Can't install vet package with go get

Question

I execute the following command:

$ go get -u golang.org/x/tools/cmd/vet 

package golang.org/x/tools/cmd/vet: cannot find the package "golang.org/x/tools/cmd/vet" in any of: C: \ Development \ Software \ go \ src \ golang.org \ x \ tools \ cmd \ vet (from $ GOROOT)
C: \ Development \ Software \ go \ downloaded_packages \ SRC \ golang.org \ x \ tools \ CMD \ vet (from $ GOPATH)

I can't figure out how cannot find package makes sense with get . It is supposed to receive a package from the Internet. Why is he looking for it locally?

Answer 1

@JimB summarized it in the comments - you do not need to install go vet separately.

But just for completeness, the direct answer to the OP question is that the code for the go vet command no longer lives in golang.org/x/tools/cmd/vet (see https://golang.org/doc/go1.2 #go_tools_godoc - and since then the code has moved to GitHub).

So, on startup: go get -u golang.org/x/tools/cmd/vet it seems like he git is cloning the golang.org/x/tools/cmd package and then trying to compile golang.org/x/tools/cmd/vet , which leads to an error ("cannot find the package ..."), because the "veterinary" part does not exist - it has long been gone. ( go get first downloads / clones the code, and then tries to compile the package on your local system.)

And all this means that you probably already have go vet - try typing "go vet -h" and if it works (you should see something like: "use: vet ...") re.