How to Install a Different Version of Composer

Composer is a dependency management tool for PHP, which allows you to declare the libraries your project depends on, and it will manage (install/update) them for you. It provides a standard format for managing dependencies of PHP software and required libraries.

Some projects could require a different version of Composer than the one already installed on the server. This article will guide you through the process of installing a different version of Composer on your website.

Download the Latest Version of Composer

To download the latest version of Composer, you need to run the following command:
wget https://getcomposer.org/composer.phar -O ${HOME}/composer.phar

This command will download the latest version of the composer.phar file and save it in the home directory of your website.

Create an Alias for Composer

Next, you need to create an alias for Composer that will execute the newly downloaded composer.phar file. To do this, run the following command:

echo "alias composer=\"php ${HOME}/composer.phar \"" >> ${HOME}/.bashrc

This command will add a line to your .bashrc file, creating an alias named composer that points to the composer.phar file.

Load the Newly Added Alias

After creating the alias, you need to load the newly added line so that it works in the current SSH session. To do this, run the following command:
source ${HOME}/.bashrc
This command will reload your .bashrc file, making the new composer alias available for use. You only need to do this once as the file is loaded every time you establish a new SSH connection to your website.

Test the Installation

Finally, you can test the installation to confirm that the new version of Composer has been installed correctly. To do this, run the following command:
composer --version

This command will display the version of Composer that is currently installed on your system. If the installation was successful, it should display the version of Composer that you just installed.