golang cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

Question

my go env

GOARCH="amd64"
GOBIN=""
GOEXE=""
GOHOSTARCH="amd64"
GOHOSTOS="linux"
GOOS="linux"
GOPATH=""
GORACE=""
GOROOT="/usr/local/go"
GOTOOLDIR="/usr/local/go/pkg/tool/linux_amd64"
GO15VENDOREXPERIMENT=""
CC="gcc"
GOGCCFLAGS="-fPIC -m64 -pthread -fmessage-length=0"
CXX="g++"
CGO_ENABLED="1"

I compiled and successfully executed the binary on my mac and then copied it to the ubuntu machine whose go env is show above. When I call myprog binary, I get

bash: /usr/local/go/bin/myprog: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

You already compiled the binary for Darwin. That same binary can't run on Linux. You need to compile a Linux version. — JimB, Mar 24 '16 at 11:09
getting this error while working with docker . i have build a image on docker and trying to run the binary on same mac OS . — Sharath BJ, Aug 15 '20 at 08:58

score 54 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 24 '16 at 16:58

54

Since go 1.5, cross compiler has gotten pretty easy. Something like

env GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -v github.com/constabulary/gb/cmd/gb

Refer to http://dave.cheney.net/2015/08/22/cross-compilation-with-go-1-5.

answered Mar 24 '16 at 16:58

WeakPointer

3,087
27
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Error: /usr/local/go/bin/go: 3: Syntax error: Unterminated quoted string – Emile Zäkiev Jan 10 '23 at 17:31

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 05 '16 at 23:57

12

I had the same problem. I installed 64-bit version of go instead of 32-bit version. After installation of 32-bit version it works fine.

answered Oct 05 '16 at 23:57

Alex Dvoretskiy

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Thanks, I did the same mistake.. downloaded the wrong file architecture (Linux instead of ARM) – Bilal Jul 26 '20 at 21:36
2

I downloaded arm version and that was the problem. Solved installing right AMD version after checking my linux architecture using `uname -a` https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/12454/429777 – Gudari Oct 06 '20 at 15:31

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 15 '22 at 07:27

2

This happened to me when I was downloading the x86 version of golang, but the VM i provisioned was an ARM cpu.

You can get ARM downloads here: https://go.dev/dl/

answered Sep 15 '22 at 07:27

fafrd

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Thank you, that is exactly the issue when trying to install Go on Ubuntu 22.04 emulated through UTM on Apple M1 machines. The version of Ubuntu they recommend is actually arm64 architecture, so the appropriate Go distributive really needs to have a combo of "linux" and "arm64" features. It's a pity that the Go's landing page only offers only the amd version to download and tucks away all the other versions: if you aren't sure what version you need, you'll go with the default (probably wrong) one. – Emile Zäkiev Jan 11 '23 at 09:27

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 28 '22 at 07:09

It may be the case that your binary is dynamically linked to some C-libraries, which are not installed on your OS. This can happen if you e.g. compile in a different environment than where you run your binary.

To get some info about your binary, you can both run file ./your-binary and ld ./your-binary.

I recommend this post for some solutions to that problem: Go-compiled binary won't run in an alpine docker container on Ubuntu host

Basically, your options are:

run on the same architecture/OS as you compile
install the missing libraries on your target OS
try to statically compile

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 05 '22 at 05:35

0

On windows, make sure you(or your IDE) is not running PowerShell - powershell will not take the set GOOS and not throw an error and will still compile the binary and you'll find this error when you deploy the binary to the server.

answered Jan 05 '22 at 05:35

DMin

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golang cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

5 Answers5