---
title: "Setting up repositories with Composer"
canonical_url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/setting-up-repositories-with-composer/"
post_type: "post"
published: "2024-09-02T05:37:00+00:00"
modified: "2024-10-10T12:22:23+00:00"
author: "Ingmar Aasoja"
featured_image: "https://www.zone.eu/static/sites/2/2024/08/Setting-up-repositories-with-Composer.webp"
taxonomies:
  category:
    - name: "Technical"
      url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/category/technical/"
  post_tag:
    - name: "Composer"
      url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/composer/"
    - name: "Composer.phar"
      url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/composer-phar/"
    - name: "Development"
      url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/development/"
    - name: "PHP"
      url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/php/"
    - name: "Website"
      url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/website/"
  skills:
    - name: "For professionals"
      url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/skill/for-professionals/"
    - name: "For the advanced"
      url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/skill/for-the-advanced/"
---

# Setting up repositories with Composer

**This is the third in a series of blog posts addressing a package manager named Composer, greatly facilitating any web developer’s work. In my previous posts, I have explained** [**how to start using composer.phar**](https://www.zone.eu/blog/2024/07/10/how-to-start-using-composer-phar/)**, and** [**we also took a brief look at the most common commands**](https://www.zone.eu/blog/2024/07/22/eight-composer-commands-every-php-developer-should-know/)**. Next, we will answer the following question: how can you use Composer to install a package you have created yourself, and make another package dependent on it?**

![Setting up repositories with Composer](https://www.zone.eu/static/sites/2/2024/08/Setting-up-repositories-with-Composer-1024x577.jpg)When installing dependencies using the `composer install` command, it will first search the public [packagist.org](https://packagist.org/) registry for the respective package information. If you want to be able to install your homespun packages using the same command, there are several options.

## Packagist.org

If the application concerned is open source, you can register it in the public [packagist.org](https://packagist.org/) registry, that will scan the publicly available Git repository either manually or automatically by using a *webhook*. The package is then installed without requiring any additional activities. You must only use a unique package name for this.

## Setting up a composer.json file

Private Git repositories can also be set up directly in the composer.json file created for the project that is going to have the corresponding dependency. [To do this, you need to set up the desired packages](https://getcomposer.org/doc/05-repositories.md#using-private-repositories) in the `repositories` slot.

```json
{
    "repositories": [
        {
            "type": "vcs",
            "url":  "git@minu-git-aadress.org:vendor/minut-git-repo.git"
        }
    ],
    "require": {
        "vendor/minut-git-repo": "dev-master"
    }
}Code language: JSON / JSON with Comments (json)
```

By the way – the described solution also supports Subversion, Mergurial and Fossil in addition to Git.

## Using a private registry

If you have multiple private packages and managing them via composer.json files is starting to get complicated, you can also use your own registry. There are also several options for this. You can for example use the paid [Private Packagist](https://packagist.com/) service, which also helps to monitor security vulnerabilities when managing public dependencies and mirror the code in case a library is not available when you need it.

As an alternative, you can also host such a registry yourself. A good tool for this is e.g. [Satis](https://github.com/composer/satis) running on our [Zone](https://www.zone.eu/) hosting software. Satis will create a static registry for Composer, readable by using its configuration file.

### <a></a> Installing Satis

First, we will install **Satis** on the virtual server. In order to do this, we will log in to the server over SSH and navigate to the domain’s home directory:

```bash
cd domains/www.miljonivaade.euCode language: Bash (bash)
```

After that we will install the application:

```
# let’s clone the Satis git repository
git clone https://github.com/composer/satis.git

# let’s install the required dependencies
cd satis
composer install

# let's create a directory for displaying repositories
mkdir public
```

### <a></a>Setting up the web server

In order to publish the repository, we will add a subdomain named `satis.miljonivaade.eu` to our server and set `satis/public` as the value of the **Directory on the server** parameter.

### Configuring Satis

We will then create a `satis.json` file on the server and place it one level above the directory serving the subdomain i.e. in the `satis` directory. One part of the file is the general *registry* setup, and another part is the array of the repositories you wish to include. These parts have exactly the same structure as the `repositories` slot of composer.json.

The content of this file could look something like that:

```json
{
    "name": "my/repository",
    "homepage": "https://satis.miljonivaade.eu",
    "repositories": [
        {
            "type": "vcs",
            "url":  "git@minu-git-aadress.org:vendor/minut-git-repo.git"
        }
    ],
    "require-all": true
}Code language: JSON / JSON with Comments (json)
```

All repositories you want to add to your registry must be set up in the `repositories` slot of this file.

### Launching Satis

In order to start using your registry, you need to generate the registry based on your configuration file. The command in question will look in all your configured Git repositories and create the corresponding content that can be displayed from the web. Run the following command in the `satis` directory to do this:

```bash
php bin/satis build satis.json publicCode language: Bash (bash)
```

When you then open the `satis.miljonivaade.eu` subdomain in your web browser, you will see the created registry and the available packages. You can find more detailed configuration options in the [documentation](https://getcomposer.org/doc/articles/handling-private-packages.md#setup). How to use the documentation is explained in more detail also in [Satis documentation](https://getcomposer.org/doc/articles/authentication-for-private-packages.md). We will not, however, configure it in this example so we could keep this description simple.

### Putting your private registry to use

In order to be able to use the packages included in your registry you must configure the `composer.json` subdomain for the corresponding package:

```json
        "repositories": [
        {
            "type": "composer",
            "url": "https://satis.miljonivaade.eu"
        }
    ]Code language: JSON / JSON with Comments (json)
```

After that you can install the packages made available with this registry.

## In addition

Although we now have a fully operational private registry you can use with Composer, you should still pay attention to a few more aspects.

##### <a></a> 1. Authentication

Restricting access to your subdomain e.g. by allowing only [IP addresses associated](https://help.zone.eu/en/kb/examples-of-htaccess-rewrite-rules/) with the servers using this registry would be a good idea, or you could set up [HTTP basic auth password authentication](https://help.zone.eu/en/kb/restricting-access-to-a-website-with-htpasswd/).

##### <a></a> 2. Automatic updates

In order to enable automatic updating of the repository registry, I suggest adding the update command `cd www.miljonivaade.eu/satis && [[$PHP]] bin/satis build satis.json public` under the periodic jobs and run it with a reasonable frequency – for example daily, depending on how often the respective packages might be updated.

##### <a></a> 3. Package mirroring

In order to take the reins in your own hands and not depend on Github, you [can also mirror your configured packages](https://getcomposer.org/doc/articles/handling-private-packages.md#downloads) on the same **Satis** server. This will also reduce the volume of external network traffic and make installation faster internally for Zone services. By the way – you can also mirror public packages using **Satis**.

In order to use mirroring you must add the following lines to your `satis.json` file:

```json
...
    "archive": {
        "directory": "dist",
        "format": "tar",
        "skip-dev": true
    }
...Code language: JSON / JSON with Comments (json)
```

These packages will be installed in the `public` folder on the next startup. However, you should also keep in mind that the disk capacity of your virtual server is limited, and install only necessary repositories for mirroring.