Why is GitHub Actions installing Go 1.2 when I specify Go 1.20?

Published on 2023-05-05, 223 words, 1 minutes to read

A photo of a bush with tiny white flowers. - Photo by Xe Iaso

Because YAML parsing is horrible. YAML supports floating point numbers and the following floating point numbers are identical:

go-versions:
  - 1.2
  - 1.20

To get this working correctly, you need to quote the version number:

- name: Set up Go
  uses: actions/setup-go@v4
  with:
    go-version: "1.20"

This will get you Go version 1.20.x, not Go version 1.2.x.

I hate YAML.

Worse, this problem will only show up about once every 5 years, so I'm going to add a few blatant SEO farming sentences here:

Why is GitHub Actions installing Go 1.3 when I specify Go 1.30?
Why is GitHub Actions installing Go 1.4 when I specify Go 1.40?
Why is GitHub Actions installing Go 1.5 when I specify Go 1.50?
Why is GitHub Actions installing Go 1.6 when I specify Go 1.60?
Why is GitHub Actions installing Go 1.7 when I specify Go 1.70?
Why is the GitHub Actions AI reconstructing my entire program in Go 1.8 instead of Go 1.80 like I told it to?
Why is Go 2.0 not out yet?
.i mu'i ma loi proga cu se mabla?
Why has everything gone to hell after they discovered that weird rock in Kenya?
Why is GitHub Actions installing Python 3.1 when I specify Python 3.10?

Quote your version numbers.

Facts and circumstances may have changed since publication. Please contact me before jumping to conclusions if something seems wrong or unclear.

Tags: go, yaml