Phar only package / shim

[gjuric]

Feature request

It would be nice to have a phar only composer package, the same way phpstan/phpstan is installed (previously phpstan/phpstan-shim) or psalm (via psalm/phar). That would skip the need to have a separate composer file in tools/php-cs-fixer as advised in the installation instructions.

[SpacePossum]

Hi and thanks for proposing this,

Is this different than the current phar release we do?

https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/PHP-CS-Fixer/blob/v3.1.0/doc/installation.rst#locally

Download the php-cs-fixer.phar file and store it somewhere on your computer.

[gjuric]

Yes, it's different because version (and installation) of phar is then managed by composer. As far as I can tell it is just a separate repository with the phar file published.

For example, phpstan's development is made in https://github.com/phpstan/phpstan-src but installation is made from https://github.com/phpstan/phpstan where only the phar is published. Same things with psalm, development is made in https://github.com/vimeo/psalm but there is separate phar only repo: https://github.com/psalm/phar

[gjuric]

I've created a repository to show what I mean. You can test it out by running composer require --dev gjuric/php-cs-fixer-phar

[keradus]

To be honest it's on my TODO list, sth like php-cs-fixer/shim, but not top prio

[keradus]

I'm not sure if we should make main composer repo to be the shim (=phar) , as some folks are downloading the tool for custom fixers purpose.

we also have a mess of friendsofphp namespaces not fully focusing on PHP CS Fixer, and moving main repo to php-cs-fixer org would be a mess (ppl are still installing fabbot/php-cs-fixer we abandoned years ago)

[gjuric]

I understand, on the other hand having a new org would be a chance to clear up the stale issues and PRs :)

If you need any help with it please let me know.

[keradus]

take a look at generator branch of our website: https://github.com/php-cs-fixer/php-cs-fixer.github.io
CI (now, Travis, maybe GitHub Actions one day) runs daily and checks for new releases in main repo - if any, it's updating the main branch.

i can imagine sth similar for shim - generator branch triggers job daily and create new shim tags for any new (and >=3.0) tags of main repo. would you be willing to propose such automation? if so, I can create a dummy repo in our namespace, where you can raise the PR proposal ;)

[gjuric]

OK, I will take a look at how to create a Github Action that runs daily, runs self-update on the phar and if the updated phar is newer tags a commit.

I can play with it in my own brunch until I make it work, once I am done you can create a dummy repo.

[spideyfusion]

@gjuric Have you made any progress on this? I would be willing to lend a hand if needed.

Having a shim release variant would be super convenient for including the tool into existing projects without requiring developers to alter their scripts and directory structure.

We have been using irstea/php-cs-fixer-shim up until now, but sadly, it doesn't appear to be maintained anymore.

[gjuric]

If you have the time to take a go at it go ahead, I am in the process of moving offices so my time is limited at the moment.

[gjuric]

You can see my PoC in https://github.com/gjuric/PHP-CS-Fixer-phar/blob/6c43975202a3c4751fce417a1db564f648cf03b7/build.sh but I am having issues making Github run this action on schedule.

[gjuric]

@keradus I've managed to make it work, although there are couple of issues:

1. Github Actions that are run on a schedule can only run on the default branch
2. I made it work for v3 only, I believe this should be fine
3. composer.json requirements would need to be modified manually since the dependencies need to by stripped from the source version, but there is still a PHP dependency that we would have to update in the future

You can see an example of a successful build and an "empty" build.

How would you like to proceed?

[keradus]

I love you picked it up!
Let me give a sad warning on start - I definitely like the idea and love to support, but cannot guarantee everyday commitment into review/discussion/testing. I hope some more folks from community can help ;)

1. Github Actions that are run on a schedule can only run on the default branch

I believe we need to find how we want to handle it. Maybe .gitattributes to not expose the generation part to shim releases? also, pls link the docs for that limitation, I would love to get familiar.

2. I made it work for v3 only, I believe this should be fine

let's make it for v3.0.0 + only indeed

3. composer.json requirements would need to be modified manually since the dependencies need to by stripped from the source version, but there is still a PHP dependency that we would have to update in the future

if you read source data from friendsofphp/php-cs-fixer, you can actually read composer.json data and apply to php-cs-fixer/shim composer.json.

You can see my PoC in https://github.com/gjuric/PHP-CS-Fixer-phar/

Also, shortly took a look at your proposal. We have a tendency to release multiple versions same hour, eg we did it with just 2 new versions of 3.2.0 and 3.2.1.
Your proposal would pick up 3.2.1, but would ignore 3.2.0. I believe we should cover this case

How would you like to proceed?

Please, raise a PR at https://github.com/PHP-CS-Fixer/shim and let's continue the discussion on PR level.
Also, please share not only code/files, but also describe the approach you suggest to use.

[keradus]

@gjuric , would you like to continue on this topic ?

[keradus]

hey folks, would you like to try out https://github.com/PHP-CS-Fixer/shim and share your experience with it?

[trsteel88]

Looks good. Thanks @keradus

[gjuric]

I've been using it for a while and it works great, there is only one small issue.

It would be nice if the file was called php-cs-fixer.phar instead of php-cs-fixer so PhpStorm parses the context of the phar file and does not complain when working on .php-cs-fixer.dist.php that PhpCsFixer\Finder or PhpCsFixer\Config does not exist. Also auto-complete for those classes would then work as well.

If you want to keep the vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer file maybe you could do the same thins as phpstan does, see here and here.

[gjuric]

I've been running the shim release for almost a year now and it works great, so I will close this issue and open a new one regarding my last comment.