dotenv-connector within TYPO3 CMS - typo3

Question

I try to use helhum/dotenv-connector in my TYPO3 Project.
I have done the following:
my composer.json:
{
"require": {
"typo3/cms": "^8.5",
"helhum/dotenv-connector": "1.0.0",
"helhum/typo3-console": "^4.1"
},
"extra": {
"helhum/typo3-console": {
"install-extension-dummy": false
},
"typo3/cms": {
"cms-package-dir": "{$vendor-dir}/typo3/cms",
"web-dir": "web"
},
"helhum/dotenv-connector": {
"env-dir": "",
"allow-overrides": true,
"cache-dir": "var/cache"
}
}
}
Then I ran
composer install
After that I setup the TYPO3 using the command
php vendor/bin/typo3cms install:setup
This should be similar with doing the install the "normal" way.
After that, i placed a .env next to my composer.json
This .env contains the following:
TYPO3_CONTEXT="Development"
TYPO3__DB__database="dotenvconnector"
TYPO3__DB__host="127.0.0.1"
TYPO3__DB__password="root"
TYPO3__DB__port="3306"
TYPO3__DB__username="root"
Then i removed all informations about the DB from web/typo3conf/LocalConfiguration.php using the typo3_console-command
php vendor/bin/typo3cms configuration:remove DB
I then ran composer install and composer update again.
When calling the TYPO3 in the browser now, it keeps telling me
The requested database connection named "Default" has not been configured.
So what am i missing? Obviously my .env is not parsed or used at all.
FYI: Cachefile is written in var/cache with the following content:
<?php
putenv('TYPO3__DB__database=dotenvconnector');
$_ENV['TYPO3__DB__database'] = 'dotenvconnector';
$_SERVER['TYPO3__DB__database'] = 'dotenvconnector';
putenv('TYPO3__DB__host=localhost');
$_ENV['TYPO3__DB__host'] = 'localhost';
$_SERVER['TYPO3__DB__host'] = 'localhost';
putenv('TYPO3__DB__password=root');
$_ENV['TYPO3__DB__password'] = 'root';
$_SERVER['TYPO3__DB__password'] = 'root';
putenv('TYPO3__DB__port=3306');
$_ENV['TYPO3__DB__port'] = '3306';
$_SERVER['TYPO3__DB__port'] = '3306';
putenv('TYPO3__DB__username=root');
$_ENV['TYPO3__DB__username'] = 'root';
$_SERVER['TYPO3__DB__username'] = 'root';

Answer 1

Our setups work like this:
AdditionalConfiguration.php
$loader = new Dotenv\Dotenv(__DIR__ . '/../../', '.env.defaults');
$loader->load();
$loader = new Dotenv\Dotenv(__DIR__ . '/../../');
$loader->overload();
Interesting to see here that we run with a .env.defaults file that holds the standard config (no users or passwords of course) which we then overload with the custom .env file per user/environment.
This helps a lot when adding new functionality which requires a new .env configuration so other people on the team don't run into Fatals or Exceptions.
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['DB']['Connections']['Default']['dbname'] = getenv('TYPO3_DB_NAME');
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['DB']['Connections']['Default']['host'] = getenv('TYPO3_DB_HOST');
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['DB']['Connections']['Default']['password'] = getenv('TYPO3_DB_PASSWORD');
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['DB']['Connections']['Default']['user'] = getenv('TYPO3_DB_USER');
LocalConfiguration.php
return [
'BE' => [
'debug' => '<set by dotenv>',
'explicitADmode' => 'explicitAllow',
'installToolPassword' => '<set by dotenv>',
'loginSecurityLevel' => 'rsa',
'sessionTimeout' => '<set by dotenv>',
],
'DB' => [
'Connections' => [
'Default' => [
'charset' => 'utf8',
'dbname' => '<set by dotenv>',
'driver' => 'mysqli',
'host' => '<set by dotenv>',
'password' => '<set by dotenv>',
'port' => 3306,
'user' => '<set by dotenv>',
],
],
]...
I didn't paste the entire config but I think you get the point.

Answer 2

The dotenv-connector reads the .env file into the environment, but does not assign any values to TYPO3 configuration variables. You should be able to read them with getenv in your php code.
The connector is not specifically geared towards TYPO3, but is a general tool for any composer based php application. Therefore it would be out of the scope of the project, to know about the TYPO3 specific variable assignments.
There is another project, the configuration loader, that can help to assign environment variables to TYPO3 configuration variables.
.env -dotenv-connector-> environment -configuration-loader-> $GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']
The configuration loader can be found at https://github.com/helhum/config-loader . And an example of it all wired together in https://github.com/helhum/TYPO3-Distribution .
You don't have to use the configuration loader. You could also assign the values manually with getenv().

Answer 3

One important note with PHP 7.2 (on TYPO3 v9) and the usage of argon hash:
You must use single quotes / ticks for the values in the .env file.
Example:
Instead of my_value="foobar"
write my_value='foobar'