGS=\nbuild\tGOARCH=amd64\nbuild\tGOOS=darwin\nbuild\tGOAMD64=v1\nbuild\tvcs=git\nbuild\tvcs.revision=6534186d4b5b80c6c056237191fc703fa99cd19e\nbuild\tvcs.time=2022-03-12T13:52:57Z\nbuild\tvcs.modified=true\n\xf92C1\x86\x18 r\x00\x82B\x10A\x16\xd8\xf2"
EOF
mkdir -p $WORK/b001/exe/
cd .
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/link -o $WORK/b001/exe/a.out -importcfg $WORK/b001/importcfg.link -buildmode=exe -buildid=5U4vzFHU8ahkEvKH4-CV/i543xzAqlwVlWgQBYhsS/GOFyatqByKmjWK1zLLiq/5U4vzFHU8ahkEvKH4-CV -extld=clang $WORK/b001/_pkg_.a
/Users/tonybai/.bin/go1.18rc1/pkg/tool/darwin_amd64/buildid -w $WORK/b001/exe/a.out # internal
mv $WORK/b001/exe/a.out demo1
rm -r $WORK/b001/

3. Summary

Go’s incremental builds are based on the build cache mechanism introduced in Go 1.10. Go’s incremental builds are on a package by package basis, and when any source file in a Go package changes, Go will rebuild it, and will also build all Go packages that directly or indirectly depend on that package.

Table of Contents