Temporary computing enviornment

So I’m using an ‘extra’ powerbook while the iBook gets a new logic board this week. What’s a web developer to do with a new (temporary use) machine? Get Apache, PHP & MySQL running of course. Rather than muck around with the OS and .conf files I figured I’d try out some of the complete web server packages that have come out in the last nine months. First up was MAMP, I liked the idea, a simple drag-and-drop install, no mucking around in /usr, /var/ or /etc and the option of using PHP4 or PHP5 was a bonus. Changing the MySQL password turned out to be easy, but killed the web based admin tools built into it. No prob, I can work around that. But then, the showstopper, no mod rewrite! So I went and downloaded another package, WebServerX Kit this is a complete Apache2/PHP5/MySQL/phpMyadmin install. It places its files in /usr/local and comes with a pref pane to start and stop the servers. Wouldn’t ya know it, same deal no mod rewrite. So what did I end up doing? I grabbed the MySQL package from Server Logistics (which btw comes with a nice pref pane) and used Apple’s built-in Apache/php (you need to edit the httpd.conf file to get php working) which comes with mod rewrite pre-installed and all is well again in web dev land. Yes, I will soon post details of how I set up virtual hosting on OS X.