website: Update "How to Write Go Code" with go modules

[mdwhatcott]

Now that go modules are a thing, is it time to update "How to Write Go Code" with information about modules?

[elliotforbes]

I wouldn't mind giving this one a shot?

[ianlancetaylor]

CC @robpike

[thepudds]

@andybons @bcmills This might be somewhat stuck with some type of CLA-related issue? See for example #28218 (comment). Is there someone you could suggest who could help unstick the CLA issue? Or is there some other approach you might recommend like deleting the PR and trying again in the hopes of avoiding whatever tripped up the CLA bot?

[andybons]

I’ve responded on the Pull Request.

[gopherbot]

Change https://golang.org/cl/142297 mentions this issue: doc/code.html: update code.html to use go modules

[thepudds]

@elliotforbes @mdwhatcott @deanveloper Thanks for helping make this a reality!

Several months ago, I think the plan or hope was that GO111MODULE would default to on by 1.12, and I suspect this issue and at least the initial work here might have started under that premise?

It now seems for multiple reasons GO111MODULE will still default to auto in 1.12 (i.e., preserving old GOPATH behavior by default in 1.12), and now the plan is to default to on in 1.13.

Reading through the comments in this issue and the PR and CL, I initially thought your intent was to update "How to Write Go Code" to be a modules-specific document, and to drop the details of older GOPATH behavior... but now after reading through more of the CL, I am not sure if that was the intent?

My personal take is:

• it might be that trying to explain both GOPATH and modules in a single document that targets someone new to Go might be adding more complexity than it is worth.
• given the default behavior in 1.12, it is probably premature (at least for now) to only have a modules-specific version of "How to Write Go Code" (without the GOPATH details for someone who still needs or wants to use GOPATH for whatever reason).

Together, that might seem to imply there could be two versions of this document – a new version that is modules-specific, and one that is the current GOPATH-specific version.

However, I am not sure of the best approach, so more than anything I wanted to ask what you might be currently thinking...

Finally, note that I'm basically just a random member of the community, so please do not give too much weight to anything I say here or in the CL (and instead just view my comments as coming from a peer in the community).

[elliotforbes]

Ok, I can update the code to remove the GOPATH explanations and focus purely on using modules. This could then be tagged to go live with the 1.12 release in February?

Does this sound like a plan?

[andybons]

Generally, documentation fixes are permitted during the freeze so it’s feasible this will get in by the time 1.12 stable is released. No need to worry about that.

Let’s wait for @bcmills to respond. Many people are out this week for the holidays so we’ll need to be a bit patient. Thanks.