This guide is meant to help you through the process of installing Apache, PHP, and MySQL on Mac OS X.

A reminder that OS X runs atop UNIX, so most UNIX software installs easily on OS X. Furthermore, Apache and PHP come pre-packaged. To create a local web server, all you need to do is enable them and install MySQL.

But wait, isn't there this ultra uber app called MAMP which will do all this for me!? True, this will get you started the quickest. Beyond the basics though, what I've typically found is that GUI based tools meant to "increase efficiency" really end up costing you more in the long run as you grow, and ultimately you end up going back to wanting more control. So lets get started 😈

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Terminal

Any terminal will do. The one bundled with OS X is in Applications->Utilities->Terminal.

Whatever you use, drag it to your :mac: Dock.

A word on sudo

Best practice is to prefix any administrative commands with sudo. In rare cases where you need to run a bunch of these in succession, you can actually switch to root using sudo su -. I just prefer to use sudo for commands that need it.

Enable Apache

sudo apachectl start

Once Apache is running, http://localhost should display the default "It works!" page. The document root of the default site is found in /Library/WebServer/Documents/.

Enable PHP

First, make a backup of the default Apache configuration. This is good practice and serves as a comparison against future versions of Mac OS X.

cd /etc/apache2/
sudo cp httpd.conf httpd.conf.bak

Now edit the Apache configuration. Again, use whichever editor you are comfortable with. For plain text, I prefer nano.

sudo nano httpd.conf

Uncomment php5_module by removing the #

LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

Note: The default configuration for Apache 2.4 on OS X Yosemite is pretty lean. For example, common modules like mod_rewrite were disabled. Lets just enable those now too.

LoadModule deflate_module libexec/apache2/mod_deflate.so
LoadModule expires_module libexec/apache2/mod_expires.so
LoadModule rewrite_module libexec/apache2/mod_rewrite.so

Save that off and restart Apache

sudo apachectl restart

You can verify PHP is enabled by creating a phpinfo() script in your DocumentRoot.

The default DocumentRoot for Mac OS X is /Library/WebServer/Documents.

Bonus Points

Verify your DocumentRoot from your Apache configuration.

grep DocumentRoot httpd.conf

Now create the phpinfo() script in your DocumentRoot.

Rename index.html as index.php and change its content:

cd /Library/WebServer/Documents/
sudo mv index.html.en index.php
sudo nano index.php

Replace with this code:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Save that off and refresh localhost to verify PHP. You should see a page listing environment variables for your parcitular installation of PHP. If you don't go back and verify those modules were enabled in Apache.

Install MySQL

Note: If you are upgrading MySQL you should skip this section and instead read this.

1. Download the MySQL DMG for Mac OS X.
   **When downloading you don’t have to sign up, look for No thanks, just start my download
2. Install the package

echo $PATH

Now just make sure that /usr/local/mysql/bin is in your $PATH to use mysql commands without typing the full path to the commands. If its not, simply do this:

sudo nano ~/.bash_profile

And add this line (including other common paths):

export PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH"

Then reload your .bash_profile:

source ~/.bash_profile

Note: Restarting terminal or opening a new terminal window will also reload ~/.bash_profile.

Bonus Points

While this isn’t necessary, it’s good practice to also run mysql_secure_installation.

Connect PHP and MySQL

You need to ensure PHP and MySQL can communicate with one another. For some reason mysql on OS X gets the locations of the required socket file a bit wrong. Fortunately the solution is simply to create a symbolic link so your mac finds the required socket, even when it's looking in the wrong place!

cd /var 
sudo mkdir mysql
sudo chmod 755 mysql
cd mysql
sudo ln -s /tmp/mysql.sock mysql.sock

Celebrate 🍻

Well that's it, onto Virtual Hosts!