Runtime exception with Composer install/update on shared hosting w/ Symfony2

Question

I seem to be having some problems with cache permissions on shared hosting. Specifically, when I try to install/update vendors via Composer, I get a runtime exception:

$ php composer.phar update -v -o

Script Sensio\Bundle\DistributionBundle\Composer\ScriptHandler::clearCache handling the post-update-cmd event terminated with an exception

[RuntimeException]
An error occurred when executing the "'cache:clear --no-warmup'" command.

Exception trace:
() at /home/thesewingdiva/private/vendor/sensio/distribution-bundle/Sensio/Bundle/DistributionBundle/Composer/ScriptHandler.php:137
Sensio\Bundle\DistributionBundle\Composer\ScriptHandler::executeCommand() at /home/thesewingdiva/private/vendor/sensio/distribution-bundle/Sensio/Bundle/DistributionBundle/Composer/ScriptHandler.php:48
Sensio\Bundle\DistributionBundle\Composer\ScriptHandler::clearCache() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/src/Composer/Script/EventDispatcher.php:122
Composer\Script\EventDispatcher->executeEventPhpScript() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/src/Composer/Script/EventDispatcher.php:101
Composer\Script\EventDispatcher->doDispatch() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/src/Composer/Script/EventDispatcher.php:74
Composer\Script\EventDispatcher->dispatchCommandEvent() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/src/Composer/Installer.php:237
Composer\Installer->run() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php:82
Composer\Command\UpdateCommand->execute() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/vendor/symfony/console/Symfony/Component/Console/Command/Command.php:238
Symfony\Component\Console\Command\Command->run() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/vendor/symfony/console/Symfony/Component/Console/Application.php:193
Symfony\Component\Console\Application->doRun() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/src/Composer/Console/Application.php:101
Composer\Console\Application->doRun() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/vendor/symfony/console/Symfony/Component/Console/Application.php:106
Symfony\Component\Console\Application->run() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/src/Composer/Console/Application.php:74
Composer\Console\Application->run() at phar:///home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar/bin/composer:37
require() at /home/thesewingdiva/private/composer.phar:15

update [--prefer-source] [--prefer-dist] [--dry-run] [--dev] [--no-custom-installers] [--no-scripts] [--no-progress] [-v|--verbose] [-o|--optimize-autoloader] [packages1] ... [packagesN]

I don't have the ability to use ACL, and I don't have the ability to use sudo since it's shared hosting. The cache is set to 777 for it's permissions (recursive), and app/console, app.php, and app_dev.php all have umask(0000). I've also erased the cache to see if that would help. No dice. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Answer 1

In a comment under this question, it's pointed out that the issue has to do with a missing timezone setting.

What happens if you do "php app/console cache:clear --verbose"