PHP Is there an equivalent to npm link for composer?

Question

When I am developing a JavaScript module, I can use npm link to install my local development version in local projects that use the module as a dependency. This is a great workflow.

It's not developing in place, which I think is a less good than TDD, but its a way easier way to do integration testing and manual QA, I think.

In Composer, I can, if possible, force a package to install using git, so then I can develop in place. Nice, but not great.

Short version of question: Can I tell composer to temporarily install a dependency from a git repo/ set of files in my local file system and control the link from the composer CLI?

No there is not, but take a look at this https://github.com/franzliedke/studio. There is a discussion on github about this feature in the composer repository. — Sander Visser, Jun 08 '18 at 17:26

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 09 '18 at 07:30

5

You could use a path repo in your composer.json.

This will install a symlink instead of a git clone in your vendor folder.

This is exactly what already mentioned franzl/studio package does under the hood.

answered Jun 09 '18 at 07:30

Edi Modrić

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 30 '22 at 23:56

1

I created my own plugin for this

https://github.com/SanderSander/composer-link

It doesn't alter your composer.json or lock file.

answered Mar 30 '22 at 23:56

Sander Visser

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PHP Is there an equivalent to npm link for composer?

2 Answers2