# constabulary/gb

gb, the project based build tool for Go

Repository: https://github.com/constabulary/gb
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/gb
Homepage: https://getgb.io/
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Archived: true
Last push: 2019-10-24T15:01:46+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4205, "days_push": 2505, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2113, forks 145 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:14.656474+00:00)

## What it is
gb is a project-based build tool for the Go programming language, offering a $GOPATH-free workflow where each project is a directory containing a src/ subdirectory. It provides build, test, and vendor subcommands with automatic project root detection and incremental compilation.

## Use cases
- build go projects without setting gopath
- manage multiple go working copies without environment variables
- vendor go dependencies into a project directory
- run tests for a go project with gb test
- cross-compile go binaries

## When to choose
- you are maintaining a legacy go project already structured for gb
- you need reproducible builds on very old go toolchains (pre-modules)

## When to avoid
- starting any new go project - use the standard go tool with modules instead
- you need active maintenance or modern go version support
- you rely on go get-based dependency management

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: abandoned
- function: build-tool, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, programming-languages
- platform: cli, cross-platform, go
- tags: go-build-tool, gopath-alternative, vendoring, project-based-workflow, historical, command-line

## Member repositories
- constabulary/gb (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:14.656474+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:53:39.748719+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/constabulary/gb (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:14.656474+00:00, sha 4abddc058d26)
  - homepage: https://getgb.io/ (fetched 2026-08-29T10:33:42.083464+00:00, sha c494f02deed1)
  - site_page: https://getgb.io/about (fetched 2026-08-29T10:33:42.092665+00:00, sha 99d6d354b7cd)
  - site_page: https://getgb.io/docs/install (fetched 2026-08-29T10:33:42.094509+00:00, sha 7f821735b412)
  - site_page: https://getgb.io/docs/usage (fetched 2026-08-29T10:33:42.096103+00:00, sha e1c6caff53ff)
  - site_page: https://getgb.io/docs/project (fetched 2026-08-29T10:33:42.100475+00:00, sha 193f7b22f837)
  - site_page: https://getgb.io/docs/depfile (fetched 2026-08-29T10:33:42.102195+00:00, sha 87e35ccc5460)
  - site_page: https://getgb.io/examples/getting-started (fetched 2026-08-29T10:33:42.103964+00:00, sha a6602f7e0331)
  - site_page: https://getgb.io/faq (fetched 2026-08-29T10:33:42.098317+00:00, sha a0b0ee8102f9)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.