[Slackbuilds-users] The state of development/google-go-lang

[fsLeg]

A few days ago ollama released an update that requires google-go-lang 
1.26. SBo only has version 1.25.9. I took a look at the SlackBuild and 
found that, first, it's not as trivial as changing VERSION for a new 
even major number, and second, the code is a mess. So I refactored it.

Well, first I just wrote my own[1] code, then I combined it with the 
existing SlackBuild[2]. Key points:

1. Instead of having a section for every bootstrap version, I iterate 
through them as the steps are the same anyway. This also means that 
future updates are as easy as adjusting GO_BOOTSTRAP array and required 
versions below it.

2. I don't see a point in building the entire bootstrap chain from 
scratch every time. The first time? Sure, this ensures there were no 
blobs used. But afterwards? You've already done that, so why not just 
use the version you already have to build the next one? This 
significantly reduces build time when upgrading versions. So my script 
detects the available go version and adjusts the bootstrap chain as 
needed, even removing it completely if the previously installed version 
of google-go-lang is recent enough.

My "detection" relies on the fact that Slackware's stock gcc-go package 
doesn't set GOROOT environment variable, while SBo's google-go-lang 
package does. Hopefully, it's enough. And if not, the script should 
still build the package using bootstrapping from scratch.

3. I removed some obsolete code. Also, what is the point of `go install` 
command? I don't think there's a use case for installing shared 
libraries of the toolchin itself. Arch doesn't do it, Google doesn't do 
it, everything still seems to just work if you don't do it. So I'm 
thinking about removing that too, it'll help save a lot of space.

And about the SlackBuild's state. The currently listed maintainer is 
Vincent Batts. However, his last contribution was in 2023, and the 
script has been de-facto maintained by the admins ever since. To whom 
should I've written this whole passage of text? Since I don't know, I'm 
writing here.

[1]: 
https://github.com/fsLeg/sb/blob/master/google-go-lang/google-go-lang.SlackBuild
[2]: 
https://github.com/fsLeg/SlackBuilds/blob/master/google-go-lang/google-go-lang.SlackBuild