Go中的.a文件是什么？

Question

In the GO standard library, there are source files under my Go installation:

C:\Go\src\pkg

The packages under the source folder corresponds to .a files in here:

C:\Go\pkg\windows_amd64

What are the .a files ? What are they used for and how are they generated. I noticed, that they get generated automatically when i do go get libraryhostedingithub.

Answer 1

They are compiled packages. It is these files you are referencing when you write import foo/bar. It refers to $GOROOT/pkg/$GOOS_$GOARCH/foo/bar.a and not $GOROOT/src/foo/bar/*.go.

These files contain the compiled package binary code, along with debug symbols and source information.