Deploying Go as a binary on Heroku

Here are the steps to deploy a "Hello World" Go app on Heroku as a binary - rather than the method outlined in their tutorial which uses GoDeps.

These instructions are based somewhat on those for the heroku-binary-buildpack.

1. Create a Heroku app for the project:

    create APP_NAME --buildpack https://github.com/ph3nx/heroku-binary-buildpack.git
   

2. Setup the working directory by cloning from the Heroku remote:

    heroku git:clone --app APP_NAME
   

3. Create a simple Go app, server.go:

    package main
   
    import (
        "fmt"
        "net/http"
        "os"
    )
   
    func handler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
        fmt.Fprintf(w, "Hello World. Path: %v", r.URL.Path[1:])
    }
   
    func main() {
        fmt.Printf("Port: %v\n", os.Args[1])
        http.HandleFunc("/", handler)
        http.ListenAndServe(":"+os.Args[1], nil)
    }
   

4. Compile the app for Linux 64bit:

    CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build
   

5. Create a bin directory and move the Linux binary into it - called server or something similar.

    mkdir bin
    mv APP_NAME bin/server
   

6. Create a simple Procfile in the project root to run the app under a web dyno.

    web: program $PORT
   

7. Add the app's bin directory to the PATH on Heroku:

    heroku config:set PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/app/bin
   

8. Commit the lot and push it to Heroku:

    git add --all
    git commit -m "First Commit"
    git push heroku master
   

9. Scale the app on Heroku:

    heroku ps:scale web=1
   

10. Open the app that's now running:

    heroku open
    

Todo #

• Devise a way to keep the binary out of version control, likely using a temporary release branch to push to the Heroku master.