How to always use ignore-platform-reqs flag when running composer?

Question

On my local machine, I have php v7.0.3. A project of mine has a dependency on php v5.5.

So as expected, a simple run of composer install crashes:

Your requirements could not be resolved to an installable set of packages.    Problem 1     - This package requires php ~5.5 but your PHP version (7.0.3) does not satisfy that requirement. 

I know I can ignore the platform via:

composer install --ignore-platform-reqs 

yet I often forget to add the flag. Yet since the application runs inside a docker container, a mismatching php can install the dependencies just as fine.

So I am wondering if there is a way to make my local composer always assume --ignore-platform-reqs in order to not having to type it.

I like to avoid setting an alias and have it work on composer config level.

Answer 1

It's recommended to fake php version, rather than ignore platform requirements. Add

"platform":{"php":"5.5"} 

to your ~/.composer/config.json or use composer config -g -e to edit it.

An example of sufficient config to fake php version:

{     "config": {         "platform":{             "php":"5.5"         }     } } 

It may have much more options though.