golang/go · error

file not found

Error message

file not found

What it means

Thrown by openPackage when a local import path's archive could not be found: PackageFile map is nil (no -packagefile overlay), and neither `<path>.a` nor `<path>.o` exists on disk. The compiler tries .a before .o so that a complete library archive is preferred over a lone object file.

Source

Thrown at src/cmd/compile/internal/noder/import.go:80

	if islocalname(path) {
		if base.Flag.NoLocalImports {
			return nil, errors.New("local imports disallowed")
		}

		if base.Flag.Cfg.PackageFile != nil {
			return os.Open(base.Flag.Cfg.PackageFile[path])
		}

		// try .a before .o.  important for building libraries:
		// if there is an array.o in the array.a library,
		// want to find all of array.a, not just array.o.
		if file, err := os.Open(fmt.Sprintf("%s.a", path)); err == nil {
			return file, nil
		}
		if file, err := os.Open(fmt.Sprintf("%s.o", path)); err == nil {
			return file, nil
		}
		return nil, errors.New("file not found")
	}

	// local imports should be canonicalized already.
	// don't want to see "encoding/../encoding/base64"
	// as different from "encoding/base64".
	if q := pathpkg.Clean(path); q != path {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("non-canonical import path %q (should be %q)", path, q)
	}

	if base.Flag.Cfg.PackageFile != nil {
		return os.Open(base.Flag.Cfg.PackageFile[path])
	}

	for _, dir := range base.Flag.Cfg.ImportDirs {
		if file, err := os.Open(fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s.a", dir, path)); err == nil {
			return file, nil
		}
		if file, err := os.Open(fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s.o", dir, path)); err == nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to b6b368adc5)

Solutions

1. Build the imported local package first so its .a/.o exists at the path the compiler searches.
2. Run the compiler from the directory it expects (the source root), since local paths resolve relative to the compiler CWD.
3. Use the -packagefile overlay or -I import search flags if coordinating a custom build pipeline.
4. Switch to canonical module import paths to avoid CWD-relative resolution.

Example fix

// before: relative local import, no artifact present
import "./foo"
// after: build foo first, then depend on the produced archive
go build ./foo && go build .

// Confirm a local import target's archive exists before compiling.
import "os"
func localArchiveExists(path string) bool {
    for _, suf := range []string{".a", ".o"} {
        if _, err := os.Stat(path+suf); err == nil { return true }
    }
    return false
}

When it happens

Trigger: A source file imports a local path (./foo, ../bar) but the compiled archive/object file does not exist at the expected location relative to the compiler's working directory; PackageFile overlay is not configured.

Common situations: The imported local package was never compiled; the build was run from the wrong working directory; stale build artifacts were cleaned; the import path's case does not match the file system; missing -I/-o build coordination.

Related errors

• local imports disallowed
• import path cannot be absolute path
• cannot import "main"
• import path is empty
• import path contains NUL

AI-assisted analysis of golang/go@b6b368adc5 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/37e136cf20aa0061. Report an issue: GitHub.