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Environment Management

IMO, Keeping all language versions in a dedicated ~/language-versions folder is the cleanest and most explicit way to manage multiple versions without cluttering system paths. It gives you:

✅ Full control over versions (install, remove, switch at will).
✅ No clutter in /usr/local/bin, /usr/bin, or $HOME/bin.
✅ No conflicts with system-wide installations.
✅ Explicit switching via PATH, aliases, or symlinks(what I actually use).

🚀 A Universal Multi-Language Versioning Setup​

If you want to apply this approach to Go, Python, Node.js, Rust, etc., you can structure it like this:

~/language-versions/
  ├── go/
  │   ├── go1.22.9/
  │   ├── go1.21.6/
  │   ├── go1.18.10/
  │   ├── current/  # (symlink to active version)
  │
  ├── python/
  │   ├── python3.12/
  │   ├── python3.11/
  │   ├── python3.10/
  │   ├── current/  # (symlink to active version)
  │
  ├── node/
  │   ├── node18/
  │   ├── node16/
  │   ├── node14/
  │   ├── current/  # (symlink to active version)

1️⃣ Installing Languages in ~/language-versions​

🔹 Go (Explicit Versioning)​

mkdir -p ~/language-versions/go
cd ~/language-versions/go

# Download and extract Go versions
curl -LO https://go.dev/dl/go1.22.9.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf go1.22.9.linux-amd64.tar.gz
# This creates a folder named go --- so its ~/language-versions/go/go
# rename the inner go (the output of our tar) to the version number
mv go 1.22.9

Do the same for go1.21.6, go1.18.10, etc.

🔹 Python (Manual Install)​

mkdir -p ~/language-versions/python
cd ~/language-versions/python

# Install Python versions
sudo apt install python3.12 python3.11 python3.10  # Ubuntu

If using source:

curl -LO https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.12.0/Python-3.12.0.tgz
tar -xzf Python-3.12.0.tgz
mv Python-3.12.0 python3.12

🔹 Node.js (Manual or n Tool)​

mkdir -p ~/language-versions/node
cd ~/language-versions/node

# Install Node.js versions manually
curl -LO https://nodejs.org/dist/v18.17.0/node-v18.17.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
tar -xzf node-v18.17.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
mv node-v18.17.0-linux-x64 node18

2️⃣ Switching Versions Explicitly​

You can switch versions explicitly by modifying PATH:

Go Example​

export PATH=~/language-versions/go/1.22.9/bin:$PATH
go version  # Shows Go 1.22.9

Python Example​

export PATH=~/language-versions/python/python3.12/bin:$PATH
python --version  # Shows Python 3.12

Node.js Example​

export PATH=~/language-versions/node/node18/bin:$PATH
node -v  # Shows Node.js v18

Instead of manually changing PATH, create a current symlink:

cd ~/language-versions/go
ln -sfn 1.22.9 current  # Switch Go version

Then, just add one-time setup to .bashrc or .zshrc:

export PATH=~/language-versions/go/current/bin:$PATH

Now, every time you change current, it instantly switches to the new version.

Same idea for Python:

cd ~/language-versions/python
ln -sfn python3.12 current  # Switch Python version

And Node.js:

cd ~/language-versions/node
ln -sfn node18 current  # Switch Node.js version

Now you can switch versions just by updating the symlink!

you can even drop this in a function inside ~/.bashrc:

use-lang ()
{
    lang=$1;
    version=$2;
    ln -sfn "$HOME/language-versions/$lang/$version" "$HOME/language-versions/$lang/current";
    echo "✅ Switched $lang to $version"
}

🚀 Why This Method Rocks​

✔ No system-wide clutter (/usr/bin, /usr/local/bin stay clean).
✔ Explicit version control (no magic happening behind the scenes). ✔ Easy switching with ln -sfn or export PATH.
✔ Works across all languages (not tied to a tool like nvm, pyenv, or gvm).

🎯 Basic Summary​

This method is basically "nvm/pyenv/gvm but explicit and self-contained."

  • Works on any machine, with any language.
  • No system-wide modifications.
  • You always know exactly where everything lives.

My Actual Setup​

Some languages need additional environment variables set, therefore you may have some language specific logic. ChatGPT also gave me a slightly more robust version as I was setting up this current box.

# in ~/.bashrc
# Multi-language Version Setup
export PATH="$HOME/language-versions/go/current/bin:$PATH"

use-lang () {
  local lang="$1"
  local version="$2"
  local root="$HOME/language-versions/$lang"
  local target="$root/$version"
  local current="$root/current"

  if [[ -z "$lang" || -z "$version" ]]; then
    echo "usage: use-lang <lang> <version>" >&2
    return 2
  fi
  if [[ ! -d "$target" ]]; then
    echo "✗ $target not found" >&2
    return 1
  fi

  ln -sfn "$target" "$current"

  # Language-specific env (Go)
  if [[ "$lang" == "go" ]]; then
    export GOROOT="$current"
  fi

  # Flush shell's command path cache so 'go' resolves to new bin
  hash -r 2>/dev/null || true

  # Show what we actually switched to
  if [[ -x "$current/bin/go" ]]; then
    local v; v="$("$current/bin/go" version 2>/dev/null)"
    echo "✅ Switched $lang to $version → $v"
  else
    echo "✅ Switched $lang to $version"
  fi
}

Use good ol ls -alh to ensure your symlink is pointing at the right dir:

symlink pointed at correct dir

Go specific Note​

After unzipping you will see that the archive has a top level directory of go, so just mv (move/rename it) after untarring.

Note: unfortunately since the go folder is within the archive, there isn't a clean way to rename that with tar... but cmon its only a few more keystrokes.

# given as 1.22.9 as an example...
wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.22.9.linux-amd64.tar.gz

# list files | retain only first line of output (noticve that /go is tld)
tar -tf go1.22.9.linux-amd64.tar.gz | head -1

# do
tar -xzf go1.22.9.linux-amd64.tar.gz 
mv go 1.22.9

Environment Variable Management

Additionally, I maintain a structured environment setup:

~/env_setup/<project>/local_backend.sh  # or 'prod', 'staging', etc.

I always source the appropriate file when opening a new shell, ensuring environment consistency without persisting changes beyond the current session:

source ~/env_setup/my_project/local_backend.sh