How do you install 2.1.0 without using composer?

[leed]

I just wanted to set up a new installation and saw, that Magento offers version 2.1

First problem was the lack of support of PHP 5.5.9, that used to work in the previous versions. I understand that older PHP versions should be abandoned. I am however devoloping on Ubuntu 14.04 machines and I'm not yet comfortable switching to 16.04, as I'd prefer to wait for Snappy Core to evolve a little before using it in production. Well, 14.04 comes with PHP 5.5.9. Nothing that can't be solved, but a little annoying. 

More annoying to me is the fact, that Magento can't be installed without using composer. Yes I know it's a good program and many people use it. It's actually really good for people who just have a simple installation on a server without backup systems or deployment processes.
But I need to be able to deploy fast using Git. For that I need all code ready in my repos. If I have to run "composer install" a deployment will take 10 Minutes instead of 5 seconds. Also there is a risk, that the site won't work if a repo is not available.

In the End this results in me needing to run "composer install" on a server and then push the code from there back into my git repo to get back to the state I wish to have. Not really good practice. 

Is there no better way to maintain a simple install. 

[sherrie]

Hi @leed, PHP 7 is not a requirement for Magento 2, you can use PHP 7.0.2–7.0.6 except for 7.0.5, 5.6.x or 5.5.x. (See: http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.1/install-gde/bk-install-guide.html)

We've documented a few installation options here that should help you install without using Composer: http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.1/install-gde/continue.html

[leed]

Dear Sherrie

Thank you for the effort. Unfortunately I cannot "accept this as solution", as it does not address the problem I mentioned. 

I have been using the documentation you linked to ever since starting with Magento 2.0 and was using PHP 5.5.9

The problem is, that since Magento version 2.1, the requirements have silently changed. PHP < 5.6 is no longer supported and the downloadable zip comes without the parts that composer installs. Therefore the documentation on the official Magento Website is actually outdated and no longer correct. 

I assume you cannot help me with my problem, but I kindly ask you to forward the issue above to the people responsible for documentation. 

[XComSteveJ]

Hi, very sorry about the mistake saying that 5.5 was supported for 2.1. That should be fixed on the live site soon.

[XComSteveJ]

Hi, you can in fact install Magento without using Composer. Try one of the compressed archives. The result is identical to using Composer but you don't have to use Composer.

But you're confusing two different things. composer install is used only if you clone the Magento 2 GitHub repository, which you would do if you wanted to contribute code to Magento 2.

"Installing using Composer" can also mean using the composer create-project command. And now you know the three ways to get the Magento software!