Apache Archives

If you are getting this error on your local WordPress installation using Mac OS X Leopard, there is a simple fix. You might be seeing this error even though PHP is working fine, and MySQL is working fine. In order to get WordPress to work create a php.ini file.

sudo cp /private/etc/php.ini.default /private/etc/php.ini

Change permissions and edit the file

sudo chmod 777 /private/etc/php.ini
vi php.ini

Change mysql.default_socket = [blank] to

mysql.default_socket = /private/tmp/mysql.sock

Restart Apache and you should be good to go!

My previous posting regarding local web development on Mac OS X was geared towards those running OS X Tiger and Apache 1.3. The new Mac OS X Leopard comes with the 2.2 version of Apache, and with it some tweaks to the way things are set up.

PHP comes pre-installed, giving Marc Liyanage a lot more free time and making your life much nicer. First thing to do is to activate PHP5 by opening up the httpd.conf file.

sudo vi /etc/apache2/httpd.conf

To include PHP5, simply uncomment the following line:

# LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

In order to develop multiple sites locally, use virtual hosts. I had trouble using the default httpd-vhosts.conf file, so I added my own sites.conf file. Add this line to the bottom of your httpd.conf file:

Include /etc/apache2/other/sites.conf

Next, create the actual conf file you just referred to.

vi /etc/apache2/other/sites.conf

Create a new virtual host for MySite by adding a record to the sites.conf file

# Enable named virtual hosts
NameVirtualHost *:80
# Override the default httpd.conf directives.  Make sure to
# use 'Allow from all' to prevent 403 Forbidden message.

	Options ExecCGI FollowSymLinks
	AllowOverride all
	Allow from all

# A basic virtual host config

	ServerName yoursite
	DocumentRoot /Users/username/Sites/yoursite

Edit the hosts file…

sudo vi /etc/hosts

… and add a line with your new site

127.0.0.1       yoursite

You should create a folder called “yoursite” in the default Sites folder. At this point you will need to restart Apache to pick up the changes.

sudo apachectl restart

You should now be able to view your site locally at http://yoursite/. In order to maintain multiple virtual hosts, simply add another record to your sites.conf file.

	ServerName yoursite2
	DocumentRoot /Users/username/Sites/yoursite2

and add the corresponding record to the /etc/hosts file.

127.0.0.1       yoursite2

Note: See an updated posting for local web development on OS X Leopard →

By default, Mac OS X ships with an installation of the Apache web server. If you’re a web designer or developer, this is a great tool to help you develop websites locally, increasing development speed and improving your quality of life. To get up and running, follow these easy steps:

1. Open your System Preferences… Sharing
2. Turn on Personal Web Sharing
3. The URL at the bottom of the screen maps to your /User/username/Sites directory, which is where you should place your local website files. You can also access your local web server by hitting http://localhost/~username/ (replacing ‘username’ with your actual username.)

You can place multiple website projects in your Sites folder by simply creating one folder per project, and accessing each project by corresponding URLs such as http://localhost/~username/MyProject/ and http://localhost/~username/MyOtherProject/. If you like to use absolute paths in your HTML code, you will have to use the following convention:

This is obviously not very convenient, especially if you’re sharing your code through a repository with other developers who do not share the same username. Additionally, once you complete local development you need to strip out the /~username/MyProject/ before deploying your code to a public web server. To get around this hurdle, you can customize your Apache server to use custom URLs by following these steps:

1. Edit the httpd.conf file. I do this using vi in Terminal, by executing the command:

   
   sudo vi /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
   

2. Uncomment the NameVirtualHost line and edit the line so it reads

   
   NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1
   

3. Add the following lines to the file:

   
   
      ServerName MyProject
      DocumentRoot /Users/username/Sites/MyProject
   
   

4. Edit the hosts file by issuing the command:

   
   sudo vi /etc/hosts
   

5. At the end of the file, insert the the line:

   
   127.0.0.1 MyProject
   

6. Go back to System Preferences… Sharing, stop Web Sharing, then start it again. This action bounces the Apache web server.

You should now be able to access your project at http://MyProject/, which also allows you to use “real” absolute paths in your markup.