Import "google/protobuf/empty.proto" was not found or had errors.

[Zunaira]

on running the command protoc example.proto --go_out=plugins=grpc:.
i am getting a error:
example.proto: Import "google/protobuf/empty.proto" was not found or had errors.
example.proto: Import "google/protobuf/timestamp.proto" was not found or had errors.

[Johan Brandhorst-Satzkorn]

Hi @zunaira1231, thanks for your issue. This happens if you haven't got access to the so called "well known types". These should be included with your protobuf installation. There's a few things you can try:

1. Try adding -I/usr/include to your protoc command, if you have protoc installed in /usr/bin/protoc.
2. Reinstall protoc by downloading and extracting the release to /usr/. See https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/tag/v3.9.1.

In either case, this is not an error in the current repo, but likely a problem with your protoc installation.

[Khaled Moazedi]

hi / i had same issue for a long time .. im telling you the process worked for me hope it dose for you too :
go to this directory using your cmd : cd .local/include
this directory normally should contain some folder named "google" copy this folder and paste it to this directory : /usr/local/include
and now try the protoc engine again to generate your project and if the error still exists then try the rest of process :

navigate to that specific directory and check if its been copied or not . if it is then try to navigate to the folder from where you are (which it should be /usr/local/include) if the error says you have no permission to get in the folder
use this command to get the permission
$ sudo chmod o+r -R ./google
and then try to get permission to get in protobuf folder in the same directory using above command again
when its all done . check the protoc generator again /// hope works for you because it dose for me

[masuzi]

import public "google/protobuf/empty.proto";