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Version: 2.9.x(Latest)

Go 1.11 (2018-08-24)

Go 1.11 was released in August 2018. This is a significant release that introduces two major experimental features: Go Modules (module support) and WebAssembly support.

Major Changes​

Toolchain​

  • Go Modules (Experimental): Go 1.11 introduces preliminary support for modules, a new dependency management system intended to replace GOPATH.
    • go.mod: Defines the module path and dependency versions.
    • GO111MODULE: Environment variable to control module support (off, on, auto).
    • Versioning: Supports Semantic Versioning.
    • No longer dependent on GOPATH: Allows development in directories outside of GOPATH.
  • WebAssembly (Experimental): Go 1.11 adds experimental support for WebAssembly (js/wasm).
    • GOOS=js GOARCH=wasm: Sets the compilation target to WebAssembly.
    • Binary Size: The generated .wasm file includes the Go runtime, with a minimum size of about 2MB (500KB compressed).
  • Debugging Optimization: The compiler now generates more accurate debug information (variable locations, line numbers, breakpoints) for optimized binaries, making debugging release binaries more feasible.
  • DWARF Compression: DWARF debug information compression is enabled by default, reducing binary size.
  • go run: Now allows passing package paths, e.g., go run . or go run pkg/path.
  • go vet: go vet now reports a fatal error if the package fails type checking.

Runtime​

  • Sparse Heap: The runtime now uses a sparse heap layout, eliminating the previous 512GiB heap size limit. This also resolves address space conflicts when mixing Go/C binaries or using -race.
  • macOS/iOS: The runtime now uses libSystem.dylib instead of direct kernel calls, improving future compatibility.
  • Performance Improvements: Compiler optimizations bring better bounds check elimination, more efficient append operations, and optimizations for map clearing (delete loops).

Standard Library​

  • syscall/js: New package supporting WebAssembly. Used for Go code to interact with JavaScript environments (like browsers).
  • runtime/trace: Added user annotation APIs (UserTask, UserRegion) to record application-level information in execution traces.
  • time: Supports parsing time zones with signs and offsets (e.g., +03).
  • net/http: Transport added MaxConnsPerHost option; Cookie supports SameSite attribute.
  • crypto/tls: Supports RFC 5705 key exporters.
  • math/big: Multiple performance improvements for GOARCH=arm64.

References​

For more details, please refer to the official release notes: Go 1.11 Release Notes