Composer was unable to install the updates. Error: Unknown package has no name defined

Question

Hi I cannot install Craft CMS updates. I have version 3.1.18 and I'm trying to update to 3.7.50

I have updated Composer successfully. I did however have a platform PHP 7 issue listed in composer.json which was overriding the server version required for the update. I wish I had just manually removed the line from the file to see if that would have fixed it but instead followed an instruction on github to use command: composer config platform --unset this didn't work when I then tried to update but I had noticed terminal that the response from the --unset request was that some plugins were skipped and that I should use command composer update --no-plugins which I tried.

From now on when I try to run the Craft update I get the error:

Composer was unable to install the updates. Error: Unknown package has no name defined then proceeds to list the plugins. I cannot uninstall any plugins either to see if that would help. I have followed the advice on this post:

"Error: Unknown package has no name defined" when updating Craft 3

I couldn't delete the vendor folder as suggested in that post as access is denied for some reason but I could rename it. It still doesn't work though and I still get the same error when trying to update Craft.

This is the full composer.json file:

{
  "require": {
    "adigital/cookie-consent-banner": "1.2.9",
    "craftcms/cms": "3.1.18",
    "craftcms/redactor": "2.3.3.2",
    "dolphiq/redirect": "1.1.1",
    "vlucas/phpdotenv": "^2.4.0"
  },
  "autoload": {
    "psr-4": {
      "modules\\": "modules/"
    }
  },
  "config": {
    "sort-packages": true,
    "optimize-autoloader": true,
    "allow-plugins": {
      "yiisoft/yii2-composer": true,
      "craftcms/plugin-installer": true
    }
  },
  "scripts": {
    "post-root-package-install": [
      "@php -r \"file_exists('.env') || copy('.env.example', '.env');\""
    ]
  }
}

I have searched other solutions but have now arrived at a dead end.

What am I missing please?

Answer 1

You have fixed version constraints in your composer.json, so composer install and composer update will only ever install those exact versions. In general, you should use the update/all console command to update Craft and any installed plugins, as this will also execute any pending migrations. The error you're getting is unrelated to this and is likely only a compatibility issue between different composer versions.

To fix this, follow the following steps to first get back to a clean composer install and then use the console to update to Craft 3.7. You should do this in a development environment where you have control over your environment and can go back to a previous version easily if something goes wrong.

1. Delete the vendor folder and the composer.lock file.
2. Execute composer install. If you're getting any errors regarding version conflicts, change the version requirements for the installed packages to compatible versions.

Once the installation goes through cleanly, use php craft update/all to update to the latest Craft 3.7 version. See the update guide for details.