PHP Fatal error: Cannot declare class ... because the name is already in use

[drbyte]

Complete error message: (occurs when running php artisan generate:model-factory)

PHP Fatal error:  Cannot declare class PragmaRX\Tracker\Data\Repositories\Session, because the name is already in use in /app/VendorOverrides/PragmaRX/Tracker/Data/Repositories/Session.php on line 330

Symfony\Component\Debug\Exception\FatalErrorException: Cannot declare class PragmaRX\Tracker\Data\Repositories\Session, because the name is already in use

Background: The PragmaRX Tracker package hasn't merged an important fix, so I've had to override it in my app with composer magic.

composer.json:

    "autoload": {
        "classmap": [
            "database/seeds",
            "database/factories"
        ],
+        "files": ["app/VendorOverrides/PragmaRX/Tracker/Data/Repositories/Session.php"],
        "psr-4": {
            "App\\": "app/"
        }
    },

So, yes, my app does actually re-declare that class, but composer knows how to handle it.

Possible Solutions:

1. Bandage: add an "exclude" flag to the generate:model-factory command, where we can list the things (ie: directories probably) to ignore.
2. Auto-ignore things listed in composer.json's autoload.files key.
3. Catch the error and just ignore it, instead of fatal abort.
4. Tell the user (me!) I'm doing it wrong! (ie: I guess I could put these overrides outside app)

[drbyte]

Workaround: for temporary dev-only use, I just removed those custom things, and the package generated factories normally without error. 👍

But if this were to be run in some automated fashion, then detecting this custom composer situation might be important ... hence my reason for posting this issue. 😊