README

This plugin extends cweagans/composer-patches to provide dynamic, version-specific patching for Composer packages. It allows any installed package to define patches for other packages, with support for version constraints.

Features

✅ Version-specific patches - Apply patches based on package versions using semantic versioning ✅ Dynamic patch resolution - Collect patches from all installed dependencies, not just root ✅ Multiple patch sources - Support for inline patches, external files, and URLs ✅ Semver constraint matching - Use version constraints like 1.0.0, ^2.0, 1.1.*, etc. ✅ Proper provenance tracking - Track where patches come from for debugging ✅ Compatible with composer-patches v2 - Built on top of the modern composer-patches architecture

Requirements

PHP 8.0 or higher
Composer Plugin API v2
cweagans/composer-patches ^2.0

Installation

composer require rajeshreeputra/composer-dynamic-patches

Add the plugin to your composer.json allow-plugins configuration:

{
    "config": {
        "allow-plugins": {
            "cweagans/composer-patches": true,
            "rajeshreeputra/composer-dynamic-patches": true
        }
    }
}

Usage

1. Basic Patch Definition (No Version Constraint)

Apply patches to any package from any package:

{
    "name": "vendor/my-package",
    "type": "library",
    "extra": {
        "patches": {
            "vendor/target-package": {
                "Fix critical bug": "https://example.com/patches/fix-bug.patch",
                "Add new feature": "./patches/feature.patch"
            }
        }
    }
}

2. Version-Specific Patches

Apply different patches based on the installed version:

{
    "name": "vendor/my-package",
    "type": "library",
    "extra": {
        "patches": {
            "vendor/target-package": {
                "1.0.0": {
                    "Fix for 1.0.0": "patches/fix-1.0.0.patch"
                },
                "1.0.5": {
                    "Fix for 1.0.5": "patches/fix-1.0.5.patch"
                },
                "^1.1": {
                    "Fix for 1.1.x": "patches/fix-1.1.x.patch"
                },
                ">=2.0": {
                    "Fix for 2.0+": "patches/fix-2.0-plus.patch"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Version Constraint Examples:

"1.0.0" - Exact version match
"^1.1" - Compatible with 1.1.0 and higher (but < 2.0.0)
"~1.1" - Compatible with 1.1.x
">=1.5" - Version 1.5.0 or higher
"1.1.*" - Any 1.1.x version

3. External Patches File

Load patches from an external JSON file:

composer.json:

{
    "name": "vendor/my-package",
    "type": "library",
    "extra": {
        "patches-file": "patches.json"
    }
}

patches.json:

{
    "vendor/target-package": {
        "1.0.0": {
            "Critical fix for 1.0.0": "https://example.com/fix-1.0.0.patch"
        },
        "^2.0": {
            "Enhancement for 2.x": "./local-patches/enhancement-2.x.patch"
        }
    },
    "another/package": {
        "Fix another issue": "patches/another-fix.patch"
    }
}

4. Expanded Format (Advanced)

For more control, use the expanded format with SHA256 verification and custom depth:

{
    "extra": {
        "patches": {
            "vendor/package": [
                {
                    "description": "Security fix",
                    "url": "https://example.com/security-fix.patch",
                    "sha256": "abc123...",
                    "depth": 1
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

How It Works

Background Operation: The plugin runs automatically during composer install, composer update, and composer require commands
Patch Collection: Scans all installed packages for patch definitions
Version Matching: Evaluates version constraints against installed package versions
Patch Application: Applies matching patches using the composer-patches infrastructure
Lock File: Patches are tracked in patches.lock.json for consistency

Disabling Default Resolvers

By default, this plugin disables the standard PatchesFile and RootComposer resolvers from composer-patches to avoid conflicts. This is configured in composer.json:

{
    "extra": {
        "composer-patches": {
            "disable-resolvers": [
                "\\cweagans\\Composer\\Resolver\\PatchesFile",
                "\\cweagans\\Composer\\Resolver\\RootComposer"
            ]
        }
    }
}

If you want to enable them, remove these entries from your configuration.

Verbose Output

For detailed information about patch resolution, use Composer's verbose flags:

# Verbose output
composer install -v

# Very verbose output (shows version constraint matching)
composer install -vv

# Debug output
composer install -vvv

Troubleshooting

Patches not being applied?

Check that the plugin is enabled in your allow-plugins configuration
Verify version constraints match your installed package versions
Run with -vv flag to see patch resolution details
Check patches.lock.json to see what patches were resolved

Version constraint not matching?

Use semantic versioning format (e.g., ^1.0, not 1.0.x)
Check the installed version with composer show vendor/package
Use -vv flag to see constraint evaluation messages

JSON parse errors?

Validate your JSON with a linter
Check that patch file paths are correct
Ensure patches-file exists and is readable

Differences from composer-patches

Feature	composer-patches	composer-dynamic-patches
Version-specific patches	❌	✅
Patches from dependencies	Limited	✅ Full support
Semantic version constraints	❌	✅
Dynamic patch resolution	❌	✅
Commands (doctor, repatch)	✅	Inherits from base
SHA256 verification	✅	✅ (inherited)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch
Make your changes
Submit a pull request

License

GPL-2.0-or-later

Credits

Built on top of cweagans/composer-patches by Cameron Eagans.

rajeshreeputra / composer-dynamic-patches

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