Uncaught ReflectionException: Class log does not exist Laravel 5.2

I am currently trying to clone an existing project of mine from github. After clone I run composer install during the process I receive the following error:

Uncaught ReflectionException: Class log does not exist

I am running Laravel 5.2 on Centos 7.

I have seen references to:

• Removing spaces within the .env file.
• Removing the vendor directory & re-installing
• Removing certain packages required in composer.json

I have:

• Replaced my .env with the example.env to avoid any custom config errors.
• I have removed & re-cloned the repo.
• I have used the default composer.json shipped with Laravel to see if that makes a difference.

None of the above have brought me any joy. I also have the same environment set up on another machine with the application working fine. The only difference here is the machine (working) wasn’t cloned from git – it was the initial build environment.

The stack trace I am receiving:

PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught ReflectionException: Class log does not exist in /var/www/html/Acme/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Container.php:736
    Stack trace:
    #0 /var/www/html/Acme/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Container.php(736): ReflectionClass->__construct('log')
    #1 /var/www/html/Acme/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Container.php(631): IlluminateContainerContainer->build('log', Array)
    #2 /var/www/html/Acme/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Foundation/Application.php(674): IlluminateContainerContainer->make('log', Array)
    #3 /var/www/html/Acme/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Container.php(845): IlluminateFoundationApplication->make('log')
    #4 /var/www/html/Acme/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Container.php(800): IlluminateContainerContainer->resolveClass(Object(ReflectionParameter))
    #5 /var/www/html/Acme/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Container.php(769): IlluminateContainerContainer->getDependenc in /var/www/html/Acme/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Container/Container.php on line 736

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer

Okay, after many hours of digging, the solution for my problem has been found. The reason why I say my problem is because the Exception is very mis-leading.

Uncaught ReflectionException: Class log does not exist

This exception simply means Laravel tried to log an error but couldn’t instantiate Laravel’s Log class. This is not due to the Log class going walk-abouts or hiding. This is because Laravel is still going through its boot process & has yet to load the Log class.

So, this exception is thrown because an error occurred during the boot cycle of Laravel – when this error occurred it tried to throw an exception – but it can’t throw an exception because the Log class is yet the be loaded. Hence the reason we get a ReflectionException

This has occurred in all versions of Laravel the only reason we have seen the exception thrown in laravel 5.1 <= is because previously Laravel silently discarded the problem & carried on through its boot process – basically, your app would still break however you would not receive the Log class exception.

In my particular case I didn’t have the php-mysql extension installed causing Laravel to break during its boot process.

Ultimately, it is incredibly difficult to debug what you may have done wrong due to the error been very mis-leading.

I hope this helps someone!

EDIT: On how to debug this error and find out WHICH missing extension/component is actually causing the problem take a look at @Ben Johnson’s answer.