go/src

Vendoring in std and cmd
========================

The Go command maintains copies of external packages needed by the
standard library in the src/vendor and src/cmd/vendor directories.

There are two modules, std and cmd, defined in src/go.mod and
src/cmd/go.mod. When a package outside std or cmd is imported
by a package inside std or cmd, the import path is interpreted
as if it had a "vendor/" prefix. For example, within "crypto/tls",
an import of "golang.org/x/crypto/cryptobyte" resolves to
"vendor/golang.org/x/crypto/cryptobyte". When a package with the
same path is imported from a package outside std or cmd, it will
be resolved normally. Consequently, a binary may be built with two
copies of a package at different versions if the package is
imported normally and vendored by the standard library.

Vendored packages are internally renamed with a "vendor/" prefix
to preserve the invariant that all packages have distinct paths.
This is necessary to avoid compiler and linker conflicts. Adding
a "vendor/" prefix also maintains the invariant that standard
library packages begin with a dotless path element.

The module requirements of std and cmd do not influence version
selection in other modules. They are only considered when running
module commands like 'go get' and 'go mod vendor' from a directory
in GOROOT/src.

Maintaining vendor directories
==============================

Before updating vendor directories, ensure that module mode is enabled.
Make sure that GO111MODULE is not set in the environment, or that it is
set to 'on' or 'auto', and if you use a go.work file, set GOWORK=off.

Also, ensure that 'go env GOROOT' shows the root of this Go source
tree. Otherwise, the results are undefined. It's recommended to build
Go from source and use that 'go' binary to update its source tree.

Requirements may be added, updated, and removed with 'go get'.
The vendor directory may be updated with 'go mod vendor'.
Tree inconsistencies are reported by 'go test cmd/internal/moddeps'.
A typical sequence might be:

    cd src  # or src/cmd
    go get golang.org/x/net@master
    go mod tidy
    go mod vendor
    go test cmd/internal/moddeps

Use caution when passing '-u' to 'go get'. The '-u' flag updates
modules providing all transitively imported packages, not only
the module providing the target package.

Note that 'go mod vendor' only copies packages that are transitively
imported by packages in the current module. If a new package is needed,
it should be imported before running 'go mod vendor'.

Go release cycle considerations
===============================

Applying changes to packages that are vendored follows the considerations
written down at go.dev/s/release.

When the Go tree is open for development, a specific change may be pulled in
at any time that it is needed. During the release freeze, the bar for changes
in vendored packages is the same as it is for changes in non-vendored packages.
After a major release is out, minor Go releases follow a more involved process
documented at go.dev/wiki/MinorReleases#cherry-pick-cls-for-vendored-golangorgx-packages.

In addition to individual updates that happen on demand, all dependencies in
the std and cmd modules are updated to their latest available versions at least
twice during every major release cycle. This is done to avoid the possibility of
some dependencies being left on very old versions and in turn make their eventual
update more disruptive. This recurring process is tracked in go.dev/issue/36905.
The golang.org/x/build/cmd/updatestd command exists to assist with that process.