Table Of Contents

• Introduction
• Project Structure
• Applications
  • CLI Tool (cmd/cli)
  • Server (cmd/server)
• Building manually
• Building with go-xbuild-go
  • Prerequisites
  • Single Binary (Legacy Mode)
  • Multi-Binary Configuration Mode (This project)
  • Build Output
• Configuration Features Demonstrated
  • JSON Configuration (build-config.json)
  • Build Variables
  • Legacy Compatibility
• Development
  • Local Development
  • Testing the Build
• Migration Guide
  • From Single Binary to Multi-Binary
  • Backward Compatibility
• Best Practices
  • Project Organization
  • Configuration Management
  • Cross-Platform Considerations
• License
• Authors

Introduction

This project demonstrates the enhanced go-xbuild-go v1.0.5+ functionality with support for multiple main packages and JSON configuration.

Project Structure

go-multi-main-example/
├── cmd/
│   ├── cli/main.go          # CLI application
│   └── server/main.go       # HTTP server application
├── build-config.json        # Multi-target build configuration
├── platforms.txt            # Supported platforms
├── VERSION                  # Version file
├── go.mod                   # Go module
└── README.md                # This file

Applications

CLI Tool (cmd/cli)

A command-line interface tool with the following features:

• Version information display
• Configuration file support
• Multiple commands (process, status, help)
• Verbose logging option

Usage:

./example-cli --version
./example-cli --verbose process
./example-cli status

Server (cmd/server)

An HTTP server application with:

• Health check endpoint (/health)
• API information endpoint (/api/info)
• Graceful shutdown handling
• Configurable host and port

Usage:

./example-server --port 8080 --host localhost
./example-server --version

Endpoints:

• GET / - Welcome page
• GET /health - Health check (JSON)
• GET /api/info - Service information (JSON)

Building manually

go build -o example-cli cmd/cli/main.go
go build -o example-server cmd/cli/main.go

Building with go-xbuild-go

Prerequisites

Download pre-build binary from go-xbuild-go project

Single Binary (Legacy Mode)

Build individual binaries the traditional way:

# Traditional single binary build (uses main.go in project root)
go-xbuild-go

# With additional files
go-xbuild-go -additional-files "foo.txt,bar.txt"

Note: The following files are automatically included if they exist: README.md, LICENSE.txt, LICENSE, platforms.txt, .1 Do not specify these files in -additional-files as they will conflict.

Multi-Binary Configuration Mode (This project)

Use the JSON configuration for unified builds:

# List available targets
go-xbuild-go -config build-config.json -list-targets

# Build all targets for all platforms
go-xbuild-go -config build-config.json

..

Build Output

The build process creates:

bin/
├── example-cli-v1.0.1-checksums.txt
├── example-cli-v1.0.1-linux-amd64.d.tar.gz
├── example-cli-v1.0.1-raspberry-pi-jessie.d.tar.gz
├── example-cli-v1.0.1-raspberry-pi.d.tar.gz
├── example-cli-v1.0.1-windows-amd64.d.zip
├── example-server-v1.0.1-checksums.txt
├── example-server-v1.0.1-linux-amd64.d.tar.gz
├── example-server-v1.0.1-raspberry-pi-jessie.d.tar.gz
├── example-server-v1.0.1-raspberry-pi.d.tar.gz
└── example-server-v1.0.1-windows-amd64.d.zip

Each archive contains:

• The compiled binary
• Additional files (if specified)

Example:

# unzip -l bin/example-cli-v1.0.1-windows-amd64.d.zip
Archive:  bin/example-cli-v1.0.1-windows-amd64.d.zip
  Length      Date    Time    Name
---------  ---------- -----   ----
     1076  06-22-2025 17:11   example-cli-v1.0.1-windows-amd64.d/LICENSE
     7289  06-22-2025 17:11   example-cli-v1.0.1-windows-amd64.d/README.md
  1715200  06-22-2025 17:11   example-cli-v1.0.1-windows-amd64.d/example-cli-v1.0.1-windows-amd64.exe
      908  06-22-2025 17:11   example-cli-v1.0.1-windows-amd64.d/platforms.txt
---------                     -------
  1724473                     4 files

Configuration Features Demonstrated

JSON Configuration (build-config.json)

• Multiple targets: CLI and server applications with different paths
• Output naming: Custom binary names per target
• Shared settings: Default ldflags and build flags for all targets
• File references: Points to VERSION and platforms.txt files

Build Variables

The configuration demonstrates variable substitution in ldflags:

• {{.Version}} - From VERSION file
• {{.Commit}} - From git commit hash
• {{.Date}} - Build timestamp

Look at cmd/cli/main.go

./example-cli -version
Example CLI Tool
Version: dev
Commit: xyz
Built: Sun Jun 22 17:16:23 EDT 2025

Legacy Compatibility

• platforms.txt: Standard platform definitions file
• VERSION file: Simple version management
• Additional files: Can be specified via command line in legacy mode

Development

Local Development

# Run CLI locally
go run ./cmd/cli --help

# Run server locally
go run ./cmd/server --port 8080

# Test server endpoints
curl http://localhost:8080/health
curl http://localhost:8080/api/info

Testing the Build

# Quick build test
go-xbuild-go -config build-config.json

# List what targets would be built
go-xbuild-go -config build-config.json -list-targets

# Extract and test
cd dist
tar -xzf example-cli-1.0.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz
./example-cli --version

tar -xzf example-server-1.0.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz  
./example-server --version

Migration Guide

From Single Binary to Multi-Binary

If you have an existing project using go-xbuild-go v1.0.4:

1. Create cmd/ structure:

   mkdir -p cmd/myapp
   mv main.go cmd/myapp/

2. Create build-config.json:

   {
     "project_name": "myapp",
     "version_file": "VERSION",
     "platforms_file": "platforms.txt", 
     "targets": [{
       "name": "myapp",
       "path": "./cmd/myapp",
       "output_name": "myapp"
     }]
   }

3. Update build commands:

   # Old way (still works)
   go-xbuild-go
   
   # New way
   go-xbuild-go -config build-config.json

Backward Compatibility

go-xbuild-go v1.0.5 maintains full backward compatibility:

# This still works exactly as before
go-xbuild-go

# With additional files
go-xbuild-go -additional-files "new_file.txt,foo.txt"

# Create GitHub release
go-xbuild-go -release -release-note "New version"

Note: The following files are automatically included if they exist: README.md, LICENSE.txt, LICENSE, platforms.txt, .1 Do not specify these files in -additional-files as they will conflict.

Best Practices

Project Organization

• Use cmd/ directory for multiple main packages
• Keep shared code in internal packages
• Include version information in all binaries

Configuration Management

• Use descriptive target names
• Include comprehensive metadata
• Document additional files and their purposes

Cross-Platform Considerations

• Test key platforms during development
• Consider platform-specific build flags
• Include platform-appropriate additional files

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Authors

Developed with Claude AI 3.7,4 Sonnet, working under my guidance and instructions.

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_{TOC is created by https://github.com/muquit/markdown-toc-go on Jun-22-2025}