PHP/MySQL dev on Mac - best local server setup?

I

IronChefMorimoto

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 14, 2002
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273
This is a question for any of you closet Mac owners out there. ;)

I just bought my first Mac -- a refurb Macbook Pro, and I'd like to set it up with a local server to do PHP/MySQL/ActionScript development. I'm reading through PHP5 for Flash (Friends of Ed book) now, and their setup instructions seem to still be 90% valid.

I've also found Marc Liyanage's website with PHP5 and MySQL 5 setup instructions for OS X:

http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/

Finally, MAMP is also an option, but it doesn't use what's already installed on OS X 10.4 Tiger:

http://www.mamp.info/

If there's anyone doing Mac-based PHP/MySQL dev out there, chime in. I'm curious how you do local development and would appreciate guidance on what's the best/fastest way to set this stuff up without messing too much around with the hidden internals of OS X.

Regards,
IronChefMorimoto
 
I don't have any MAC experience, but I do have XAMPP running on my windows machine.

It works well for a basic setup. However I found that when I wanted to enhance it with virtualhosts, and the like (especially w/ modifying the PHP.ini and appache settings) that it really didn't work well for me.

I ended up setting up Apache, MySQL, PHP all seperately on my laptop, and just use the apache monitor and mysql monitor to start and stop the servers.

From what XAMPP does on windows, I'd assume it does the same on MAC, which is install apache, mysql and php all inside of the XAMPP directory, separate from everything else.

(also, i have XAMPP running w/ my standalone install of AMP, while I transition to using only the stand alone. Obviously they both can't be running at the same time, but they still work well separately)
 
The reason XAMPP looked more promising than MAMP is that it would work by default off localhost (without the weird ports in MAMP). Now, I don't know if XAMPP is just overriding port 80 on localhost or what, but that seemed preferable to MAMP and having to remember to include port 8888 or something.

That, and I'm lazy and don't like typing 8 x 4. ;)

I COULD go with OS X's built in stuff and add on, similar to what you did, but...not keen on goofing up the system and/or having conflicts because what's already on the Mac is non-standard in any way.

IronChefMorimoto
 
When I did dev work on a Mac I just use MAMP. It was the best option at the time. I did run into a couple of issues when the live server didn't match the exact versions/setup of the MAMP install, but it was close enough for most of the work and not too much trouble to mess with.
 
Maybe I'm missing something, as the last time I used OS X was the first release, but I just used the default apache install and installed mysql / php onto the machine. Virtual hosts were great and I used BBEdit for all my coding.

Will Mysql / PHP not install correctly for you?
 
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