Description
Abstract
The value of the go directive in golang.org/x repositories is automatically maintained to be at least 1.(N-1).0, where Go 1.N is the most recent major Go release, and Go 1.(N-1) is the previous major Go release.
Background
In the beginning, there was the GOPATH mode and versions of dependencies of golang.org/x repositories weren't explicitly tracked. Go 1.11 introduced the module mode, and over time it became the default mode. All golang.org/x repositories had an initial go.mod file checked in, and that file was maintained manually. This meant that a bug fix or a new feature in one golang.org/x repository didn't benefit another golang.org/x repository until someone chose to manually update that dependency. It also meant that eventual updates sometimes jumped many versions at once to catch up. This was resolved in 2022, when an automated monthly relui workflow began to create tags and update golang.org/x dependencies across all golang.org/x repositories (issue #48523).
At this point there are upwards of 35 golang.org/x repositories. Owners of each repository update the "go" directive manually, ad-hoc, so golang.org/x repositories may receive different levels of "go" directive maintenance. For example, owners of the golang.org/x/mod module wished to use the new-to-Go-1.22 go/version package as soon as Go 1.23 came out, and so its "go" directive was recently updated to "1.22.0". On the other hand, golang.org/x/image hasn't been updated in a while, and its "go" directive is currently still at "1.18", which itself was an upgrade from "1.12" in CL 526895 as part of bringing all golang.org/x repos to use at minimum Go 1.18 language version (issue #60268).
Leaving go directive maintenance to be done entirely manually creates the possibility of some repositories staying on an older Go language version longer. When there's enough of a need to finally upgrade it to a recent Go language version, this requires a change across multiple major Go releases at once, which can be harder to review. Having continuous, smaller incremental upgrades requires creating many CLs for all of golang.org/x repositories every 6 months, which is toilsome if always done manually.
Design
Design document at go.dev/design/69095-x-repo-continuous-go.
CC @golang/release.
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