Go Binary Sizes Are Growing out of Control

We're on it: https://code.google.com/p/go/issues/detail?id=6853

A goal for Go 1.3 is to address this.

While this might make Go unsuitable for embedded use it doesn't invalidate it for a server backend where data structures, cache and database storage dwarf the executable size.

It is still easier to ship a single statically linked go executable than a language runtime and libraries with your code (eg python, ruby, php etc).

Bah, as a Lisp programmer a standalone executable for hello world weighs in at 43 MB (SBCL 1.1.8 on Mac OS 10.8.5).

If the binary sizes are a problem for you, a temporary solution could be to pack them with something like UPX.

http://upx.sourceforge.net/