Go Runtime

This guide walks through using Go with poly-bench, from init through run. It covers what gets created, how dependencies work, and common gotchas.

Prerequisites

You need Go installed and available on your PATH. The table below summarizes the requirements.

Install from go.dev/dl. If Go is missing when you run init, poly-bench can offer to install it interactively during poly-bench init.

Init

When you run poly-bench init --languages go (or select Go in the interactive flow), poly-bench creates a Go module under .polybench/runtime-env/go/:

1.polybench/runtime-env/go/
2└── go.mod

The go.mod file uses your project name as the module path and defaults to Go 1.21. If you need a different Go version, you can override it in the project manifest:

1[project]
2name = "my-bench"
3
4[go]
5version = "1.22"

Add Dependencies

To add Go dependencies to your poly-bench project, use the add command with the --go flag:

$poly-bench add --go github.com/example/pkg@v1.2.3

The spec format is module/...@version — for example, github.com/example/pkg@v1.2.3. Dependencies are stored in the poly-bench manifest and written to go.mod. poly-bench uses go get module/...@version internally to fetch transitive dependencies into go.sum. Using plain module@version (without the ...) can cause "missing go.sum entry" errors, so stick to the recommended format.

Install

Running poly-bench install (or poly-bench build) invokes go get to resolve and download dependencies. The Go runtime does not need a separate install step beyond what the add command triggers; the build step simply ensures the module is ready for codegen.

Build / Codegen

When you run poly-bench run, poly-bench generates Go code and compiles it. The generated binary is built from the .polybench/runtime-env/go/ directory.

Execution differs by platform. On Linux, poly-bench uses plugin-based execution: it loads the compiled Go code as a shared library into the poly-bench process. On macOS and Windows, it uses subprocess execution instead, spawning the compiled binary as a separate process. This difference matters for debugging and profiling — on non-Linux platforms you will see a separate process in your process list.

Gotchas and Troubleshooting