Easiest way to activate PHP and MySQL on Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.7 (Lion), 10.8 (Mountain Lion)?

Question

What is the easiest way to activate PHP and MySQL on Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.7 (Lion), 10.8 (Mountain Lion)?

I'd prefer to use any bundled versions before resorting to downloading from the PHP or MySQL websites. That also rules out MAMP and similar.

I'm comfortable at the command line in Terminal.

Answer 1

Open a good text editor (I'd recommend TextMate, but the free TextWrangler or vi or nano will do too), and open:

/etc/apache2/httpd.conf

Find the line:

"#LoadModule php5_module        libexec/apache2/libphp5.so"

And uncomment it (remove the #).

Download and install the latest MySQL version from mysql.com. Choose the x86_64 version for Intel (unless your Intel Mac is the original Macbook Pro or Macbook, which are not 64 bit chips. In those cases, use the 32 bit x86 version).

Install all the MySQL components. Using the pref pane, start MySQL.

In the Sharing System Pref, turn on (or if it was already on, turn off/on) Web Sharing.

You should now have Apache/PHP/MySQL running.

In 10.4 and 10.5 it was necessary to modify the php.ini file to point to the correct location of mysql.sock. There are reports that this is fixed in 10.6, but that doesn't appear to be the case for all of us, given some of the comments below.

Answer 2

To complete your setup or MySQL:

sudo vim /etc/profile

1. Add alias

   alias mysql=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql
   alias mysqladmin=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin
   

2. Then set your root password

   mysqladmin -u root password 'yourPassword'
   

3. Then you can login with

   mysql -u root -p
   

Answer 3

I strongly prefer HomeBrew over MacPorts for installing software from source.

HomeBrew sequesters everything in /usr/local/Cellar so it doesn't spew files all over the place. (Yes, MacPorts keeps everything in /opt/local, but it requires sudo access, and I don't trust MacPorts with root.)

Installing MySQL is as simple as:

brew install mysql
mysql_install_db

To start mysql, in Terminal type:

mysqld&

There's a way to start it upon boot, but I like to start it manually.

Answer 4

It's an invisible folder. Just hit Command + Shift + G (takes you to the Go to Folder menu item) and type /etc/.

Then it will take you to inside that folder.

Answer 5

This help me a lot:

http://maestric.com/doc/mac/apache_php_mysql_snow_leopard

It also works for Mac OS X Lion :D

.:EDIT:. On my case the prefepane only allows to start and stop mysql, but after some issues i've uninstalled him. If you need a application to run queries and create DB, you could use: Sequel Pro (it's free) or Navicat

If you need start and stop mysql in ~/.bash_profile you can add these lines:

#For MySQL
alias mysql_start="/Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM/MySQLCOM start"
alias mysql_stop="/Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM/MySQLCOM stop"

After reloaded the console just call:

$mysql_start 

or

$mysql_stop 

agreding the desired action. Hope helped you.

Answer 6

I would agree with Benjamin, either install MAMP or MacPorts (http://www.macports.org/). Keeping your PHP install separate is simpler and avoids messing up the core PHP install if you make any mistakes!

MacPorts is a bit better for installing other software, such as ImageMagick. See a full list of available ports at http://www.macports.org/ports.php

MAMP just really does PHP, Apache and MySQL so any future PHP modules you want will need to be manually enabled. It is incredibly easy to use though.

Answer 7

Considering it hasn't been released yet, I'm assuming this is a question for ahead-of-time or you have a developer's build. As Benjamin mentioned, MAMP is the easiest way. However, if you want a native install, the process should be like 10.5. PHP comes installed on OS X by default (not always activated for some), just download the 32-bit version of MySQL, start Apache, and you should be good to go. You may have to tweak Apache for PHP or MySQL, depending on what builds are present. I didn't have to tweak anything to have it working.

Answer 8

FYI - if anyone experience issues with launching Apache, and getting errors about

/usr/sbin/apachectl: line 82: ulimit: open files: cannot modify limit: Invalid argument

it's because of a recent update to Apache in Snow Leopard. The fix is easy, just open /usr/sbin/apachectl and set ULIMIT=""

http://blog.deversus.com/2010/11/mac-os-1065-apachectl-usrsbinapachectl-line-82-ulimit-open-files-cannot-modify-limit-invalid-argument/

Answer 9

If you've upgraded to Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and previously had a working system, all you should need to do is re-enable PHP as in Step 1 of the above chosen answer.

You may also find the following Preference Pane useful for managing "web sharing" (Apache web server), which replaces system functionality removed in OS X 10.8: http://clickontyler.com/blog/2012/02/web-sharing-mountain-lion/

I also had to re-add my virtual hosts include line to the httpd.conf

Answer 10

In addition to the native versions, but you may want to try BitNami MAMP Stacks (disclaimer, I am one of the developers). They are completely free, all-in-one bundles of Apache, MySQL, PHP and a several other third-party libraries and utilities that are useful when developing locally. In particular, they are completely self-contained so you can have several one installed at the same time, with different versions of Apache and MySQL and they will not interfere with each other. You can get them from http://bitnami.org/stack/mampstack or directly from the Mac OS X app store https://itunes.apple.com/app/mamp-stack/id571310406

Answer 11

ammps was super easy for me and has a nice web-based configuration:

Answer 12

There's a great guide here:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3083

However, it didn't work for me first try. I found this tip: run "httpd -t" in Terminao to check the syntax of your config files. Turns out using copy & paste from the tutorial introduced some strange characters. After fixing this, it worked great. There are some links from the guide for adding MySQL as well.

This worked much better for me than MAMP. With MAMP, I was having delays of about 20 seconds or so before changes to the .php file would be reflected in the browser when you refresh, even if you cleared the cache, history, cookies, etc.

This problem was resolved in MAMP PRO, but MAMP PRO had a new issue of its own: the .php files would be downloaded instead of being rendered as a page in the browser! I contacted support and they didn't know what was going on.

The built-in Apache server didn't have any of these issues. Definitely the way to go. The guide below is almost identical to the one above, but it has user comments that are helpful:

http://osxdaily.com/2012/09/02/start-apache-web-server-mac-os-x/#comment-572991