diff --git a/src/cmd/go/go_test.go b/src/cmd/go/go_test.go
index 50760b966c7..239b9c37a47 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/go_test.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/go_test.go
@@ -1386,7 +1386,7 @@ func TestInstallFailsWithNoBuildableFiles(t *testing.T) {
 	tg.setenv("GOPATH", filepath.Join(tg.pwd(), "testdata"))
 	tg.setenv("CGO_ENABLED", "0")
 	tg.runFail("install", "cgotest")
-	tg.grepStderr("no buildable Go source files", "go install cgotest did not report 'no buildable Go Source files'")
+	tg.grepStderr("build constraints exclude all Go files", "go install cgotest did not report 'build constraints exclude all Go files'")
 }
 
 func TestRelativeGOBINFail(t *testing.T) {
@@ -1514,11 +1514,11 @@ func TestGoGetNonPkg(t *testing.T) {
 	tg.setenv("GOPATH", tg.path("."))
 	tg.setenv("GOBIN", tg.path("gobin"))
 	tg.runFail("get", "-d", "golang.org/x/tools")
-	tg.grepStderr("golang.org/x/tools: no buildable Go source files", "missing error")
+	tg.grepStderr("golang.org/x/tools: no Go files", "missing error")
 	tg.runFail("get", "-d", "-u", "golang.org/x/tools")
-	tg.grepStderr("golang.org/x/tools: no buildable Go source files", "missing error")
+	tg.grepStderr("golang.org/x/tools: no Go files", "missing error")
 	tg.runFail("get", "-d", "golang.org/x/tools")
-	tg.grepStderr("golang.org/x/tools: no buildable Go source files", "missing error")
+	tg.grepStderr("golang.org/x/tools: no Go files", "missing error")
 }
 
 func TestGoGetTestOnlyPkg(t *testing.T) {
@@ -2269,7 +2269,6 @@ func TestTestEmpty(t *testing.T) {
 
 	wd, _ := os.Getwd()
 	testdata := filepath.Join(wd, "testdata")
-
 	for _, dir := range []string{"pkg", "test", "xtest", "pkgtest", "pkgxtest", "pkgtestxtest", "testxtest"} {
 		t.Run(dir, func(t *testing.T) {
 			tg := testgo(t)
@@ -2284,6 +2283,29 @@ func TestTestEmpty(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestNoGoError(t *testing.T) {
+	wd, _ := os.Getwd()
+	testdata := filepath.Join(wd, "testdata")
+	for _, dir := range []string{"empty/test", "empty/xtest", "empty/testxtest", "exclude", "exclude/ignore", "exclude/empty"} {
+		t.Run(dir, func(t *testing.T) {
+			tg := testgo(t)
+			defer tg.cleanup()
+			tg.setenv("GOPATH", testdata)
+			tg.cd(filepath.Join(testdata, "src"))
+			tg.runFail("build", "./"+dir)
+			var want string
+			if strings.Contains(dir, "test") {
+				want = "no non-test Go files in "
+			} else if dir == "exclude" {
+				want = "build constraints exclude all Go files in "
+			} else {
+				want = "no Go files in "
+			}
+			tg.grepStderr(want, "wrong reason for failure")
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestTestRaceInstall(t *testing.T) {
 	if !canRace {
 		t.Skip("no race detector")
@@ -2584,7 +2606,7 @@ func TestGoBuildInTestOnlyDirectoryFailsWithAGoodError(t *testing.T) {
 	tg := testgo(t)
 	defer tg.cleanup()
 	tg.runFail("build", "./testdata/testonly")
-	tg.grepStderr("no buildable Go", "go build ./testdata/testonly produced unexpected error")
+	tg.grepStderr("no non-test Go files in", "go build ./testdata/testonly produced unexpected error")
 }
 
 func TestGoTestDetectsTestOnlyImportCycles(t *testing.T) {
@@ -3165,7 +3187,7 @@ func TestGoTestRaceFailures(t *testing.T) {
 func TestGoTestImportErrorStack(t *testing.T) {
 	const out = `package testdep/p1 (test)
 	imports testdep/p2
-	imports testdep/p3: no buildable Go source files`
+	imports testdep/p3: build constraints exclude all Go files `
 
 	tg := testgo(t)
 	defer tg.cleanup()
@@ -3554,7 +3576,7 @@ func TestBinaryOnlyPackages(t *testing.T) {
 		func F() { p1.F(true) }
 	`)
 	tg.runFail("install", "p2")
-	tg.grepStderr("no buildable Go source files", "did not complain about missing sources")
+	tg.grepStderr("no Go files", "did not complain about missing sources")
 
 	tg.tempFile("src/p1/missing.go", `//go:binary-only-package
 
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go
index a8a61f0635a..60de6661647 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/load/pkg.go
@@ -114,6 +114,32 @@ type PackageInternal struct {
 	GobinSubdir  bool                 // install target would be subdir of GOBIN
 }
 
+type NoGoError struct {
+	Package *Package
+}
+
+func (e *NoGoError) Error() string {
+	// Count files beginning with _ and ., which we will pretend don't exist at all.
+	dummy := 0
+	for _, name := range e.Package.IgnoredGoFiles {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(name, "_") || strings.HasPrefix(name, ".") {
+			dummy++
+		}
+	}
+
+	if len(e.Package.IgnoredGoFiles) > dummy {
+		// Go files exist, but they were ignored due to build constraints.
+		return "build constraints exclude all Go files in " + e.Package.Dir
+	}
+	if len(e.Package.TestGoFiles)+len(e.Package.XTestGoFiles) > 0 {
+		// Test Go files exist, but we're not interested in them.
+		// The double-negative is unfortunate but we want e.Package.Dir
+		// to appear at the end of error message.
+		return "no non-test Go files in " + e.Package.Dir
+	}
+	return "no Go files in " + e.Package.Dir
+}
+
 // Vendored returns the vendor-resolved version of imports,
 // which should be p.TestImports or p.XTestImports, NOT p.Imports.
 // The imports in p.TestImports and p.XTestImports are not recursively
@@ -840,6 +866,9 @@ func (p *Package) load(stk *ImportStack, bp *build.Package, err error) *Package
 	p.Internal.LocalPrefix = dirToImportPath(p.Dir)
 
 	if err != nil {
+		if _, ok := err.(*build.NoGoError); ok {
+			err = &NoGoError{Package: p}
+		}
 		p.Incomplete = true
 		err = base.ExpandScanner(err)
 		p.Error = &PackageError{
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/work/build.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/work/build.go
index d03ad3e139b..3a64af35b12 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/work/build.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/work/build.go
@@ -576,8 +576,6 @@ func InstallPackages(args []string, forGet bool) {
 
 	var b Builder
 	b.Init()
-	// Set the behavior for `go get` to not error on packages with test files only.
-	b.testFilesOnlyOK = forGet
 	var a *Action
 	if cfg.BuildBuildmode == "shared" {
 		if libName, err := libname(args, pkgs); err != nil {
@@ -589,6 +587,11 @@ func InstallPackages(args []string, forGet bool) {
 		a = &Action{}
 		var tools []*Action
 		for _, p := range pkgs {
+			// During 'go get', don't attempt (and fail) to install packages with only tests.
+			// TODO(rsc): It's not clear why 'go get' should be different from 'go install' here. See #20760.
+			if forGet && len(p.GoFiles)+len(p.CgoFiles) == 0 && len(p.TestGoFiles)+len(p.XTestGoFiles) > 0 {
+				continue
+			}
 			// If p is a tool, delay the installation until the end of the build.
 			// This avoids installing assemblers/compilers that are being executed
 			// by other steps in the build.
@@ -660,8 +663,6 @@ type Builder struct {
 	flagCache   map[string]bool      // a cache of supported compiler flags
 	Print       func(args ...interface{}) (int, error)
 
-	testFilesOnlyOK bool // do not error if the packages only have test files
-
 	output    sync.Mutex
 	scriptDir string // current directory in printed script
 
@@ -1165,8 +1166,6 @@ func (b *Builder) Do(root *Action) {
 		if err != nil {
 			if err == errPrintedOutput {
 				base.SetExitStatus(2)
-			} else if _, ok := err.(*build.NoGoError); ok && len(a.Package.TestGoFiles) > 0 && b.testFilesOnlyOK {
-				// Ignore the "no buildable Go source files" error for a package with only test files.
 			} else {
 				base.Errorf("%s", err)
 			}
@@ -1253,7 +1252,7 @@ func (b *Builder) build(a *Action) (err error) {
 	}
 
 	defer func() {
-		if _, ok := err.(*build.NoGoError); err != nil && err != errPrintedOutput && !(ok && b.testFilesOnlyOK && len(a.Package.TestGoFiles) > 0) {
+		if err != nil && err != errPrintedOutput {
 			err = fmt.Errorf("go build %s: %v", a.Package.ImportPath, err)
 		}
 	}()
@@ -1365,7 +1364,7 @@ func (b *Builder) build(a *Action) (err error) {
 	}
 
 	if len(gofiles) == 0 {
-		return &build.NoGoError{Dir: a.Package.Dir}
+		return &load.NoGoError{Package: a.Package}
 	}
 
 	// If we're doing coverage, preprocess the .go files and put them in the work directory
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/empty/x.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/empty/x.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/ignore/_x.go b/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/ignore/_x.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..823aafd0712
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/ignore/_x.go
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+package x
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/x.go b/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/x.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9affd21e8c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/x.go
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+// +build linux,!linux
+
+package x
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/x_linux.go b/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/x_linux.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a5bbb61b14a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/src/exclude/x_linux.go
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+// +build windows
+
+package x
+