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111 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
111 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
<!--
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tagline: Expose command-line scripts from packages
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-->
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# Vendor binaries and the `vendor/bin` directory
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## What is a vendor binary?
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Any command line script that a Composer package would like to pass along
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to a user who installs the package should be listed as a vendor binary.
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If a package contains other scripts that are not needed by the package
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users (like build or compile scripts) that code should not be listed
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as a vendor binary.
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## How is it defined?
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It is defined by adding the `bin` key to a project's `composer.json`.
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It is specified as an array of files so multiple binaries can be added
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for any given project.
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```json
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{
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"bin": ["bin/my-script", "bin/my-other-script"]
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}
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```
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## What does defining a vendor binary in composer.json do?
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It instructs Composer to install the package's binaries to `vendor/bin`
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for any project that **depends** on that project.
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This is a convenient way to expose useful scripts that would
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otherwise be hidden deep in the `vendor/` directory.
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## What happens when Composer is run on a composer.json that defines vendor binaries?
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For the binaries that a package defines directly, nothing happens.
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## What happens when Composer is run on a composer.json that has dependencies with vendor binaries listed?
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Composer looks for the binaries defined in all of the dependencies. A
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symlink is created from each dependency's binaries to `vendor/bin`.
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Say package `my-vendor/project-a` has binaries setup like this:
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```json
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{
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"name": "my-vendor/project-a",
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"bin": ["bin/project-a-bin"]
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}
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```
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Running `composer install` for this `composer.json` will not do
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anything with `bin/project-a-bin`.
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Say project `my-vendor/project-b` has requirements setup like this:
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```json
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{
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"name": "my-vendor/project-b",
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"require": {
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"my-vendor/project-a": "*"
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}
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}
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```
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Running `composer install` for this `composer.json` will look at
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all of project-a's binaries and install them to `vendor/bin`.
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In this case, Composer will make `vendor/my-vendor/project-a/bin/project-a-bin`
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available as `vendor/bin/project-a-bin`. On a Unix-like platform
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this is accomplished by creating a symlink.
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## What about Windows and .bat files?
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Packages managed entirely by Composer do not *need* to contain any
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`.bat` files for Windows compatibility. Composer handles installation
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of binaries in a special way when run in a Windows environment:
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* A `.bat` file is generated automatically to reference the binary
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* A Unix-style proxy file with the same name as the binary is generated
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automatically (useful for Cygwin or Git Bash)
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Packages that need to support workflows that may not include Composer
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are welcome to maintain custom `.bat` files. In this case, the package
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should **not** list the `.bat` file as a binary as it is not needed.
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## Can vendor binaries be installed somewhere other than vendor/bin?
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Yes, there are two ways an alternate vendor binary location can be specified:
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1. Setting the `bin-dir` configuration setting in `composer.json`
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1. Setting the environment variable `COMPOSER_BIN_DIR`
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An example of the former looks like this:
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```json
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{
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"config": {
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"bin-dir": "scripts"
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}
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}
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```
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Running `composer install` for this `composer.json` will result in
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all of the vendor binaries being installed in `scripts/` instead of
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`vendor/bin/`.
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You can set `bin-dir` to `./` to put binaries in your project root.
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