Wrap Go binaries in Python wheels

https://github.com/simonw/go-to-wheel

by ankitg12 • 2 months ago

19 15 2 months ago

github.com

mbreese2• 2 months ago

See here [1] for more information on the rationale behind this.

[1] https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/4/distributing-go-binarie...

sunshine-o• 2 months ago

Read too fast, I was really hoping for a way to get a python app in a binary like in Go.

the__alchemist2• 2 months ago

Hah; turns out this is precisely the opposite!

pkaye• 2 months ago

Python subsystem for Go

the__alchemist2• 2 months ago

This is still surprising! There are similar tools for rust, and presumably it works for arbitrary binaries. Can be a convenient installation approach if you expect your user base to use python. E.g. for distributing tools written in Go, Rust, C, etc that aid Python development. To the user, it's a standard `pip install x`, but x is not a python script.

Philip-J-Fry• 2 months ago

Why wouldn't I just `go install` from the git repo? Why is it worth encouraging the use of python tooling for generic application distribution when things like homebrew or chocolatey already exist?

bbg2401• 2 months ago

From what I recall, Simon believes non-technical people or developers new to an ecosystem (or lacking a specific toolchain) should be given options to use existing language-specific package repositories and package management tools to reduce friction while engaging in agentic coding.

I can see the rationale but I can't help thinking it's utterly absurd.

WhyNotHugo• 2 months ago

What kind of "non-technical" person is fine with using "pip install …", but not "go install …"?

verdverm• 2 months ago

Is uvx and python aware of GOOS / GOARCH when using this method? It looks like it, but also means you have to download all of the binaries instead of just the one you need?

I agree it is absurd, and then there has to be a python package one has to create, something go avoided by using the git repo URL directly

je42• 2 months ago

You would need to have go installed. For my golang opensource project, also added releases on pypi and also npm.

mistic92• 2 months ago

Why should I use python when I can just use Go? Like why

shikon7• 2 months ago

Because you can wrap Go binaries in Python wheels, but not yet Python wheels in Go binaries

hebelehubele• 2 months ago

You can embed a whole dir using //go:embed, also python exe for all architectures, then extract & run it at runtime. Python via WASI is also possible.

geophph• 2 months ago

I’m curious if I could use this to write my webserver in Go, then call back to Python for the data sciencey stuff over stdin(?), but all in one nice tidy package? I mean right now I use fastapi and write it all in Python but I happen to enjoy writing Go. Does it matter either way? No I have like 4 users, but it seems not too crazy either?

Wrap Go binaries in Python wheels

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