Composer update doesn’t install PHPUnit in Laravel?

Question

I am trying to install PHPUnit into the Laravel framework via Composer.

The problem is that the required files are not downloaded after running composer update.

My process looks like this:

First, I insert PHPUnit requirement in composer.json. The whole file looks like this:

{
    "name": "laravel/laravel",
    "description": "The Laravel Framework.",
    "keywords": ["framework", "laravel"],
    "license": "MIT",
    "require": {
        "laravel/framework": "4.1.*",
        "laravelbook/ardent": "dev-master",
        "phpunit/phpunit": "4.2.*" // i have also tried with 3.7 and 3.8
    },
    "autoload": {
        "classmap": [
            "app/commands",
            "app/controllers",
            "app/models",
            "app/database/migrations",
            "app/database/seeds",
            "app/tests/TestCase.php",
            "app/filters"
        ]
    },
    "scripts": {
        "post-install-cmd": [
            "php artisan clear-compiled",
            "php artisan optimize"
        ],
        "post-update-cmd": [
            "php artisan clear-compiled",
            "php artisan optimize"
        ],
        "post-create-project-cmd": [
            "php artisan key:generate"
        ]
    },
    "config": {
        "preferred-install": "dist"
    },
    "minimum-stability": "stable",
        "require": {
            "laravelbook/ardent": "dev-master"
        }

}

Next, I run composer update -vvv. The dump looks like this (Bonus Weirdness: This is copied from command prompt, wierdly enough if i do the same command but try to write it to a txt file with the > command, the process hangs after the Downloading https://packagist.org/packages.json line)

C:\wamp\www\Dropbox\ltest>composer update -vvv
Reading ./composer.json
Executing command (CWD): git describe --exact-match --tags
Executing command (CWD): git branch --no-color --no-abbrev -v
Loading composer repositories with package information
Downloading https://packagist.org/packages.json
Writing C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/packages
.json into cache
Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/p-provid
er-active.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/p-provid
er-archived.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/p-provid
er-latest.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/p-provid
er-stale.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-laravelbook$ardent.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-laravel$laravel.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-psr$log.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$http-foundation.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$http-kernel.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-stack$builder.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$event-dispatcher.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$debug.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-predis$predis.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-phpseclib$phpseclib.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-nesbot$carbon.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-monolog$monolog.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-nikic$php-parser.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-jeremeamia$superclosure.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-jeremeamia$functionparser.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-ircmaxell$password-compat.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-filp$whoops.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-d11wtq$boris.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$console.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$filesystem.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$finder.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-classpreloader$classpreloader.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-patchwork$utf8.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-swiftmailer$swiftmailer.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$browser-kit.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$css-selector.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$dom-crawler.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$process.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$routing.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$security.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$translation.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-laravel$framework.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-doctrine$dbal.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-doctrine$common.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-doctrine$inflector.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-doctrine$cache.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-doctrine$collections.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-doctrine$lexer.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-doctrine$annotations.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$support.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$database.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$validation.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$container.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$events.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$auth.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$cache.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$config.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$console.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$cookie.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$encryption.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$exception.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$filesystem.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$foundation.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$hashing.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$html.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$http.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$log.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$mail.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$pagination.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$queue.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$redis.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$routing.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$session.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$translation.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$view.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-illuminate$workbench.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$security-acl.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$security-core.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$security-csrf.json from cache
Reading C:/Users/aske/AppData/Local/Composer/repo/https---packagist.org/provider
-symfony$security-http.json from cache
Nothing to install or update
Reading ./composer.lock
Generating autoload files
Executing command (CWD): php artisan clear-compiled
Executing command (CWD): php artisan optimize
Generating optimized class loader

And in the end required files are not added to vendor/bin/. As far as I know a file called phpunit.php should have been placed there at this point, but there is no sign of it.

Here is my composer.lock as bonus info, no sign of any phpunit after running update.

Answer 1

The reason the addition of PHPUnit fails is because you have TWO keys named "require" in your composer.json, which is illegal. The last instance overwrites the first instance - which overwrites the added PHPUnit requirement.

Only after changing this to "require-dev", which is a different key, Composer can detect that you want PHPUnit.

{
    "name": "laravel/laravel",
    "description": "The Laravel Framework.",
    "keywords": ["framework", "laravel"],
    "license": "MIT",
    "require": {
        "laravel/framework": "4.1.*",
        "laravelbook/ardent": "dev-master",
        "phpunit/phpunit": "4.2.*" // i have also tried with 3.7 and 3.8
    },

    // deleted lines here...

    "minimum-stability": "stable",
        "require": {
            "laravelbook/ardent": "dev-master"
        }

}

See that mention of "require" as the last, badly indented key inside the JSON? This will confuse Composer at the least. I'm pretty sure "laravelbook/ardent" has a dependency on "laravel/framework" and plenty of additional stuff, so you didn't see that your first require key was overwritten.

Suggestion: Always use the command line to add stuff - it is way easier, and you don't have to take care of correct JSON formatting:

composer require --dev phpunit/phpunit:~4.0

This will add the dependency to the composer.json file and then download it right away if there are no conflicts. It will also write a new, cleanly formatted composer.json file. You'd have spotted your error quickly if Composer had the chance to remove the double key.

Answer 2

as my comment indicated that phpunit should be in require-dev not require, and to try it with version 4.1.* which is stable, and not with 4.2, as it is an alpha release. And as lowkey mentioned in his comment:

the difference between require and require dev aren't only in the way composer handles them. Some dependencies require to be downloaded with require-dev (as they should of course anyway). As a short sidenote: i had to run "composer update --dev -vvv" thrice before it ran through the process without hanging somewhere. It seems like composer can be a bit shaky when downloading some times

so the direct answer is: phpunit should be included in require-dev not require, and it is always preferable to install a stable version rather than a beta.