How can I update the composer version that is being used inside my ddev containers?

Question

Currently my docker/ddev setup is running Composer version 1.10.6 2020-05-06 inside the container.

I would like to make the composer version inside the container be 1.10.7 2020-06-03.

I found one way to do it: ddev exec sudo composer self-update , but it's not permanent. The container reverts back to using 1.10.6 after a ddev restart.

In all of my searches, I can't find a way to update the documents that create the container so they update composer permanently. I don't need it to attempt to update every time I start my container, I just need to be able to tell it now to permanently change over to the version I want.

An additional piece: adding RUN sudo composer self-update to the.ddev/web-build/Dockerfile makes it attempt to update every time, which is not ideal. I want to update when I'm ready, as I also need to update my test servers to match versions.

I added that command to my Dockerfile and it updated to 1.10.7. I removed the command from my Dockerfile so that it doesn't update every time I restart ddev. When I restarted ddev (without that command in the Dockerfile) it reverted composer back to 1.10.6.

Where is it getting the instructions to use that version? I need to find that and tell it to use 1.10.7 instead. I don't want it to update itself every time I do ddev restart .

Answer 1

It's not normally important, but you can add a.ddev/web-build/Dockerfile with these contents:

ARG BASE_IMAGE
FROM $BASE_IMAGE
RUN composer self-update

And your composer will be updated during the image build process.

Answer 2

Randy's suggestion worked well for me, however I've also found an alternative solution which involves less typing.
Read the project config.yaml and it explains how the Composer version can be changed.
This file is found in ~/yourprojectname/.ddev/config.yaml.
The first lines of the file are the configuration used and the remaining lines of the file explain the configuration alternatives available. Enjoy:)
# if composer_version:"" it will use the current ddev default composer release.
# It can also be set to "1", to get most recent composer v1
# or "2" for most recent composer v2.
# It can be set to any existing specific composer version.
# After first project 'ddev start' this will not be updated until it changes