在安装laravel的时候，我们一般是download github上的laravel/laravel,随后执行composer install,在这个过程中，你会发现composer其中的一项工作是
安装laravel/framework到vendor目录中，（为了看清楚这个过程，我们可以执行composer install --dry-run模拟安装dependency的过程）。那么laravel/laravel和laravel/framework到底是什么关系呢？
(背景知识： laravel/laravel, laravel/framework被称为github shorthand，实际上对应着github上的git repo。下面是类似composer的bower package manager安装一个front end package时的情景：
# registered package
$ bower install jquery
# GitHub shorthand
$ bower install desandro/masonry
# Git endpoint
$ bower install git://github.com/user/package.git
# URL
$ bower install http://example.com/script.js)
(master)*$ composer install --dry-run Warning: This development build of composer is over 30 days old. It is recommended to update it by running "/usr/local/bin/composer self-update" to get the latest version. Loading composer repositories with package information Installing dependencies (including require-dev) - Installing vlucas/phpdotenv (v1.1.1) - Installing symfony/var-dumper (v2.6.9) - Installing symfony/translation (v2.6.9) - Installing symfony/security-core (v2.6.9) - Installing symfony/routing (v2.6.9) - Installing symfony/process (v2.6.9) - Installing psr/log (1.0.0) - Installing symfony/debug (v2.6.9) - Installing symfony/http-foundation (v2.6.9) - Installing symfony/event-dispatcher (v2.7.0) - Installing symfony/http-kernel (v2.6.9) - Installing symfony/finder (v2.6.9) - Installing symfony/console (v2.6.9) - Installing swiftmailer/swiftmailer (v5.4.0) - Installing jakub-onderka/php-console-color (0.1) - Installing jakub-onderka/php-console-highlighter (v0.3.1) - Installing dnoegel/php-xdg-base-dir (0.1) - Installing nikic/php-parser (v1.3.0) - Installing psy/psysh (v0.4.4) - Installing nesbot/carbon (1.19.0) - Installing mtdowling/cron-expression (v1.0.4) - Installing monolog/monolog (1.13.1) - Installing league/flysystem (1.0.3) - Installing jeremeamia/SuperClosure (2.1.0) - Installing ircmaxell/password-compat (v1.0.4) - Installing doctrine/inflector (v1.0.1) - Installing danielstjules/stringy (1.9.0) - Installing symfony/filesystem (v2.7.0) - Installing classpreloader/classpreloader (1.4.0) - Installing laravel/framework (v5.0.32) - Installing sebastian/version (1.0.5) - Installing sebastian/global-state (1.0.0) - Installing sebastian/recursion-context (1.0.0) - Installing sebastian/exporter (1.2.0) - Installing sebastian/environment (1.2.2) - Installing sebastian/diff (1.3.0) - Installing sebastian/comparator (1.1.1) - Installing symfony/yaml (v2.7.0) - Installing doctrine/instantiator (1.0.4) - Installing phpdocumentor/reflection-docblock (2.0.4) - Installing phpspec/prophecy (v1.4.1) - Installing phpunit/php-text-template (1.2.0) - Installing phpunit/phpunit-mock-objects (2.3.3) - Installing phpunit/php-timer (1.0.5) - Installing phpunit/php-token-stream (1.4.1) - Installing phpunit/php-file-iterator (1.4.0) - Installing phpunit/php-code-coverage (2.1.3) - Installing phpunit/phpunit (4.7.0) - Installing phpspec/php-diff (v1.0.2) - Installing phpspec/phpspec (2.2.1) symfony/var-dumper suggests installing ext-symfony_debug () symfony/translation suggests installing symfony/config () symfony/security-core suggests installing symfony/validator (For using the user password constraint) symfony/security-core suggests installing symfony/expression-language (For using the expression voter) symfony/routing suggests installing symfony/config (For using the all-in-one router or any loader) symfony/routing suggests installing symfony/expression-language (For using expression matching) symfony/routing suggests installing doctrine/annotations (For using the annotation loader) symfony/event-dispatcher suggests installing symfony/dependency-injection () symfony/http-kernel suggests installing symfony/browser-kit () symfony/http-kernel suggests installing symfony/class-loader () symfony/http-kernel suggests installing symfony/config () symfony/http-kernel suggests installing symfony/dependency-injection () psy/psysh suggests installing ext-posix (If you have PCNTL, you'll want the POSIX extension as well.) psy/psysh suggests installing ext-pdo-sqlite (The doc command requires SQLite to work.) monolog/monolog suggests installing graylog2/gelf-php (Allow sending log messages to a GrayLog2 server) monolog/monolog suggests installing raven/raven (Allow sending log messages to a Sentry server) monolog/monolog suggests installing doctrine/couchdb (Allow sending log messages to a CouchDB server) monolog/monolog suggests installing ruflin/elastica (Allow sending log messages to an Elastic Search server) monolog/monolog suggests installing videlalvaro/php-amqplib (Allow sending log messages to an AMQP server using php-amqplib) monolog/monolog suggests installing ext-amqp (Allow sending log messages to an AMQP server (1.0+ required)) monolog/monolog suggests installing ext-mongo (Allow sending log messages to a MongoDB server) monolog/monolog suggests installing aws/aws-sdk-php (Allow sending log messages to AWS services like DynamoDB) monolog/monolog suggests installing rollbar/rollbar (Allow sending log messages to Rollbar) league/flysystem suggests installing predis/predis (Allows you to use Predis for caching) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-eventable-filesystem (Allows you to use EventableFilesystem) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-rackspace (Allows you to use Rackspace Cloud Files) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-copy (Allows you to use Copy.com storage) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-azure (Allows you to use Windows Azure Blob storage) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-webdav (Allows you to use WebDAV storage) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-aws-s3-v2 (Allows you to use S3 storage with AWS SDK v2) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-aws-s3-v3 (Allows you to use S3 storage with AWS SDK v3) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-dropbox (Allows you to use Dropbox storage) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-cached-adapter (Flysystem adapter decorator for metadata caching) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-sftp (Allows you to use SFTP server storage via phpseclib) league/flysystem suggests installing league/flysystem-ziparchive (Allows you to use ZipArchive adapter) laravel/framework suggests installing aws/aws-sdk-php (Required to use the SQS queue driver and SES mail driver (~2.4).) laravel/framework suggests installing doctrine/dbal (Required to rename columns and drop SQLite columns (~2.4).) laravel/framework suggests installing guzzlehttp/guzzle (Required to use the Mailgun and Mandrill mail drivers (~5.0).) laravel/framework suggests installing iron-io/iron_mq (Required to use the iron queue driver (~1.5).) laravel/framework suggests installing league/flysystem-aws-s3-v2 (Required to use the Flysystem S3 driver (~1.0).) laravel/framework suggests installing league/flysystem-rackspace (Required to use the Flysystem Rackspace driver (~1.0).) laravel/framework suggests installing pda/pheanstalk (Required to use the beanstalk queue driver (~3.0).) laravel/framework suggests installing predis/predis (Required to use the redis cache and queue drivers (~1.0).) sebastian/global-state suggests installing ext-uopz (*) phpdocumentor/reflection-docblock suggests installing dflydev/markdown (~1.0) phpdocumentor/reflection-docblock suggests installing erusev/parsedown (~1.0) phpunit/phpunit-mock-objects suggests installing ext-soap (*) phpunit/php-code-coverage suggests installing ext-xdebug (>=2.2.1) phpunit/phpunit suggests installing phpunit/php-invoker (~1.1) phpspec/phpspec suggests installing phpspec/nyan-formatters (~1.0 – Adds Nyan formatters)
实际上larave/laravel只是一个当你创建一个新项目时你得到的应用框架，比如使用命令:
composer create-project laravel/laravel --prefer-dist
注意： composer create-project命令从功能上来说等于 git clone laravel/laravel和一个composer install命令。
那么composer是如何知道一个package的repo地址的呢？
http://grossi.io/2013/creating-your-first-composer-packagist-package/
laravel/laravel实际上是一个当你创建一个新项目时所需要的应用框架skeleton.她提供一个推荐的默认文件结构（你当然可以不用这个文件结构哦）。这个repo包含默认的config files，controllers,routes等，同时包含用于bootstraping应用的代码。
她也包含一个composer.json文件，这个文件定义了实际的laravel framework作为laravel/laravel的dependency:
"require": { "laravel/framework": "5.0.*" },
laravel/framework是实际的framework source。正如framework的repo中的readme.md所说“这个repo包含了laravel fraemworkd的core code（实际上就是一些类库），如果你希望使用laravel 5来构建一个应用，请访问laravel/laravel repo”，也就是说可以理解laravel/framework本身就是一个component，可以被laravel/laravel来使用（提供bootstrap应用，将laravel/framework各个组件组合在一起最终形成一个application），当然也可以在其他的应用中以一个独立的component来使用。
另外一个说法也对理解他们之间的关系有所帮助：
laravel/laravel is the part of the app that you work with yourself(controllers,config,routes.php,resources,database etc)while laravel/framework is the "core" of laravel, stuff that you don't change.
laravel/laravel is the application template/skeleton, and is the starting point for laravel apps. Laravel/framework is the kernel, which contains the actual framework components itself, and is downloaded by composer into your application template/skeleton.
参考以下文章：
http://grossi.io/2013/creating-your-first-composer-packagist-package/