Undefined index: timezone in Laravel

Question

I have developed a Laravel project locally on a Mac running MAMP. I have this in a Git Repo. I have attempted to Git Clone, Composer Update on my deployment server, however I get the following output:

smpuser@ssmpuser:/var/www/recruitment-v2$ composer update
Loading composer repositories with package information
Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
  - Installing stack/builder (dev-master f98a5eb)
    Downloading: 100%         

  - Removing phpseclib/phpseclib (dev-master 268ec2e)
  - Installing phpseclib/phpseclib (dev-master 211e237)
    Downloading: 100%         

  - Removing monolog/monolog (dev-master d81ca5a)
  - Installing monolog/monolog (dev-master 7f783c0)
    Downloading: 100%         

  - Removing nikic/php-parser (dev-master 0353c92)
  - Installing nikic/php-parser (dev-master bf9956b)
    Downloading: 100%         

  - Removing predis/predis (0.8.x-dev 0f01b89)
  - Installing predis/predis (0.8.x-dev 5f2eea6)
    Downloading: 100%         

  - Removing laravel/framework (4.1.x-dev 6e246f3)
  - Installing laravel/framework (4.1.x-dev 24c9aaf)
    Downloading: connection...    Downloading: 100%         

Writing lock file
Generating autoload files
{"error":{"type":"ErrorException","message":"Undefined index: timezone","file":"\/var\/www\/recruitment-v2\/vendor\/laravel\/framework\/src\/Illuminate\/Foundation\/start.php","line":167}}{"error":{"type":"ErrorException","message":"Undefined index: timezone","file":"\/var\/www\/recruitment-v2\/vendor\/laravel\/framework\/src\/Illuminate\/Foundation\/start.php","line":167}}

I have tried this on 3 servers now and get the same issue, I am running PHP 5.3.10.

Can anybody suggest a fix?

Here is my start.php, which is bundled with Laravel.

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Set PHP Error Reporting Options
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Here we will set the strictest error reporting options, and also turn
| off PHP's error reporting, since all errors will be handled by the
| framework and we don't want any output leaking back to the user.
|
*/

error_reporting(-1);

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Check Extensions
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Laravel requires a few extensions to function. Here we will check the
| loaded extensions to make sure they are present. If not we'll just
| bail from here. Otherwise, Composer will crazily fall back code.
|
*/

if ( ! extension_loaded('mcrypt'))
{
    echo 'Mcrypt PHP extension required.'.PHP_EOL;

    exit(1);
}

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Register Class Imports
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Here we will just import a few classes that we need during the booting
| of the framework. These are mainly classes that involve loading the
| config files for this application, such as the config repository.
|
*/

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Facade;
use Illuminate\Foundation\AliasLoader;
use Illuminate\Config\EnvironmentVariables;
use Illuminate\Config\Repository as Config;

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Bind The Application In The Container
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| This may look strange, but we actually want to bind the app into itself
| in case we need to Facade test an application. This will allow us to
| resolve the "app" key out of this container for this app's facade.
|
*/

$app->instance('app', $app);

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Check For The Test Environment
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| If the "unitTesting" variable is set, it means we are running the unit
| tests for the application and should override this environment here
| so we use the right configuration. The flag gets set by TestCase.
|
*/

if (isset($unitTesting))
{
    $app['env'] = $env = $testEnvironment;
}

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Load The Illuminate Facades
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| The facades provide a terser static interface over the various parts
| of the application, allowing their methods to be accessed through
| a mixtures of magic methods and facade derivatives. It's slick.
|
*/

Facade::clearResolvedInstances();

Facade::setFacadeApplication($app);

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Register Facade Aliases To Full Classes
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| By default, we use short keys in the container for each of the core
| pieces of the framework. Here we will register the aliases for a
| list of all of the fully qualified class names making DI easy.
|
*/

$app->registerCoreContainerAliases();

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Register The Environment Variables
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Here we will register all of the $_ENV and $_SERVER variables into the
| process so that they're globally available configuration options so
| sensitive configuration information can be swept out of the code.
|
*/

with($envVariables = new EnvironmentVariables(
    $app->getEnvironmentVariablesLoader()))->load($env);

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Register The Configuration Repository
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| The configuration repository is used to lazily load in the options for
| this application from the configuration files. The files are easily
| separated by their concerns so they do not become really crowded.
|
*/

$app->instance('config', $config = new Config(

    $app->getConfigLoader(), $env

));

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Register Application Exception Handling
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| We will go ahead and register the application exception handling here
| which will provide a great output of exception details and a stack
| trace in the case of exceptions while an application is running.
|
*/

$app->startExceptionHandling();

if ($env != 'testing') ini_set('display_errors', 'Off');

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Set The Default Timezone
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Here we will set the default timezone for PHP. PHP is notoriously mean
| if the timezone is not explicitly set. This will be used by each of
| the PHP date and date-time functions throughout the application.
|
*/

$config = $app['config']['app'];

date_default_timezone_set($config['timezone']);

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Register The Alias Loader
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| The alias loader is responsible for lazy loading the class aliases setup
| for the application. We will only register it if the "config" service
| is bound in the application since it contains the alias definitions.
|
*/

$aliases = $config['aliases'];

AliasLoader::getInstance($aliases)->register();

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Enable HTTP Method Override
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Next we will tell the request class to allow HTTP method overriding
| since we use this to simulate PUT and DELETE requests from forms
| as they are not currently supported by plain HTML form setups.
|
*/

Request::enableHttpMethodParameterOverride();

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Register The Core Service Providers
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| The Illuminate core service providers register all of the core pieces
| of the Illuminate framework including session, caching, encryption
| and more. It's simply a convenient wrapper for the registration.
|
*/

$providers = $config['providers'];

$app->getProviderRepository()->load($app, $providers);

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Register Booted Start Files
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Once the application has been booted there are several "start" files
| we will want to include. We'll register our "booted" handler here
| so the files are included after the application gets booted up.
|
*/

$app->booted(function() use ($app, $env)
{

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Load The Application Start Script
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| The start script gives us the application the opportunity to override
| any of the existing IoC bindings, as well as register its own new
| bindings for things like repositories, etc. We'll load it here.
|
*/

$path = $app['path'].'/start/global.php';

if (file_exists($path)) require $path;

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Load The Environment Start Script
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| The environment start script is only loaded if it exists for the app
| environment currently active, which allows some actions to happen
| in one environment while not in the other, keeping things clean.
|
*/

$path = $app['path']."/start/{$env}.php";

if (file_exists($path)) require $path;

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Load The Application Routes
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| The Application routes are kept separate from the application starting
| just to keep the file a little cleaner. We'll go ahead and load in
| all of the routes now and return the application to the callers.
|
*/

$routes = $app['path'].'/routes.php';

if (file_exists($routes)) require $routes;

});

app.php:

<?php

return array(

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Application Debug Mode
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | When your application is in debug mode, detailed error messages with
    | stack traces will be shown on every error that occurs within your
    | application. If disabled, a simple generic error page is shown.
    |
    */

    'debug' => true,

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Application URL
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | This URL is used by the console to properly generate URLs when using
    | the Artisan command line tool. You should set this to the root of
    | your application so that it is used when running Artisan tasks.
    |
    */

    'url' => 'http://x.x.co.uk',

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Application Timezone
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | Here you may specify the default timezone for your application, which
    | will be used by the PHP date and date-time functions. We have gone
    | ahead and set this to a sensible default for you out of the box.
    |
    */

    'timezone' => 'UTC',

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Application Locale Configuration
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | The application locale determines the default locale that will be used
    | by the translation service provider. You are free to set this value
    | to any of the locales which will be supported by the application.
    |
    */

    'locale' => 'en',

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Encryption Key
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | This key is used by the Illuminate encrypter service and should be set
    | to a random, 32 character string, otherwise these encrypted strings
    | will not be safe. Please do this before deploying an application!
    |
    */

    'key' => 'U6rUNcyOZASCypuYCZAB5CGvWaNkjcEm',

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Autoloaded Service Providers
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | The service providers listed here will be automatically loaded on the
    | request to your application. Feel free to add your own services to
    | this array to grant expanded functionality to your applications.
    |
    */

    'providers' => array(

        'Illuminate\Foundation\Providers\ArtisanServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Auth\AuthServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Cache\CacheServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Session\CommandsServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Foundation\Providers\ConsoleSupportServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Routing\ControllerServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Cookie\CookieServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Database\DatabaseServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Encryption\EncryptionServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Filesystem\FilesystemServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Hashing\HashServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Html\HtmlServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Log\LogServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Mail\MailServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Database\MigrationServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Pagination\PaginationServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Queue\QueueServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Redis\RedisServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Remote\RemoteServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\ReminderServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Database\SeedServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Session\SessionServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Translation\TranslationServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Validation\ValidationServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\View\ViewServiceProvider',
        'Illuminate\Workbench\WorkbenchServiceProvider',

    ),

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Service Provider Manifest
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | The service provider manifest is used by Laravel to lazy load service
    | providers which are not needed for each request, as well to keep a
    | list of all of the services. Here, you may set its storage spot.
    |
    */

    'manifest' => storage_path().'/meta',

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Class Aliases
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | This array of class aliases will be registered when this application
    | is started. However, feel free to register as many as you wish as
    | the aliases are "lazy" loaded so they don't hinder performance.
    |
    */

    'aliases' => array(

        'App'             => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\App',
        'Artisan'         => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Artisan',
        'Auth'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth',
        'Blade'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Blade',
        'Cache'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cache',
        'ClassLoader'     => 'Illuminate\Support\ClassLoader',
        'Config'          => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Config',
        'Controller'      => 'Illuminate\Routing\Controller',
        'Cookie'          => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cookie',
        'Crypt'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Crypt',
        'DB'              => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB',
        'Eloquent'        => 'Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model',
        'Event'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Event',
        'File'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\File',
        'Form'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Form',
        'Hash'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Hash',
        'HTML'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\HTML',
        'Input'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Input',
        'Lang'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Lang',
        'Log'             => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log',
        'Mail'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Mail',
        'Paginator'       => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Paginator',
        'Password'        => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Password',
        'Queue'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Queue',
        'Redirect'        => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Redirect',
        'Redis'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Redis',
        'Request'         => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Request',
        'Response'        => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Response',
        'Route'           => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route',
        'Schema'          => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema',
        'Seeder'          => 'Illuminate\Database\Seeder',
        'Session'         => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Session',
        'SSH'             => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\SSH',
        'Str'             => 'Illuminate\Support\Str',
        'URL'             => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\URL',
        'Validator'       => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Validator',
        'View'            => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\View',

    ),

);

Answer 1

I can reproduce that error by leaving out configuration files in app/config/ directory:

If you happen to dd() the config variable within that file, you will notice that it is empty.

I came across that same problem when working with git and branches that tried to ignore parts of the config folder that were needed.

I would suggest double checking your settings within that folder along with any .gitignore rules associated with that folder. If you are missing those files, make sure to download them manually and put them in your app/config/ directory.

I hope that points you in the right direction, because I was totally lost with that error.

Answer 2

Do you set the timezone in your php.ini? For example:

date.timezone = Europe/Rome

Answer 3

add date_default_timezone_set("Europe/London"); at the top of the main page or inside constructor if you are using class.