Update docs to be clearer about sqlite recommendation. Fix Makefile n… (#119591)

* Update docs to be clearer about sqlite recommendation. Fix Makefile not forwarding LDDFLAGS and be more explicit about CGO_ENABLED

* prettier

Makefile

@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ BUILD_STAMP := $(shell echo $${SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH:-$$(date +%s 2>/dev/null)})
 GO_LDFLAGS = -X main.version=$(BUILD_VERSION) \
 	-X main.commit=$(BUILD_COMMIT) \
 	-X main.buildBranch=$(BUILD_BRANCH) \
-	-X main.buildstamp=$(BUILD_STAMP)
+	-X main.buildstamp=$(BUILD_STAMP) \
+	$(if $(LDFLAGS),-extldflags \"$(LDFLAGS)\")
 GO_TEST_FLAGS += $(if $(GO_BUILD_TAGS),-tags=$(GO_BUILD_TAGS))
 GIT_BASE = remotes/origin/main
 
@@ -285,7 +286,7 @@ update-workspace: gen-go
 .PHONY: build-go
 build-go: gen-themes ## Build all Go binaries (grafana, grafana-server, grafana-cli).
 	@echo "build go binaries"
-	$(if $(GO_BUILD_OS),GOOS=$(GO_BUILD_OS)) $(if $(GO_BUILD_ARCH),GOARCH=$(GO_BUILD_ARCH)) $(GO) build -buildvcs=false -trimpath $(GO_RACE_FLAG) $(if $(GO_BUILD_TAGS),-tags $(GO_BUILD_TAGS)) $(if $(GO_BUILD_GCFLAGS),-gcflags "$(GO_BUILD_GCFLAGS)") -ldflags "$(GO_LDFLAGS)" -o ./bin/grafana ./pkg/cmd/grafana
+	$(if $(CGO_ENABLED),CGO_ENABLED=$(CGO_ENABLED)) $(if $(GO_BUILD_OS),GOOS=$(GO_BUILD_OS)) $(if $(GO_BUILD_ARCH),GOARCH=$(GO_BUILD_ARCH)) $(GO) build -buildvcs=false -trimpath $(GO_RACE_FLAG) $(if $(GO_BUILD_TAGS),-tags $(GO_BUILD_TAGS)) $(if $(GO_BUILD_GCFLAGS),-gcflags "$(GO_BUILD_GCFLAGS)") -ldflags "$(GO_LDFLAGS)" -o ./bin/grafana ./pkg/cmd/grafana
 
 .PHONY: build-backend
 build-backend: build-go

contribute/developer-guide.md

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ Make sure you have the following dependencies installed before setting up your d
 - [Git](https://git-scm.com/)
 - [Go](https://golang.org/dl/) (see [go.mod](../go.mod#L3) for minimum required version)
 - [Node.js (Long Term Support)](https://nodejs.org), with [corepack enabled](https://nodejs.org/api/corepack.html#enabling-the-feature). See [.nvmrc](../.nvmrc) for supported version. We recommend that you use a version manager such as [nvm](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm), [fnm](https://github.com/Schniz/fnm), or similar.
-- [GCC](https://gcc.gnu.org/) (required for Cgo] dependencies)
+- [GCC](https://gcc.gnu.org/) (optional, not recommded; enables CGO for smaller, dynamically linked binaries)
 
 ### macOS
 
@@ -154,6 +154,22 @@ Log in using the default credentials:
 
 When you log in for the first time, Grafana asks you to change your password.
 
+#### CGO and static builds
+
+By default, `make build-go` (and `make run`) does **not** set `CGO_ENABLED`. Go's default behavior is to enable CGO when a C compiler (GCC) is detected on the system, and disable it otherwise. For local development this is fine — CGO gives you a working SQLite driver for the embedded database.
+
+In **production**, Grafana is built with `CGO_ENABLED=0` to produce a fully static, pure Go binary. This is important because the build environment and the runtime environment are often different (for example, building on Debian but running on Alpine or a scratch container).
+
+You can control both `CGO_ENABLED` and `LDFLAGS` when invoking Make:
+
+```sh
+# Static build without CGO (production-style)
+CGO_ENABLED=0 make build-go
+
+# Build with Go defaults
+unset CGO_ENABLED && make build-go
+```
+
 #### Build on Windows
 
 The Grafana backend includes SQLite, a database which requires GCC to compile. So in order to compile Grafana on Windows you need to install GCC with binutils version 2.37 or later.

docs/sources/setup-grafana/configure-grafana/_index.md

@@ -370,6 +370,10 @@ Grafana needs a database to store users and dashboards (and other
 things). By default it is configured to use [`sqlite3`](https://www.sqlite.org/index.html) which is an
 embedded database (included in the main Grafana binary).
 
+{{< admonition type="caution" >}}
+SQLite isn't recommended for production environments; use MySQL or PostgreSQL for production deployments.
+{{< /admonition >}}
+
 #### `type`
 
 Either `mysql`, `postgres` or `sqlite3`, it's your choice.

docs/sources/setup-grafana/installation/_index.md

@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ Grafana supports the following databases:
 
 By default Grafana uses an embedded SQLite database, which is stored in the Grafana installation location. If you need to migrate to a different database later, note that database schema and data migrations are customer-managed operations and fall outside the scope of Grafana Support.
 
-{{< admonition type="note" >}}
-SQLite works well if your environment is small, but is not recommended when your environment starts growing. For more information about the limitations of SQLite, refer to [Appropriate Uses For SQLite](https://www.sqlite.org/whentouse.html). If you want [high availability](/docs/grafana/latest/setup-grafana/set-up-for-high-availability), you must use either a MySQL or PostgreSQL database. For information about how to define the database configuration parameters inside the `grafana.ini` file, refer to [[database]](/docs/grafana/latest/setup-grafana/configure-grafana/#database).
+{{< admonition type="caution" >}}
+SQLite isn't recommended for production environments. It works well for local development and small evaluation instances, but it doesn't scale for production workloads. If you want [high availability](/docs/grafana/latest/setup-grafana/set-up-for-high-availability), you must use either a MySQL or PostgreSQL database. For information about how to define the database configuration parameters inside the `grafana.ini` file, refer to [[database]](/docs/grafana/latest/setup-grafana/configure-grafana/#database).
 {{< /admonition >}}
 
 Grafana supports the versions of these databases that are officially supported by the project at the time a version of Grafana is released. When a Grafana version becomes unsupported, Grafana Labs might also drop support for that database version. See the links above for the support policies for each project.