Install EspoCRM as composer dependency

[tim]

Hi,

I googled a bit and found nothing on the subject. So, please excuse me if this topic has been raised before.

With today's release of a new version of EspoCRM I finally tried something I planned for quite a while. Installing EspoCRM as composer dependency. It worked fine for me so I would like to share my setup and ask for your opinion.

I have started with new `composer.json` with only requirement:

"require": {
  "espocrm/espocrm": "8.3.6"
}​

As espocrm/espocrm is not on the packagist I also had to add a repository:

"repositories": [
  {
    "type": "vcs",
    "url": "git@github.com:espocrm/espocrm.git"
  },
  {
    "type": "vcs",
    "url": "git@github.com:yurikuzn/lightncandy.git"
  }
]​

yurikuzn/lightncandy was also required as EspoCRM uses custom fork.

So after running composer upgrade espocrm/espocrm was deployed to vendor.

Next I copied entire public/ directory from espocrm into my root.

Then I added post-install-cmd/post-update-cmd scripts to symlink my customizations to vendor and client/ dir back to my pub. It also runs `npm ci` and `grunt`.

"scripts": {
  "post-install-cmd": [
    "mkdir -p data",
    "rm -fr vendor/espocrm/espocrm/data",
    "ln -s \"$(pwd)/data\" vendor/espocrm/espocrm/data",
    "rm -fr vendor/espocrm/espocrm/custom",
    "ln -s \"$(pwd)/custom\" vendor/espocrm/espocrm/custom",
    "rm -fr vendor/espocrm/espocrm/client/custom",
    "ln -s \"$(pwd)/client/custom\" vendor/espocrm/espocrm/client/custom",
    "if [ -d public/client ]; then rm -rf public/client; fi",
    "ln -s ../vendor/espocrm/espocrm/client public/client",
    "cd vendor/espocrm/espocrm && npm ci && grunt"
  ],
  "post-update-cmd": [
    "mkdir -p data",
    "rm -fr vendor/espocrm/espocrm/data",
    "ln -s \"$(pwd)/data\" vendor/espocrm/espocrm/data",
    "rm -fr vendor/espocrm/espocrm/custom",
    "ln -s \"$(pwd)/custom\" vendor/espocrm/espocrm/custom",
    "rm -fr vendor/espocrm/espocrm/client/custom",
    "ln -s \"$(pwd)/client/custom\" vendor/espocrm/espocrm/client/custom",
    "if [ -d public/client ]; then rm -rf public/client; fi",
    "ln -s ../vendor/espocrm/espocrm/client public/client",
    "cd vendor/espocrm/espocrm && npm ci && grunt"
  ]
}​

Unfortunately it's a duplication of the same code. An alternative would be to put it into file but I prefer to keep it in composer.json.

Finally I created bootstrap.php with following content:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

chdir(__DIR__ . '/vendor/espocrm/espocrm/');
set_include_path(__DIR__ . '/vendor/espocrm/espocrm/');

require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';

So now my repository contains only of `client/custom/`, `custom/, `public/`, `bootstrap.php` and composer lock and json. One more composer install run to build it all and everything works.

Benefits:

- next upgrade (or rollback) will be as easy as changing version in composer.json
- my repository only contains my modifications (less files, no temptation to hack the core)

What do you think?

[yuri]

Hi,

When you make customizations, are they written in vendor/espocrm/espocrm/custom? If yes, then customizations will be erased when you update the espocrm dependency. The same is actual with data/.

[yuri]

Now I see, Espo writes to vendor/espocrm/espocrm/custom, which is symlinked to custom/.

[tim]

Yes. Same for data and client/custom

[yuri]

Maybe instead of copying the "public" directory, it's reasonable to use a rewrite rule (in .htaccess for Apache).

[tim]

Good point. If nothing else must be put into public, web root can be set to `/path/to/vendor/espocrm/espocrm/public/`

[tim]

Published it as an article at our company's LinkedIn page - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/insta...en-hint-ekelf/