I sort of agree with the go authors that there is not idiomatic way to deal with dependency management at all. (see: https://golang.org/doc/faq#get_version htt

I sort of agree with the go authors that there is not idiomatic way to deal with dependency management at all. (see: https://golang.org/doc/faq#get_version https://golang.org/doc/faq#get_version) They all have their ups/downs and mostly it has to do with the language they are supporting. Nodejs: + transparent code on download - virtually impossible to mirror - executes arbitrary 'script' blocks that install stuff on your system - subpar transitive dependency management scheme Java: + great transitive dependency management + private repos/mirrors are easy with well supported tools - black box byte code with no licenses - overly complicated software (ivy/maven) Python (pip): + simple and easy - virtual environment hell There are things that i like and don't like with go get: + dirt simple and used from the command line + code comes into src/. This means that you can see the code and the licenses that you are pulling in. This makes it easy to inspect code in your project. I don't have a hidden code repo in my home directory or some crap. + I can clearly see the licenses that i'm pulling in. If you have a GPL in your project it's pretty trivial to audit this (unlike other tools were you have to track down the homepages of 20 random people). - code is pulled from HEAD. Frankly this sucks. Hopefully people get their act together and release their software and got get will be able to pull a release. I can see the advantage of pulling from head if you're constantly iterating and monitoring for fixes. However, pulling from HEAD introduces the risk that there is a major untested defect in what you just pulled. Overall as long as there is not a huge chain of dependencies in the code that you're pulling, and as long as you're relatively confident that HEAD isn't going to bust you release, it's a great system. Honestly I think that it makes the developer more wary about pulling in random half-baked code from the internet into their project. Maybe that's a healthy thing.