Composer global-home fallback checks ~/.composer before the XDG home, so scan -g finds no Composer 2 global packages when a stale ~/.composer exists and composer isn't on PATH

[mikolalysenko]

[agent] Found by the scheduled Composer bug-hunt routine (ledger #321).

Summary

When composer global config home can't be run (composer isn't on PATH, for example when it's installed as composer.phar or behind an alias), get_composer_home falls back to composer_home_candidates, added in #442 for #438. That function tries ~/.composer before $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/composer / ~/.config/composer and returns the first directory that exists. Composer 2 uses the opposite order. On an XDG system (any XDG_* env var set, or /etc/xdg present, i.e. most Linux distros), Factory::getHomeDir tries the XDG dir first and only falls back to ~/.composer. Composer 1 does use ~/.composer first.

So on Linux with Composer 2, any leftover ~/.composer directory (even an empty one, e.g. from the Composer 1 era) hides the real global home. scan -g prints "No global packages found." and exits 0, and apply -g / vex -g silently do nothing to the real global install.

The doc comment at composer_home_candidates ("elsewhere: ~/.composer when it exists, else the XDG location") states Composer's rule backwards for Composer 2.

Impact

Globally installed Composer tools (phpunit, php-cs-fixer, laravel/installer, …) go silently unpatched, with a success exit code, on Linux machines that have both directories and no composer on PATH. Same symptom class as #438.

Repro (Linux, PHP 8.3, Composer 2.10.3 phar, main 203e092)

B=$(mktemp -d); mkdir -p $B/home/.composer $B/home/.config/composer $B/proj $B/nopath
ln -s "$(command -v php)" $B/nopath/php
export HOME=$B/home; unset COMPOSER_HOME XDG_CONFIG_HOME
php composer-2.10.3.phar global config home      # -> $B/home/.config/composer
php composer-2.10.3.phar global require psr/log:1.1.4 -n
ls $HOME/.config/composer/vendor/composer/installed.json   # the real global install
cd $B/proj
# a local mock answering POST /patch/batch on 127.0.0.1:8765 logs the queried purls
PATH=$B/nopath socket-patch scan -g -e composer --json --proxy-url http://127.0.0.1:8765
#   -> "scannedPackages": 0, no /patch/batch request ("No global packages found." in text mode, exit 0)
PATH="$PATH" socket-patch scan -g -e composer --json --proxy-url http://127.0.0.1:8765   # composer on PATH (control)
#   -> "scannedPackages": 1, batch queries pkg:composer/psr/log@1.1.4
rmdir $HOME/.composer; PATH=$B/nopath socket-patch scan -g -e composer --json ...        # control
#   -> "scannedPackages": 1

The same happens with XDG_CONFIG_HOME=$B/xdg and the global install in $B/xdg/composer.

Expected vs actual

• Expected: -g operates on the global install Composer itself uses (get_composer_home mirrors Factory::getHomeDir, per its doc comment and the On Windows, scan -g finds no Composer global packages in the default %APPDATA%\Composer home, so apply -g and vex -g silently do nothing #438 fix). Composer 2: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/composer or ~/.config/composer first when XDG is in use, then ~/.composer.
• Actual: ~/.composer wins whenever it exists, and 0 packages are scanned with exit 0.

Matrix (Linux, PHP 8.3; each scan run twice, same result)

Composer	Composer's own home (both dirs exist)	socket-patch, no composer on PATH	control: on PATH	control: no ~/.composer
1.10.28	~/.composer (both cases)	matches Composer (not affected)	n/a	n/a
2.2.30	~/.config/composer / $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/composer	0 packages ×2 layouts	n/a	n/a
2.10.3	~/.config/composer / $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/composer	0 packages ×2 layouts	1 package	1 package

macOS: untested. Composer's useXdg() is normally false there (no XDG_* vars, no /etc/xdg), so ~/.composer first is correct, but a macOS user with an XDG_* variable set would hit this. Windows isn't affected (%APPDATA%\Composer comes first).

First bad version

This isn't a regression in #442. The pre-#442 fallback (v4.0.0) already probed ~/.composer before ~/.config/composer. #442 added $XDG_CONFIG_HOME but kept the order.

Suspect code

crates/socket-patch-core/src/crawlers/composer_crawler.rs:407-434 (composer_home_candidates: home.join(".composer") at :424 is pushed before the XDG candidates at :428/:432), consumed at :387-390. A fix needs to mirror useXdg() (any XDG_* env var, or /etc/xdg exists) and, when it's true, put the XDG dir first. Composer 1's order differs, but without a composer binary the version can't be detected cheaply, so preferring the Composer 2 rule (or crawling every existing candidate) seems the safer choice.

[mikolalysenko]

[agent] Triaged: priority:p2 (Composer). This isn't a duplicate. #438 / #442 added the fallback but kept the Composer 1 order, and I found no open PR. The cause is confirmed in composer_home_candidates (crawlers/composer_crawler.rs), which pushes ~/.composer before the XDG candidates.

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