Submitting a package to packagist causing “composer_home env variable” error

Question

Whenever I submit a git package to my packagist installation, I get the following error:

Uncaught Exception: [RuntimeException] The HOME or COMPOSER_HOME environment variable must be set for composer to run correctly

I've tried exporting the variable manually, but that doesn't seem to resolve the error.

Answer 1

The php user didn't have HOME or COMPOSER_HOME set, so I created a php.ini file in my web root with the following contents:

auto_prepend_file = /home/yourusername/directory/set_environment.php

I then created a set_environment.php file in the same directory, and set my COMPOSER_HOME directory.

<?php putenv("COMPOSER_HOME=/home/etc/webapps/novuspackagist/.composer"); ?>

Now, whenever the app is run, the COMPOSER_HOME environment variable will be set.

Answer 2

A much easier way is to add the environment variable into the apache configuration within the virtual host block, e.g.:

<VirtualHost *:80>

    ServerName myhost.home

    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/packagist/web

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

    <Directory /var/www/packagist/web>
            AllowOverride All
            SetEnv COMPOSER_HOME /home/<user>
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

As you can see the SetEnv COMPOSER_HOME /home/<user> directive makes it possible. This should solve that kind of problems.