Build the binary without cgo (closes #545)

make build now builds with CGO_ENABLED=0, and the image builds through
it. The binary's only cgo code was mattn/go-sqlite3, which
gorm.io/driver/sqlite imports and webhooker never opens: every SQLite
file is opened with modernc.org/sqlite and the connection handed to
gorm. Without cgo, mattn's package compiles to a stub nothing calls.

The Dockerfile builds the binary once. The static relink and its
netgo, osusergo and sqlite_omit_load_extension tags are gone, and with
them the Makefile's GO_LDFLAGS and GO_TAGS, which only the relink used.
The test phase keeps cgo for -race. No README or Dockerfile sentence
says the binary needs cgo any more.

Model: opus-5-5

Dockerfile

@@ -76,8 +76,6 @@ RUN --network=none node_modules/.bin/prettier --check '**/*.md'
 # depends on it.
 #
 # golangci/golangci-lint:v2.14.0 (Debian-based), 2026-09-24
-# Using Debian-based image because mattn/go-sqlite3 (CGO) does not
-# compile on Alpine musl (off64_t is a glibc type).
 FROM golangci/golangci-lint:v2.14.0@sha256:ad862ba6b3798cbe0fd9fd7408d498fd74fbd2623a92406b2fd3898faf0bf98f AS lint
 
 WORKDIR /src
@@ -167,9 +165,7 @@ RUN --mount=type=tmpfs,target=/tmp/tests,size=512m \
 
 # Build stage
 # golang:1.26.1-bookworm (Debian-based), 2026-03-17
-# Using Debian-based image because gorm.io/driver/sqlite pulls in
+# The image ships git and make, which the version step below uses.
-# mattn/go-sqlite3 (CGO), which does not compile on Alpine musl. The image
-# ships git and make, which the version step below uses.
 FROM golang:1.26.1-bookworm@sha256:4465644228bc2857a954b092167e12aa59c006a3492282a6c820bf4755fd64a4 AS builder
 
 # Nothing is wanted from the lint and test phases or from the stylesheet and
@@ -211,26 +207,11 @@ RUN version="$(make version VERSION="$VERSION")"; \
     fi
 
 # Builds through the Makefile's build target, which runs script/assets
-# (Alpine.js, extracted from its tarball in 3p/) first.
+# (Alpine.js, extracted from its tarball in 3p/) first. The target builds
+# with cgo off, so the binary is statically linked and runs on the Alpine
+# runtime image below as it is.
 RUN make build VERSION="$VERSION"
 
-# Rebuild with static linking for the Alpine runtime. The cgo binary the
-# step above builds is dynamically linked against glibc, which Alpine
-# (musl) does not have.
-#
-# A statically linked glibc still loads shared libraries at run time for
-# getaddrinfo and dlopen, and Alpine has none to load, so the build tags
-# keep both out of the binary: netgo and osusergo select Go's own DNS
-# resolver and user lookup instead of glibc's, and
-# sqlite_omit_load_extension leaves out SQLite extension loading, which
-# webhooker never uses.
-#
-# The static flags and tags go in through GO_LDFLAGS and GO_TAGS rather
-# than a -ldflags of their own: the build target composes them with the
-# -X that stamps the version, so this relink cannot silently drop the
-# stamp.
-RUN CGO_ENABLED=1 make build VERSION="$VERSION" GO_TAGS=netgo,osusergo,sqlite_omit_load_extension GO_LDFLAGS='-extldflags "-static"'
-
 # Runtime stage
 # alpine:3.21, 2026-03-17
 FROM alpine:3.21@sha256:c3f8e73fdb79deaebaa2037150150191b9dcbfba68b4a46d70103204c53f4709

Makefile

@@ -16,17 +16,6 @@ VERSION ?= $(shell script/version)
 # exists to correct.
 override VERSION := $(or $(strip $(VERSION)),$(shell script/version))
 
-# Extra linker flags and build tags for the build target. The static
-# relink in the Dockerfile passes -extldflags and its build tags through
-# these rather than a -ldflags of its own, so composing flags cannot drop
-# the version stamp.
-#
-# The build target itself always passes -trimpath and -s -w, as the Go
-# Dockerfile in REPO_POLICIES.md does: no build paths, symbol table or
-# debug information in the binary.
-GO_LDFLAGS ?=
-GO_TAGS ?=
-
 bootstrap:
 	@script/bootstrap
 
@@ -54,8 +43,12 @@ fmt-check:
 check:
 	@script/check
 
+# Built with cgo off, -trimpath and -s -w, as the Go Dockerfile in
+# REPO_POLICIES.md does: the binary carries no build paths, symbol table or
+# debug information, and on Linux, the image's included, it is statically
+# linked.
 build: assets
-	go build -trimpath -tags '$(GO_TAGS)' -ldflags '$(strip -s -w -X main.version=$(VERSION) $(GO_LDFLAGS))' -o bin/webhooker ./cmd/webhooker
+	CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -trimpath -ldflags '-s -w -X main.version=$(VERSION)' -o bin/webhooker ./cmd/webhooker
 
 run: build
 	./bin/webhooker

README.md

@@ -1393,10 +1393,10 @@ It uses:
   management
 - **[go-chi](https://github.com/go-chi/chi)** for HTTP routing
 - **[GORM](https://gorm.io)** for database access with
-  **[modernc.org/sqlite](https://pkg.go.dev/modernc.org/sqlite)** as the runtime
+  **[modernc.org/sqlite](https://pkg.go.dev/modernc.org/sqlite)**, which is pure
-  SQLite driver. Note: `gorm.io/driver/sqlite` transitively depends on
+  Go, as the SQLite driver. `gorm.io/driver/sqlite` also imports
-  `mattn/go-sqlite3`, which requires CGO at build time (see [Docker](#docker)
+  `mattn/go-sqlite3`, whose stub for builds without cgo is linked into the
-  section)
+  binary but never used
 - **[slog](https://pkg.go.dev/log/slog)** (stdlib) for structured logging with
   TTY detection (text for dev, JSON for prod)
 - **[gorilla/sessions](https://github.com/gorilla/sessions)** for encrypted
@@ -2135,9 +2135,7 @@ endpoint. That is the JSON key; the error text for a missing one reads
 `webhook_url is required`, which is the message, not the key.
 
 The database uses the
-[modernc.org/sqlite](https://pkg.go.dev/modernc.org/sqlite) driver at runtime,
+[modernc.org/sqlite](https://pkg.go.dev/modernc.org/sqlite) driver.
-though CGO is required at build time due to the transitive `mattn/go-sqlite3`
-dependency from `gorm.io/driver/sqlite`.
 
 #### Schema
 
@@ -3468,16 +3466,12 @@ fixed independently of the compiler's:
    a step's log, and then fails. `make test` builds this stage alone.
 6. **Builder stage** (`golang:1.26.1-bookworm`) — depends on the lint and test
    phases and the `css-check` and `markdown-check` stages passing (it copies a
-   file from each), runs `make build` (which extracts Alpine.js from `3p/`
+   file from each), and runs `make build` (which extracts Alpine.js from `3p/`
-   first), and then rebuilds the binary with `CGO_ENABLED=1` and static linking
+   first). `make build` compiles with cgo off, so the binary is statically
-   so it runs on musl, with the build tags `netgo`, `osusergo` and
+   linked and runs on the Alpine runtime image. The version is the `VERSION`
-   `sqlite_omit_load_extension` so it needs none of glibc's shared libraries at
+   build arg if one is given, otherwise derived from the `.git` in the context,
-   run time. Both builds go through `make build`, the relink adding its
+   and the stage fails if a context with `.git` would stamp an empty version,
-   `-extldflags` via `GO_LDFLAGS` and its tags via `GO_TAGS`, so neither can
+   `dev` or `unknown` (see [Version stamping](#version-stamping)).
-   drop the `-X` that stamps the version. The version is the `VERSION` build arg
-   if one is given, otherwise derived from the `.git` in the context, and the
-   stage fails if a context with `.git` would stamp an empty version, `dev` or
-   `unknown` (see [Version stamping](#version-stamping)).
 7. **Runtime stage** (`alpine:3.21`) — copies the static binary and
    `deploy/docker-entrypoint.sh`, creates the `/var/lib/webhooker` directory for
    all SQLite databases, exposes port 8080, and includes a health check against
@@ -3489,11 +3483,6 @@ The lint and test phases invoke `gofmt`, `golangci-lint` and `go test` directly
 rather than `make fmt-check`, `make lint` and `make test`: those targets build
 docker stages, which would need a docker daemon inside this build.
 
-The lint phase and the Go stages use Debian rather than Alpine because
-`gorm.io/driver/sqlite` pulls in `mattn/go-sqlite3`, which needs CGO and does
-not compile against musl. Only the final binary is statically linked, which is
-what lets it run on the Alpine runtime image.
-
 `script/cibuild` is the CI gate: it runs `script/bootstrap`, then
 `script/check`, then builds the image, whose build runs the lint and test phases
 and the stylesheet and Markdown checks again. A build that succeeds is a repo

internal/versionscript/version_script_test.go

@@ -153,19 +153,15 @@ func TestVersion_IsStableAcrossInvocations(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, first, second)
 }
 
-// The build target is the only place composing linker flags. If a
+// The build target is the only place that stamps the version. If a
-// future edit drops either half, the binary silently reports "dev"
+// future edit drops the -X flag, the binary silently reports "dev"
-// again (the defect this package exists for) or fails to link on
+// again, the defect this package exists for.
-// Alpine. If it stops passing GO_TAGS, the image's static binary links
+func TestMakefile_BuildStampsTheVersion(t *testing.T) {
-// glibc's getaddrinfo and dlopen again.
-func TestMakefile_BuildComposesVersionAndExtraFlags(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
 	makefile := read(t, makefilePath)
 
 	require.Contains(t, makefile, "-X main.version=$(VERSION)")
-	require.Contains(t, makefile, "$(GO_LDFLAGS)")
-	require.Contains(t, makefile, "-tags '$(GO_TAGS)'")
 	require.Contains(t, makefile, "VERSION ?= $(shell script/version)")
 }
 
@@ -224,8 +220,8 @@ func requireMake(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// Every compile in the image goes through the build target, so the
+// The image compiles through the build target, so it carries the
-// static relink cannot replace the flags that carry the stamp.
+// target's version stamp.
 func TestDockerfile_BuildsThroughTheMakeTarget(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
@@ -234,10 +230,7 @@ func TestDockerfile_BuildsThroughTheMakeTarget(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NotContains(t, dockerfile, "go build",
 		"a raw go build bypasses the Makefile's -X flag")
 	require.Contains(t, dockerfile, "ARG VERSION")
-	require.Contains(t, dockerfile,
+	require.Contains(t, dockerfile, `RUN make build VERSION="$VERSION"`)
-		`make build VERSION="$VERSION"`+
-			` GO_TAGS=netgo,osusergo,sqlite_omit_load_extension`+
-			` GO_LDFLAGS='-extldflags "-static"'`)
 }
 
 func read(t *testing.T, path string) string {