The issue is described here: bazelbuild/rules_go#1987 To reproduce: ##### on a box with docker $ docker run --entrypoint bash --rm -ti l.gcr.io/google/bazel:0.27.0 ##### inside container run # git clone https://github.com/gorilych/rules-go-issue-1987.git # cd rules-go-issue-1987 # bazel build //... Result will be: <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Extracting Bazel installation... Starting local Bazel server and connecting to it... INFO: Analyzed 3 targets (25 packages loaded, 6493 targets configured). INFO: Found 3 targets... ERROR: /root/.cache/bazel/_bazel_root/b86493d2ae255a02bb7ea61e7fb77c10/external/io_bazel_rules_go/BUILD.bazel:8:1: GoStdlib external/io_bazel_rules_go/linux_amd64_pure_stripped/stdlib%/pkg failed (Exit 1) missing $GOPATH stdlib: error running subcommand: exit status 1 INFO: Elapsed time: 61.367s, Critical Path: 2.62s INFO: 4 processes: 4 local. FAILED: Build did NOT complete successfully <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< If to remove line `build --spawn_strategy=standalone` from .bazelrc, the build will work fine.