/composer-vcs-export-plugin

Exports Composer VCS repositories to vendor directories applying .gitattributes export-ignore rules.

Primary LanguagePHPMIT LicenseMIT

Composer VCS Export Plugin

Latest License PHP Test codecov

Overview

This Composer plugin ensures that when installing packages from VCS repositories (such as Git) via the repositories configuration, only the files allowed by .gitattributes export-ignore rules are placed in the vendor directory.
It enables clean, distribution-like installs even when directly referencing VCS sources, helping maintain a tidy vendor/ with only the intended files from each package.

Features

  • Applies .gitattributes export-ignore rules to packages installed from VCS repositories
  • Ensures only distribution-ready files are present in vendor/
  • Works automatically during Composer install/update
  • No configuration required for standard usage

Installation

Add the plugin to your project using Composer:

composer require --dev sunaoka/composer-vcs-export-plugin

Or

composer global require sunaoka/composer-vcs-export-plugin

Usage

No additional configuration is needed.
When you install or update packages from VCS repositories (e.g., via the repositories section in your composer.json), this plugin will:

  • Detect if the package was installed from a Git repository
  • Use git archive to export files, respecting .gitattributes export-ignore rules
  • Replace the package directory in vendor/ with the exported contents

Example

composer.json:

{
    "repositories": [
        {
            "type": "vcs",
            "url": "https://example.com/your-vendor/your-library.git"
        }
    ],
    "require": {
        "your-vendor/your-library": "^1.0",
        "sunaoka/composer-vcs-export-plugin": "^1.0"
    },
    "config": {
        "allow-plugins": {
          "sunaoka/composer-vcs-export-plugin": true
        }
    }
}

With this setup, only the files not marked with export-ignore in .gitattributes will be present in vendor/your-vendor/your-library.

Requirements

  • PHP 7.2.5 or later
  • Composer 2.x
  • git and unzip command available in the system environment

Limitations

  • Only works with Git repositories
  • Requires the .git directory to be present in the installed package (i.e., VCS install, not dist)
  • May not work on environments where git archive or unzip are unavailable (e.g., some Windows setups)
  • Does not affect packages installed via dist (zip/tarball)