Smarty PHAR Builder

NOTE: This project was primarily generated using AI. It's provided as-is for community use and contributions are welcome.

Build and use the Smarty template engine as a single, portable PHAR file.

⚠️ Important Warning

This is a TEMPORARY solution for specific legacy scenarios only:

• ✅ Legacy systems with FTP-only access
• ✅ Quick prototyping without full development environment
• ✅ Shared hosting without Composer/SSH access
• ✅ Learning Smarty without command-line tools

NOT recommended for:

• ❌ Production web services
• ❌ Modern PHP projects with proper dependency management
• ❌ Long-term solutions
• ❌ Projects that can use Composer

For proper production applications, always use the official method:

composer require smarty/smarty

This PHAR approach is a convenience workaround for situations where Composer is not available. Migrate to Composer-based dependency management as soon as possible.

🚀 Quick Start

For Non-Technical Users (No Command Line Required)

1. Download the latest pre-built PHAR from the Releases page — pick the file matching your PHP version:

   • Smarty-v5.x.x.phar — PHP 8.1+ (recommended for new projects)
   • Smarty-v4.x.x.phar — PHP 7.2 to 8.x
   • Smarty-v3.x.x.phar — Legacy PHP 5.6+ systems

   PHARs are built automatically each week from the latest Smarty release for each major version.

2. Upload via FTP to your web server (e.g., into your public_html folder)

3. Create a writable directory called templates_c (set permissions to 755 or 777)

4. Use in your PHP file:

<?php
// Include the PHAR file (use the actual filename you downloaded)
require 'Smarty-v5.x.x.phar';

// Create Smarty instance
$smarty = new Smarty\Smarty();

// Configure directories
$smarty->setTemplateDir('./templates');      // Where your .tpl files are
$smarty->setCompileDir('./templates_c');     // Must be writable!

// Simple inline template (no files needed)
echo $smarty->fetch('string:Hello {$name}!', ['name' => 'World']);

That's it! No Composer, no command line, no complex setup.

For Smarty usage and template syntax, see the Official Smarty Documentation.

🔧 Build Your Own PHAR

Requirements:

• PHP with phar extension enabled
• Composer installed
• Network access (for downloading dependencies)

Basic usage:

./build-smarty-phar.sh

Output: dist/Smarty-v{resolved_version}.phar

Configuration options:

Variable	Default	Description
SMARTY_MAJOR	5	Target Smarty major version (3, 4, or 5)
PROJECT_DIR	build	Temporary Composer workspace
OUTPUT_DIR	dist	Where the PHAR is written
OUTPUT_PHAR	(auto)	Override full output path/name
ALLOW_DIR_REUSE	0	Reuse non-empty PROJECT_DIR
ALLOW_PHAR_OVERWRITE	0	Overwrite existing PHAR
KEEP_PROJECT_DIR	0	Keep temp directory after build
COMPOSER_BIN	composer	Path to Composer binary

Examples:

# Latest Smarty 5.x (default)
./build-smarty-phar.sh

# Latest Smarty 3.x, overwrite existing
SMARTY_MAJOR=3 ALLOW_PHAR_OVERWRITE=1 ./build-smarty-phar.sh

# Build all major versions
for v in 3 4 5; do 
  SMARTY_MAJOR=$v ALLOW_PHAR_OVERWRITE=1 ./build-smarty-phar.sh
done

# Custom output name
OUTPUT_PHAR=dist/smarty-custom.phar ./build-smarty-phar.sh

🧪 Testing

Verify a built PHAR works correctly:

php test.php [path/to/phar]

If no path is provided, it automatically tests the newest dist/Smarty-v*.phar. The test creates a Smarty instance and renders a simple template.

📋 Troubleshooting

"Call to undefined class Smarty"

• Make sure you're using new Smarty\Smarty() (with namespace) for Smarty 4.x and 5.x
• For Smarty 3.x, use new Smarty() (without namespace)

"Unable to write to compilation directory"

• Ensure templates_c directory exists and is writable (chmod 755 or 777)
• Check that your web server has write permissions

"File not found" errors

• Use absolute paths or paths relative to your PHP file
• Example: $smarty->setTemplateDir(__DIR__ . '/templates');

PHP Version Compatibility

• Smarty 5.x requires PHP 8.1+
• Smarty 4.x requires PHP 7.2+
• Smarty 3.x supports PHP 5.6+

🔄 Migration Path to Composer

When you're ready to migrate to proper dependency management:

1. Install Composer on your server
2. Create composer.json:

   {
       "require": {
           "smarty/smarty": "^5.0"
       }
   }

3. Run composer install
4. Replace require 'Smarty-vX.X.X.phar'; with require 'vendor/autoload.php';
5. Remove the PHAR file

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Note: Smarty itself is licensed under LGPL-3.0. This project only provides packaging scripts.

🤝 Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

📚 Resources

• Official Smarty Documentation
• Smarty GitHub Repository
• Smarty Forum

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Remember: This is a temporary workaround. For production applications and long-term projects, always use Composer for dependency management.