How do you update a module's required library dependency in its composer.json file to a new version?

Question

I'm trying to make a patch for a contrib module so that it will use a new version of one it's "required" vendor libraries.

The composer.json is in the module's directory and looks like this:

"require": {
        "wa72/htmlpagedom": "1.3",
        "drupal/pdf_api": "^2.0"
    },

I need "wa72/htmlpagedom:^3" to be installed so I changed the version number in the module's composer.json file

Running composer update drupal/MODULE_NAME does nothing.

If I try "composer require "wa72/htmlpagedom:^3" -w" I get error/problems reports that the module is still locked at the original version (1.3).

I've tried deleting the composer.lock file and clearing Composer cache but nothing that I've tried has allowed me to install the updated version of htmlpagedom.

  Problem 1
    - Root composer.json requires wa72/htmlpagedom ^3, found wa72/htmlpagedom[dev-master, v3.0.0, 3.0.x-dev] but these were not loaded, likely because it conflicts with another require.
  Problem 2
    - drupal/printable is locked to version 2.1.3 and an update of this package was not requested.
    - drupal/printable 2.1.3 requires wa72/htmlpagedom ^1.3 -> found wa72/htmlpagedom[v1.3.0, ..., 1.x-dev] but it conflicts with your root composer.json require (^3).

Use the option --with-all-dependencies (-W) to allow upgrades, downgrades and removals for packages currently locked to specific versions.

Screenshot of composer output:

Answer 1

Simple answer: You can't. Composer patching happens after calculating and downloading all dependencies.

2 possible workarounds:

• Fork the contrib module and require your forked custom module.
• Require the new version in your root project and alias it as the old version as demanded by the contrib module: composer require wa72/htmlpagedom:X.Y.Z as 1.3

And TBH, none of the above is a good idea :-) Better create a merge request for the contrib module in the official repository and fix it properly.