Hi all, question about install composer?

[vhvg_chv]

Hi all,

I'm new to Magento platform, so excuse me if the question is silly.

The download page for M2 states that:

    For the first time, the Magento software uses Composer for dependency management.

However, the installation guide says that I have an option to install M2 from a zip archive by uploading it to the server, and:

    Composer is required for developers who want to contribute to codebase,or develop extensions.

I'm a bit confused. Do I actually have to install composer in order to install M2 shop? I'm not planning to develop extensions. All I need is a demo shop to play with and see if it's suitable for our business.

Thanks.

[Manthan Dave]

Hello @vhvg_chv 

RE : For the first time, the Magento software uses Composer for dependency management.

• That is absolutely correct, Magento Software uses composer for all the dependency packages is required, so you can easily get those packages from the composer instead of downloading manually and configuring each separately !

RE : I'm a bit confused. Do I actually have to install composer in order to install M2 shop? I'm not planning to develop extensions. All I need is a demo shop to play with and see if it's suitable for our business.

• Yes you can install Magento 2 without composer, you can directly donwload Magento 2 with Sample data package from here - https://magento.com/tech-resources/download
• If you just want to install the demo shop and need to test with it then you can download from the given link - extract it on your server and run the Magento2 necessary commands, It will work for as of now !
• But in any case if you would like to upgrade something either Magento2 Version, Extensions anything then you will require to have composer installed.
• Also just to give you suggestion - if you are planning to use Magento2 then as a standard practice i would suggest you to install composer as well.
• Refer First option from this link, it is for install magento 2 without composer- https://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.3/install-gde/bk-install-guide.html

Hope it helps !