Magento 2.2 : How To Specify External Library/Dependency In Your Custom Magento Module Deployed under the app/code folder

Question

I have a (Not Open-Source) custom Magento 2.2x module that I'm working on, that has a dependency on an external composer package (bugsnag/bugsnag)

Here's how my project is currently structured:

Current Project Structure

Project Structure

File - module.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:Module/etc/module.xsd">
 <module name="Gsd_Test" setup_version="0.1.0">
 </module>
</config>

File - composer.json

{
 "name": "gsd/test",
 "description": "",
 "require": {
 "php": "7.*",
 "bugsnag/bugsnag":"^3.0"
 },
 "suggest": {
 },
 "type": "magento2-module",
 "version": "0.1.0",
 "license": [
 ],
 "autoload": {
 "files": [
 "registration.php"
 ],
 "psr-4": {
 "Gsd\\Test\\": "",
 "Bugsnag\\" : "vendor/bugsnag/bugsnag/src/"
 }
 },
 "extra": {
 "map": [
 [
 "*",
 "Gsd/Test"
 ]
 ]
 }
}

Controller - Gsd\Test\Controller\Adminhtml\Index\Index.php

<?php
namespace Gsd\Test\Controller\Adminhtml\Index;
class Index extends \Magento\Backend\App\Action
{
 protected $_publicActions = ['index'];
 public function execute()
 {
 echo "Hello World";
 $bugsnag = \Bugsnag\Client::make('XXXXXX');
 \Bugsnag\Handler::register($bugsnag);
 $bugsnag->notifyException("Testing ");
 }
}

Registration.php

<?php
\Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::register(
 \Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::MODULE,
 'Gsd_Test',
 __DIR__
);

BUT, attempting to access that Controller (http://m22.localhost.net/admin/gsdtest/index/index) results in the following error:

Application Error

Looks like, for whatever reason, the Autoloader ignores the content within the app/code/Gsd/Test/vendor/bugsnag/bugsnag/src folder at run-time.

(Ironically, PhpStorm doesn't report any error during development per se)

Now, if I add "bugsnag/bugsnag" as a composer dependency at the MAGENTO_HOME folder level, i.e, if I run the following commands:

cd $MAGENTO_HOME
composer require bugsnag/bugsnag 3.*
composer update
composer dump-autoload

then my controller works just fine.

So, my questions are:

• I recall this used to work on Magento 2.1x (i.e. having the composer dependency inside the module specific composer.json) about 2 - 3 months back. But, it no longer works on Magento 2.1x or Magento 2.2x ... What changed??

• Is there a way to specify module specific composer.json dependencies? If not - how can one "ship" a custom-module - that has dependencies on 3rd party libraries - so that it can be deployed directly into the app/code folder? ( Requiring customers deploy the module using composer may not work for all businesses/situations )

Answer 1

If you want require dependencies with composer then your module must be installed as a composer module. At the moment it is not, just files in app/code so the solution is to develop core and public it on your packagist then write magento wrapper in app/code or add all dependencies in composer.json in root so you will be able to use them in your module in app/code. For obvious reasons the first approach is much better and recommended.

• Sharath Kumar: So - outside of deploying the module as a public module on packagist/github - there isn't a way to ship out a "fully-self-contained" 3rd party module in Magento 2x ??
• Bartosz Herba: Not even a github, composer is a core dependencies manager for magento and "github way" or "copy/past code m1 style" will not work. Therefore your answer is correct. Unless you will do some "no-magento" way modules with private composer scope and so on but it does not make any sense.