how often do you update go sdk? I rarely do it. maybe one year, I guess.

There is already go install golang.org/dl/go1.2.3@latest.

You could certainly build this on top of https://pkg.go.dev/golang.org/dl, like @ericlagergren says. Note that there is also https://go.dev/dl/?mode=json to quickly get the information on what the latest stable version is.

I agree that a nice UX would be useful to some people, but I'm not convinced that this needs to be part of Go itself - go install golang.org/dl/go1.18.3@latest && go1.18.3 download && go1.18.3 version works without needing any special support in the Go toolchain, for example.

I worry that this would integrate poorly with package managers like Homebrew, apt, etc.

I really like the idea of having a simple upgrade command. Go stands for simplicity but there is no simple option to upgrade itself.

What is the reason against a go upgrade?

Duplicate of #27700

Cheers @seankhliao - tried a number of keywords but couldn't find an existing issue.

This proposal has been added to the active column of the proposals project
and will now be reviewed at the weekly proposal review meetings.
— rsc for the proposal review group

I think this issue should be taken off the proposals list and #27700 added in its place.

This proposal is a duplicate of a previously discussed proposal, as noted above,
and there is no significant new information to justify reopening the discussion.
The issue has therefore been declined as a duplicate.
— rsc for the proposal review group