Laravel-5.1 geonames, cloning repository using Composer - github

Question

I want to use geonames for addresses on a website. I'm developing it using Laravel 5.1. I found this useful as a tutorial to get started: Ipalaus Laravel 4.* for Geonames.
Because of its version incompatibility, I contacted a co-worker on the project who redirected me to use his repository: My conversation with Javier Martinz on L-5.1 compatible update. The simple solution was to add his repository which I did in composer.json. After running this I was expecting to have seen the repository cloned and have artisan command for geonames, to my surprise nothing of sort. I am using no version control like git, just storing locally.
How do I clone the repository? I have written him but no response for now. I suppose he's taken a break for the holidays.
This is my composer.json file
{
"name": "laravel/laravel",
"description": "The Laravel Framework.",
"keywords": ["framework", "laravel"],
"license": "MIT",
"type": "project",
"require": {
"php": ">=5.5.9",
"laravel/framework": "5.1.*",
"laravelcollective/html": "5.1.*",
"laravel/socialite": "^2.0",
"toin0u/geocoder-laravel": "#stable",
"ext-zip": "*",
"illuminate/config": ">=5.1.0",
"illuminate/console": ">=5.1.0",
"illuminate/database": ">=5.1.0",
"illuminate/filesystem": ">=5.1.0",
"illuminate/support": ">=5.1.0",
"symfony/process": "2.7.*",
"guzzle/http": "^3.9",
"guzzlehttp/guzzle": "~4.0"
},
"require-dev": {
"fzaninotto/faker": "~1.4",
"mockery/mockery": "0.9.*",
"phpunit/phpunit": "~4.0",
"phpspec/phpspec": "~2.1"
},
"autoload": {
"classmap": [
"database"
],
"psr-4": {
"App\\": "app/"
}
},
"autoload-dev": {
"classmap": [
"tests/TestCase.php"
]
},
"repositories": [
{
"type": "vcs",
"url": "https://github.com/JavierMartinz/geonames"
}
],
"scripts": {
"post-install-cmd": [
"php artisan clear-compiled",
"php artisan optimize"
],
"pre-update-cmd": [
"php artisan clear-compiled"
],
"post-update-cmd": [
"php artisan optimize"
],
"post-root-package-install": [
"php -r \"copy('.env.example', '.env');\""
],
"post-create-project-cmd": [
"php artisan key:generate"
]
},
"config": {
"preferred-install": "dist"
}
}
This is the error I got when I added: "ipalaus/geonames": "1.0.*"
C:\Users\ken4ward\Documents\xampp\htdocs\tradersmart>composer update
> php artisan clear-compiled
Loading composer repositories with package information
Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
- Removing guzzlehttp/psr7 (1.2.1)
- Removing psr/http-message (1.0)
- Removing guzzlehttp/promises (1.0.3)
- Installing guzzlehttp/streams (2.1.0)
Downloading: 100%
- Removing guzzlehttp/guzzle (6.1.1)
- Installing guzzlehttp/guzzle (4.2.3)
Downloading: 100%
- Removing laravel/socialite (v2.0.14)
- Installing laravel/socialite (v2.0.4)
Downloading: 100%
Writing lock file
Generating autoload files
> php artisan optimize
Generating optimized class loader
C:\Users\ken4ward\Documents\xampp\htdocs\tradersmart>composer update
> php artisan clear-compiled
Loading composer repositories with package information
Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
Your requirements could not be resolved to an installable set of packages.
Problem 1
- ipalaus/geonames v1.0.0 requires illuminate/config 4.2.* -> no matching pa
ckage found.
- ipalaus/geonames v1.0.1 requires illuminate/config 4.2.* -> no matching pa
ckage found.
- ipalaus/geonames v1.0.2 requires illuminate/config 4.2.* -> no matching pa
ckage found.
- ipalaus/geonames v1.0.1 requires illuminate/config 4.2.* -> no matching pa
ckage found.
- ipalaus/geonames v1.0.0 requires illuminate/config 4.2.* -> no matching pa
ckage found.
- Installation request for ipalaus/geonames 1.0.* -> satisfiable by ipalaus/
geonames[v1.0.0, v1.0.1, v1.0.2].
Potential causes:
- A typo in the package name
- The package is not available in a stable-enough version according to your min
imum-stability setting
see <https://groups.google.com/d/topic/composer-dev/_g3ASeIFlrc/discussion> f
or more details.
Read <https://getcomposer.org/doc/articles/troubleshooting.md> for further commo
n problems.

Answer 1

I tried to use ipalaus/geonames also, and it was not so nice. It did not function and the issue tickets I created months ago got no response. So I made my own package which imports much faster than ipalaus/geonames and more complete already. It took 15 hours to import the databases with ipalaus/geonames and it takes merely 30 minutes with my package.

Answer 2

Once I'd seen your composer.json, I wondered if this would just register the Git repo as an available source, but not specifically request it as a dependency. I therefore ran this search and found this blog article.
To summarise what that article says, it says that Git repo dependencies need to use the word dev- followed by the branch name you would like (this is usually master, but can vary). So, in your case, the solution in the require JSON array was:
"ipalaus/geonames": "dev-master"
From the conversation on the pull request, it seems that the change you wanted has now been merged down anyway. So you should now be able to follow these instructions and remove the Git repo:
you should be able to required v2.0 for Laravel 5.1 composer require ~2.0 or v3.0 for Laravel 5.2 composer require ~3.0
If it is the case you can now use the Packagist version, do not feel that your time has been wasted - learning how to use Composer with special requirements (such as repo dependencies) is worthwhile indeed.