Filed a bug with composer: https://github.com/composer/composer/issues/1351

Hm, hardcoding versions will be a royal pain in terms of release management - you'd have to remember to commit those *just* before tagging, each time. We could read/write the composer.json dynamically with the "phing tag" build command, but that sounds like a lot of work for a stopgap solution.

But more importantly, it breaks the collaboration model. We ask people to simply use "composer update --dev" to get started if they want to contribute. That won't work, since framework and cms will still be at the checked out tag.

For now, I've updated the contributing chapter: https://github.com/silverstripe/sapphire/commit/96acd5068129b9098768ee5ab8431fcfa34db9d7

Hi,
I am new to SilverStripe, and encounter the same problem as described by _Matt on nov 16,2012.

I do not see any information about this problem in the documentation page at http://doc.silverstripe.org/framework/en/installation/composer. Is it about to be solved ?

If not, is the method suggested in this thread the 'official' one for the moment ?

Thanks for your advice.

Can you run a "composer selfupdate" to ensure you're on the latest version?
If you're trying to add a module, do it via "composer require -vvv <module>" and paste the output here.
Otherwise paste the specific error message you're getting on "composer install" or "composer update".

Ok, here is my session log.
Thanks.

$ ./composer.phar selfupdate
You are using the latest composer version.

$ sudo mv composer.phar /usr/bin/composer

$ cd /home/www/shingan31
$ composer require -vvv silverstripe/sqlite3 dev-master
./composer.json has been updated
Reading ./composer.json
Executing command (CWD): git describe --exact-match --tags
Executing command (CWD): git branch --no-color --no-abbrev -v
Executing command (CWD): hg branch
Loading composer repositories with package information
Downloading https://packagist.org/packages.json
Writing /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/packages.json into cache
Downloading https://packagist.org/p/provider-active$994196c885d92dd9a041a00e6ed6b7cf893e63ef4d2c010647b757f7b7e85d3d.json
Writing /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/p-provider-active.json into cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/p-provider-archived.json from cache
Downloading https://packagist.org/p/provider-latest$c2f6c4a0c3251485fd8950006595161dde3ef7dd6bea306ee94adb0046a3e0dc.json
Writing /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/p-provider-latest.json into cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/p-provider-stale.json from cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-silverstripe$installer.json from cache
Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-silverstripe$cms.json from cache
Downloading http://packagist.org/p/silverstripe/framework$587a7a5a6521f66c71195478eb0142e01e3badb2e519bd01a21ac1514497ce18.json
Writing /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-silverstripe$framework.json into cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-silverstripe-themes$simple.json from cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-silverstripe$sqlite3.json from cache
Reading ./composer.lock
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-composer$installers.json from cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-shama$baton.json from cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-silverstripe$reports.json from cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-silverstripe-themes$blackcandy.json from cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-silverstripe$recaptcha.json from cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-silverstripe$mobile.json from cache
Reading /home/hubert/.composer/cache/repo/https---packagist.org/provider-silverstripe$spamprotection.json from cache
Your requirements could not be resolved to an installable set of packages.

  Problem 1
    - The requested package silverstripe/cms 1.0.0 could not be found.
  Problem 2
    - The requested package silverstripe/framework 1.0.0 could not be found.

Potential causes:
 - A typo in the package name
 - The package is not available in a stable-enough version according to your minimum-stability setting
   see <https://groups.google.com/d/topic/composer-dev/_g3ASeIFlrc/discussion>; for more details.

Read <http://getcomposer.org/doc/articles/troubleshooting.md>; for further common problems.

Installation failed, reverting ./composer.json to its original content.
$ 

You need to retain VCS information in the base installation in case you've done it through "composer create-project".
Composer commands don't work on archive downloads from silverstripe.org. That's a limitation by Composer, not us.
I've created a FAQ entry: http://doc.silverstripe.org/framework/en/3.1/installation/composer#faq

Sorry, but I read and re-read your answer and the FAQ and I still don't understand where I was wrong (and still don't know what to do either !)
I just followed the instructions on your site for the installation of SS3 via composer. SS3 install is Ok but I can't install any module after that.
Thanks for your help

Finally, I found out why!
I installed SilverStripe with the composer create-project command ending with the version number (3.1.0).
I shouldn't !
Perhaps the documentation should further emphasize this point to avoid for beginners like me to be blocked.