Here you go: https://play.golang.org/p/0vGdejrjm5H https://play.golang.org/p/0vGdejrjm5H To reproduce the key lines here: os.Stdout.Close() _, err :=

Here you go: https://play.golang.org/p/0vGdejrjm5H https://play.golang.org/p/0vGdejrjm5H To reproduce the key lines here: os.Stdout.Close() _, err := fmt.Println("foo") You can also close stdout from outside the program, use ptrace to cause the write call to fail, or a number of other things.