go-imbed is a simple tool for embedding binary assets into Go executable.

go-imbed came up as a holiday side project for a very simple case of embedding a REST API documentation into the executable image. There are plenty of tools for embedding binary assets into executable (which clearly shows demand for something what Go lacks at the moment), but hey, why not invent another wheel? Besides, stuffing binary asset into Go source file seemed too unaesthetic to me.

go-imbed:

• produces go-gettable go and go assembly sources with go generate,
• keeps data in read-only section of the binary,
• compress compressible files with gzip,
• provides http.HandlerFunc handler (unless requested otherwise),
• provides http.FileSystem API (if requested),
• provides a simple FileSystem abstraction (if requested),
• provides a union FileSystem abstraction with a real file system directory overlaid embedded (if requested),
• generates a test code as well to keep those having OCD regarding test coverage happy.

$ go get -u github.com/growler/go-imbed

1. Install go-imbed:

   go get -u github.com/growler/go-imbed
   

2. Add a static content tree to target package:

   src
   └── yourpackage
       ├── code.go
       └── site
           ├── static
           │   └── style.css
           ├── index.html
           └── 404.html
   

3. Add a go-generate comment to code.go (or any other Go file in yourpackage):

   //go:generate go-imbed site internal/site

4. Run go generate yourpackage
5. Start using it:

    package main
   
    import (
        "net/http"
        "fmt"
        "yourpackage/internal/site"
    )
   
    func main() {
        http.HandleFunc("/", site.ServeHTTP)
        if err := http.ListenAndServe(":9091", nil); err != nil{
            fmt.Println(err)
        }
    }

go-imbed [options] <source-content-path> <target-package-path>

Sets the resulting package name. If not present, the base name (i.e. last item) of the target-package-path will be used.

go-imbed compresses all the text resources with gzip. Supplied HTTP helper function will decompress resource if HTTP client does not support compression. -no-compression disables compression for all files.

-no-http-handler disables generation of http.HandlerFunc API.

-fs generates a virtual filesystem API similar to http.FileSystem.

-union-fs generates union filesystem API with a real file system directory overlaid embedded filesystem (implies -fs)

-http-fs generates http.FileSystem interface (implies -fs).

-raw-bytes enables direct access to stored binary asset as a []byte slice. Please note that changing data will result in segmentation fault.

-binary produces an executable image with embedded content instead of a source package. The image could serve as a self-extracting archive or self-contained HTTP server:

$ ./site --help
Usage of ./site:
  -extract directory
    	extract content to the target directory and exit
  -listen address
    	socket address to listen (default ":8080")
  -tls-cert file
    	TLS certificate file to use
  -tls-key file
    	TLS key file to use

type Asset struct {
    // contains filtered or unexported fields
}

Asset represents binary resource stored within Go executable. Asset implements fmt.Stringer and io.WriterTo interfaces, decompressing binary data if necessary.

func Get(name string) *Asset

Get returns pointer to Asset structure, or nil if no asset found. Asset name should not contain leading slash, i.e. css/style.css, not /css/style.css.

func Must(name string) *Asset

Must returns pointer to Asset structure, or panics if no asset found.

func (*Asset) Name() string

Returns base file name of the asset.

func (*Asset) MimeType() string

Returns MIME Type (computed from the file extension during compilation) of the asset.

func (*Asset) IsCompressed() bool

Returns true if resource has been compressed. Present only if compression was not disabled.

func (*Asset) Reader() io.ReaderCloser

Returns an io.ReaderCloser interface to read asset data.

func (*Asset) Size() int64
func (*Asset) ModTime() time.Time
func (*Asset) Mode() os.FileMode
func (*Asset) Sys() interface{}
func (*Asset) IsDir() bool

These functions implement os.FileInfo interface. Note that Size() returns real (uncompressed) size of the asset.

func (*Asset) String() string

Returns asset content as string. If asset was not compressed, then string will hold a direct pointer to RO section of the binary, otherwise String() will return uncompressed asset.

func (*Asset) Bytes() []byte

Returns asset content as []byte, uncompressing it if necessary. Note that Bytes() will return a copy of the embedded content even if it was not compressed. To get a direct reference to RO data, use Asset.RawBytes

func (*Asset) RawBytes() []byte

Present only if -raw-bytes option was enabled and returns direct pointer to RO section of the binary. Any write to the slice will result in segmentation fault.

func (*Asset) WriteTo(io.Writer) (int64, error)

Writes full content of the asset to supplied io.Writer, decompressing asset content if necessary.

type FileSystem interface {
	Open(name string) (File, error)
	Stat(name string) (os.FileInfo, error)
	Walk(root string, walkFunc filepath.WalkFunc) error
	HttpFileSystem() http.FileSystem
}

Virtual filesystem abstraction, present only if one of -*fs options were enabled. Walk methods behave the same way as filepath.Walk. HttpFileSystem() method present only if -http-fs option was enabled and returns http.FileSystem interface to serve content with standard http server (but take a look at builtin http handler first).

type File interface {
	io.Closer
	io.Reader
	io.Seeker
	Readdir(count int) ([]os.FileInfo, error)
	Stat() (os.FileInfo, error)
}

Virtual filesystem File interface. Methods behave similar to *os.File methods

func Open(name string) (io.ReadCloser, error)

func Open(name string) (File, error)

Open returns io.ReadCloser or File if -*fs option was set, to read asset content from. If no asset was found, os.ErrNotExist will be returned.

Note that with virtual filesystem enabled it is possible to open directories and list assets with Readdir.

func CopyTo(target string, mode os.FileMode, overwrite bool, files ...string) error 

The CopyTo method extracts all mentioned files to a specified location, keeping directory structure. If supplied file is a directory, than it will be extracted recursively. CopyTo with no file mentioned will extract the whole content of the embedded filesystem. CopyTo returns error if there is a file with the same name at the target location, unless overwrite is set to true, or file has the same size and modification file as the extracted file.

Following code

pkg.CopyTo(".", 0640, false)

will effectively extract content of the filesystem to the current directory (which makes it the most space-wise inefficient self-extracting archive ever).

func NewUnionFs(path string) (FileSystem, error)

Present only if -union-fs option was enabled and returns a union fs, a real file system directory starting path, which overlaid embedded filesystem.

func HttpFileSystem() http.FileSystem

Present only if -http-fs option was enabled. Returns assets directory as http.FileSystem. A convenience shortcut for FS().HttpFileSystem()

func HTTPHandlerWithPrefix(prefix string) func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request)

Present only unless -no-http-handler option was set. HTTPHandlerWithPrefix provides a simple way to serve embedded content via Go standard HTTP server and returns an http handler function. The prefix will be stripped from the request URL to serve embedded content from non-root URI. Note that handler sends already compressed content if client supports compression, and also it sends Etag with precomputed asset hash and supports conditional requests with If-None-Match, which makes it more efficient than http.FileSystem API in most real life cases.

func main() {
     ...
     http.HandleFunc("/api/help/", site.HTTPHandlerWithPrefix("/api/help/"))
     ...
     http.ListenAndServe(address, nil)
     ...
}

If the source tree had 404.html file, handler function will employ it in case of absent resource, otherwise a standard Go http.NotFound response will be used.

var ServeHTTP = HTTPHandlerWithPrefix("/")

ServeHTTP provides a convenience handler whenever embedded content should be served from the root URI.

• Tested well only for amd64 and 386. Other architectures should work, though.
• Once again, asset.RawBytes points directly to data, located in read-only data section of the executable image, so any attempt to modify it will result in page protection fault. Hopefully, Go will have read-only slices one day, so this will be no longer an issue.
• UnionFs abstraction do not allow to delete file, only to add or replace content to the embedded filesystem.
• Even a minor change in one of the resources will result in totally new data.s file, which feels a bit inconvenient from VCS point of view.

The MIT License, see LICENSE.md.

• go.rice
• go-bindata
• statik
• esc
• packr