Local composer repositories

You might be working on a Laravel package or a framework pull request where you need to test any changes in a real application. It might be possible to create a proof of concept by editing the vendor file directly but any real work will need to be saved in a separate repository.

1. Create a local package repository

Fork a package and clone source code you want to make changes to

           $ cd code/packages
 
 $ git clone [URL] {directory}
 # git clone https://github.com/your/package-fork.git
        

or create your own new project/package

           $ cd code/packages/{vendor}/{project}
 # cd code/packages/your/package-fork
 
 $ composer init
 
 $ git init
        

2. Prepare a demo application

Create a new Laravel project or open an existing app that will require our local repository/package.

           $ laravel new demo
        

At this point we have package repository and a demo app. Next step is to get our demo app to use (require) our local package.

3. Update composer repository path

Edit the composer.json in the demo app and add a path repository and the relative URL to the package.

           // ...
 "repositories": [
     {
         "type": "path",
         "url": "../packages/your/package-fork"
     }
 ],
 // ...
        

4. Composer require dev branch

Edit composer.json and the required package version to use -dev flag.

The version specified in your demo app must match the checked-out branch of the locally forked framework with a dev prefix or suffix.

Take a closer look…

Versions with a . period use a x-dev suffix

Example composer.json

           "require": {
     "vendor-name/package-name": "dev-main"
 },
        

5. Composer update

Let’s pull in our local files by running composer update in your demo app.

           ## update entire project
 composer update
 
 ## specify the repo
 composer update vendor-name/package-name
        

Make sure you see a message about symlinked files, otherwise check:

• your package branch matches the version in composer.json
• your demo app path in composer.json

6. Add Bash alias (optional)

Here’s a tip from Caleb Porzio on how to create a bash alias to link local composer repositories:

Read the full article here: https://calebporzio.com/bash-alias-composer-link-use-local-folders-as-composer-dependancies

Add the following command to your bash aliases located in:

• ~/.bashrc
• ~/.bash_profile
• ~/.zshrc
• aliases (Homestead)

           composer-link() {
     composer config repositories.local '{"type": "path", "url": "'$1'"}' --file composer.json
 }
        

You should know!

Refresh your aliases after making changes by running source ~/.bashrc or vagrant up --provision in Homestead.

Run your new function from within the demo folder:

           $ cd code/demo
 
 $ composer-link ../vendor-name/package-name
 # or whatever the path is to your local package repository
        

Then require the package as normal specifying the @dev flag if needed:

           composer require vendor-name/package-name { @dev }
        

Symlink failed?

If you are running your local packages through a virtual machine (e.g. Homestead) you need to start your VM from an administrator terminal.

Thanks to Barry van Veen for this tip. Read the full article here: https://barryvanveen.nl/blog/44-package-development-run-a-package-from-a-local-directory