Composer Install Error: ZipArchive::extractTo(): Full extraction path exceed MAXPATHLEN (260)

Question

When I run:

php composer.phar require kartik-v/yii2-widgets "*"

I get the following output (using the -vvv verbose flag):

  - Installing kartik-v/bootstrap-fileinput (v4.1.7)
Downloading https://api.github.com/repos/kartik-v/bootstrap-fileinput/zipball/f95a7e5fa0a9db1ead445e438653aa71e9f599f9
    Downloading: connection...
    Downloading: 0%
    Downloading: 5%
    ...
    Downloading: 95%
    Downloading: 100%
    Downloading: 100%
Writing C:/Users/Michael/AppData/Local/Composer/files/kartik-v/bootstrap-fileinput/f95a7e5fa0a9db1ead445e438653aa71e9f599f9.zip into cache
    Extracting archive

  [ErrorException]
  ZipArchive::extractTo(): Full extraction path exceed MAXPATHLEN (260)

Exception trace:
 () at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Downloader/ZipDownloader.php:79
 Composer\Util\ErrorHandler::handle() at n/a:n/a
 ZipArchive->extractTo() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Downloader/ZipDownloader.php:79
 Composer\Downloader\ZipDownloader->extract() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Downloader/ArchiveDownloader.php:44
 Composer\Downloader\ArchiveDownloader->download() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Downloader/DownloadManager.php:201
 Composer\Downloader\DownloadManager->download() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Installer/LibraryInstaller.php:156
 Composer\Installer\LibraryInstaller->installCode() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Installer/LibraryInstaller.php:87
 Composer\Installer\LibraryInstaller->install() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Installer/InstallationManager.php:152
 Composer\Installer\InstallationManager->install() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Installer/InstallationManager.php:139
 Composer\Installer\InstallationManager->execute() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Installer.php:578
 Composer\Installer->doInstall() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Installer.php:225
 Composer\Installer->run() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Command/RequireCommand.php:154
 Composer\Command\RequireCommand->execute() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/vendor/symfony/console/Symfony/Component/Console/Command/Command.php:253
 Symfony\Component\Console\Command\Command->run() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/vendor/symfony/console/Symfony/Component/Console/Application.php:874
 Symfony\Component\Console\Application->doRunCommand() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/vendor/symfony/console/Symfony/Component/Console/Application.php:195
 Symfony\Component\Console\Application->doRun() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Console/Application.php:147
 Composer\Console\Application->doRun() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/vendor/symfony/console/Symfony/Component/Console/Application.php:126
 Symfony\Component\Console\Application->run() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/src/Composer/Console/Application.php:84
 Composer\Console\Application->run() at phar://C:/ProgramData/ComposerSetup/bin/composer.phar/bin/composer:43
 require() at C:\ProgramData\ComposerSetup\bin\composer.phar:25


require [--dev] [--prefer-source] [--prefer-dist] [--no-progress] [--no-update] [--update-no-dev] [--update-with-dependencies] [--ignore-platform-reqs] [--sort-packages] [packages1] ... [packagesN]

I even tried using the flag "--prefer-source" but I get the same error. Is there a way to tell composer to increase the MAXPATHLEN? Which path exactly is it complaining about?

Answer 1

try using the --prefer-source flag

composer install --prefer-source

Answer 2

Composer is complaining about a path that is too long for PHP on Windows in the download. Windows has a max path length (MAXPATHLEN) of 260 characters so I don't think you can change that.

When I had this problem when installing Symfony, I fixed it by using a short path for the project directory (such as C:\projects\myproject).

While investigating this problem, I found it can also be fixed by using the --prefer-source flag when installing, like this:

php composer.phar install --prefer-source

Note that you need git in your Windows shell path for this to work, as this checks out the source from Github rather than downloading the distribution file. It is also slower.

Note also that you might have to remove the vendor/ folder before installing again using the --prefer-source flag:

rm -rf vendor/