Conditional Compilation in Go

We can run different code based on the operating system or architecture using conditional compilation.

Running on Different Operating Systems

my_project/
├── main.go
└── helper_darwin.go
└── helper_linux.go

If we can a function that is defined in both helper_darwin.go and helper_linux.go, and we run the program on a different operating system, the function will be called from the correct file.

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Running on Different Architectures

Go provides us with build tags to run different code based on the architecture.

my_project/
├── main.go
└── helper_mac_m1.go
└── helper_mac_intel.go

• helper_mac_m1.go file

//+build darwin,arm64

package main

import "fmt"

func checker_func(){
    fmt.Println("running on mac silicon")
}

• helper_mac_intel.go file

//+build darwin,!arm64

package main

import "fmt"

func checker_func(){
    fmt.Println("running on mac intel")
}

---

New build tag

Many new codebases also use build tag to run different code based on the operating system or architecture.

//go:build darwin && arm64

package main

import "fmt"

func checker_func(){
    fmt.Println("running on mac silicon")
}