How Can I Create a Go Binary and Library with the Same Name?

Sharing a Name Between Libraries and Binaries in Go

When building a software package, you may desire a library and a standalone binary with the same name. This can be useful for tools like tar, which is used both as a command and a library.

Initially, you might attempt a simple directory structure:

src/
    tar/
        tar.go # belongs to package tar
        main.go # imports tar and provides a main function

However, this approach leads to a binary named "tarbin" instead of "tar." To resolve this, the Go documentation recommends separating the command and library into distinct directories:

src/
    tar/
        tar.go # belongs to package tar
    tarbin/
        main.go # imports tar and provides a main function

While this produces a command named "tar," the library is now called "tarbin."

A more elegant solution is to nest the binary within the library directory:

src/
    tar/
        tar.go         # tar library
        tar/
            main.go    # tar binary

This structure provides both a binary named "tar" and a library named "tar."

Depending on your priorities, you can swap the positions of the library and the binary within the nested structure.

Nestling all the code within a single tree offers benefits, such as running go install ./... from the root directory to build all packages and subpackages.

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