title: Problems installing laravel with composer
body: <p><strong>Problem:</strong> I'm wanting to explore laravel 5, and failing miserably at installing it. I'm using this guide: <a href="http://laravel.com/docs/5.0">http://laravel.com/docs/5.0</a> and need someone to help me understand the instructions.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Background and What I've Tried</strong></p>
  
  <p>I'm running Mac OSX 10.10.2 (Yosemite) and MAMP. </p>
  
  <p>So far, I've downloaded Composer to my home folder using terminal. There is just a composer.phar file sitting there.</p>
  
  <p>When I run:</p>
  
  <pre><code>composer global require "laravel/installer=~1.1"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get the message:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Changed current directory to /Users/MYUSERNAME/.composer
  ./composer.json has been updated
  Loading composer repositories with package information
  Updating dependencies (including require-dev)
  Nothing to install or update
  Generating autoload files
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I assume that is ok because when I run the following in terminal, I get the composer logo and a list of options</p>
  
  <pre><code>~ MYUSERNAME$ composer
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm not 100% sure what the following means, from the Laravel Docs:</p>
  
  <pre><code>"Make sure to place the ~/.composer/vendor/bin directory in your PATH so the 
  laravel executable can be located by your system." 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Because I can't figure it out, the following steps throw errors, such as: </p>
  
  <pre><code>-bash: laravel: command not found
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I've been going through a few forums, and it's suggested that I need to update my PHP.ini file - this seems more related to Composer install, and not specifically Laravel. Because composer is working, this seems to be a dead end.</p>
  
  <p>Ideally, I want to install Laravel 5 to the directory </p>
  
  <pre><code>HomeFolder/sites/test
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>because Composer.phar is in my home folder, I think the command should be:</p>
  
  <pre><code>php composer laravel new sites/test 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>or just </p>
  
  <pre><code>composer laravel new sites/test
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>As mentioned, it just (correctly) throws errors. </p>
  
  <p><strong>Question:</strong>
  If anyone can help solve my total user error, by explaining what "Make sure to place the ~/.composer/vendor/bin directory in your PATH so the laravel executable can be located by your system." means to a n00b, that'd be really appreciated.</p>
  
  <p>Many thanks!</p>