Composer is the dependency manager for PHP. It allows you to declare project libraries, resolve version conflicts, and install them automatically. This guide installs Composer globally on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Tested and valid on:

  • Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

Prerequisites

  • Ubuntu 24.04 LTS server
  • PHP 8.3 installed
  • A user with sudo privileges

Step 1 – Install Required Dependencies

Install required PHP extensions:

sudo apt install php8.3-cli php8.3-zip php8.3-mbstring unzip curl -y

Step 2 – Download and Verify the Composer Installer

Download the installer and verify its hash:

php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');"

Get the expected hash from getcomposer.org and verify:

HASH=$(curl -sS https://composer.github.io/installer.sig)
php -r "if (hash_file('sha384', 'composer-setup.php') === '$HASH') { echo 'Installer verified'; } else { echo 'Installer corrupt'; unlink('composer-setup.php'); } echo PHP_EOL;"

Step 3 – Install Composer Globally

Run the installer and move to the system path:

sudo php composer-setup.php --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
php -r "unlink('composer-setup.php');"

Step 4 – Verify the Installation

Check the Composer version:

composer --version

Step 5 – Create a New Project

Example: create a new Laravel 11 project:

composer create-project laravel/laravel myapp "^11.0"

Step 6 – Update Composer

Keep Composer itself up to date:

sudo composer self-update

Step 7 – Use Composer in a Project

Common Composer commands:

composer require vendor/package   # add a package
composer update                    # update all packages
composer install                   # install from composer.lock
composer dump-autoload             # regenerate autoload files

Conclusion

Composer is now installed globally on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and ready to manage PHP project dependencies. It is an essential tool for modern PHP development with Laravel, Symfony, and other frameworks.