<!--{
	"Title": "The Go Programming Language Specification",
	"Subtitle": "Language version go1.17 (Oct 15, 2021)",
	"Path": "/ref/spec"
}-->

<h2 id="Introduction">Introduction</h2>

<p>
This is the reference manual for the Go programming language as it was for
language version 1.17, in October 2021, before the introduction of generics.
It is provided for historical interest.

## Ports {#ports}

### Linux {#linux}

As [announced](go1.23#linux) in the Go 1.23 release notes, Go 1.24 requires Linux
kernel version 3.2 or later.

### WebAssembly {#wasm}

not the older version.

To override these defaults, starting in Go 1.23, the work module's `go.mod`
or the workspace's `go.work` can list one or more `godebug` lines:

	godebug (
		default=go1.21
		panicnil=1
		asynctimerchan=0
	)

The special key `default` indicates a Go version to take unspecified
settings from. This allows setting the GODEBUG defaults separately

```sh
go install github.com/minio/minio@latest
```