5 ms·

Go binaries not running any more on Windows < 7 is going to be a serious issue.

rhencke 8y ago
As far as I know, not even Microsoft supports Windows versions below 7 anymore. Vista support has ended, and XP support ended long ago.
kxkfkkfvv 8y ago
How so? You can still compile with go 1.10
- zeveb 8y ago
  Only for as long as his dependencies can compile with Go 1.10. In my experience it's pretty common for the Go community to rapidly adopt features found in new releases, making it impossible to support old Go versions. I've seen guys commit code requiring a new Go version the day it was released! My own preference is to wait a few months, but I'm naturally conservative.
  - Kubuxu 8y ago
    > I've seen guys commit code requiring a new Go version the day it was released! I will be that guy once Go 1.11 releases. The reason being, Golang finally added feature [1] we were asking for since Jan 2015, it allows us to replace about 3k LOC of platform specific, low level (syscall) and error-prone code with 10 lines. [1]: https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9661 https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9661
  - nxkduudujs 8y ago
    This is a no-problem when you vendor your dependencies.
    - zeveb 8y ago
      Don't look at it as a burden: look at it as a gift. When you're born, you have no claim on anyone in the world other than your parents. You can't demand protection from the Singapore police; you can't demand that the consumer protections of Zaire be imposed on your diapers; you are alien to every state on earth. Every state, that is, but yours. At birth, you get the right to make demands of all these other people, and (under rules you'll get to contribute to) they'll answer those demands! You get welfare, healthcare, education — all because of your nation-state. That's pretty awesome!
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Cthulhu_ 8y ago
People still running Windows <7 is the real serious issue though. According to http://gs.statcounter.com/windows-version-market-share/desktop/worldwide/ http://gs.statcounter.com/windows-version-market-share/deskt..., about 3% are still on XP and 0.65 on Vista. How long would you expect them to support a small unsafe minority that is probably running an illegal version anyway?
- jedisct1 8y ago
  I wouldn't trust these numbers too much. Pretty sure Windows XP usage remains far more than 3% in India and China.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - coldtea 8y ago
    And those Indians and Chinese running XP rely on Go apps on their desktop OS?
    - akerl_ 8y ago
      You make it sound like it's crazy to want to run a Golang application on your desktop. Do you actually believe it's far-fetched for a user to have an app that's written in Go?
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
      - AlphaSite 8y ago
        People don’t do it atm and there’s an argument to be made that supporting legacy OSes in future version of your language is a folly. If there was a huge base of go apps for legacy OSes then I’d see your point but there isn’t.
      - pknopf 8y ago
coldtea 8y ago
>Windows < 7 is going to be a serious issue Because people deploy Go on Windows? And what's more, on Windows < 7? (And they also need to be able to recompile with the very latest Go?)
PopsiclePete 8y ago
People still stupid enough to run Windows XP are the real issue here, not Go. Those people need to be quickly isolated on their own little island of stupidity and cordoned/blocked off from the rest of the human population on Earth, ASAP.
ValentineC 8y ago
I personally think Go binaries not being supported on macOS 10.9 and earlier is a bigger issue, though the absolute market size is definitely smaller. bradfitz of the Go team did mention in an earlier thread [1] that this mainly means that they won't be testing on those older OSes. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16395242 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16395242
IshKebab 8y ago
No it isn't...

As far as I know, not even Microsoft supports Windows versions below 7 anymore. Vista support has ended, and XP support ended long ago.

kxkfkkfvv 8y ago

How so? You can still compile with go 1.10

zeveb 8y ago
Only for as long as his dependencies can compile with Go 1.10. In my experience it's pretty common for the Go community to rapidly adopt features found in new releases, making it impossible to support old Go versions. I've seen guys commit code requiring a new Go version the day it was released! My own preference is to wait a few months, but I'm naturally conservative.
- Kubuxu 8y ago
  > I've seen guys commit code requiring a new Go version the day it was released! I will be that guy once Go 1.11 releases. The reason being, Golang finally added feature [1] we were asking for since Jan 2015, it allows us to replace about 3k LOC of platform specific, low level (syscall) and error-prone code with 10 lines. [1]: https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9661 https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9661
- nxkduudujs 8y ago
  This is a no-problem when you vendor your dependencies.
  - zeveb 8y ago
    Don't look at it as a burden: look at it as a gift. When you're born, you have no claim on anyone in the world other than your parents. You can't demand protection from the Singapore police; you can't demand that the consumer protections of Zaire be imposed on your diapers; you are alien to every state on earth. Every state, that is, but yours. At birth, you get the right to make demands of all these other people, and (under rules you'll get to contribute to) they'll answer those demands! You get welfare, healthcare, education — all because of your nation-state. That's pretty awesome!

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Cthulhu_ 8y ago

People still running Windows <7 is the real serious issue though. According to http://gs.statcounter.com/windows-version-market-share/desktop/worldwide/ http://gs.statcounter.com/windows-version-market-share/deskt..., about 3% are still on XP and 0.65 on Vista. How long would you expect them to support a small unsafe minority that is probably running an illegal version anyway?

jedisct1 8y ago
I wouldn't trust these numbers too much. Pretty sure Windows XP usage remains far more than 3% in India and China.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- coldtea 8y ago
  And those Indians and Chinese running XP rely on Go apps on their desktop OS?
  - akerl_ 8y ago
    You make it sound like it's crazy to want to run a Golang application on your desktop. Do you actually believe it's far-fetched for a user to have an app that's written in Go?
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - AlphaSite 8y ago
      People don’t do it atm and there’s an argument to be made that supporting legacy OSes in future version of your language is a folly. If there was a huge base of go apps for legacy OSes then I’d see your point but there isn’t.
    - pknopf 8y ago

coldtea 8y ago

>Windows < 7 is going to be a serious issue Because people deploy Go on Windows? And what's more, on Windows < 7? (And they also need to be able to recompile with the very latest Go?)

PopsiclePete 8y ago

People still stupid enough to run Windows XP are the real issue here, not Go. Those people need to be quickly isolated on their own little island of stupidity and cordoned/blocked off from the rest of the human population on Earth, ASAP.

ValentineC 8y ago

I personally think Go binaries not being supported on macOS 10.9 and earlier is a bigger issue, though the absolute market size is definitely smaller. bradfitz of the Go team did mention in an earlier thread [1] that this mainly means that they won't be testing on those older OSes. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16395242 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16395242

IshKebab 8y ago

No it isn't...