Lunatic Notes » Mac

Native Web Development (apache, PHP and mySQL) on Mac OSX Leopard

anima — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:27:12 +0000

If you’re a web developer and you’re on a Mac, you’re probably using MAMP or XAMPP for your all in one apache + PHP + mySQL need. But did you know that your Mac system is already a web server by default installation? Utilizing the native web server, you can save yourself from downloading stuffs you don’t need.

It is not as complicated as you think. Given that Macs are descendants of *nix system, it already has apache2 and PHP module built in, we only need to activate those two and install mySQL. Here’s how.

Activating apache web server

Piece of cake, you only need to go to System Preferences and then to the Sharing prefpane.

System Preferences

Inside the Sharing prefpane check the web sharing on the left hand side. Simple as that and you’re done.

Check web sharing in the pref pane

You know where you have the folder Sites in your home folder? If you put anything there, it will be accessible via http://localhost/~yourusername/. Cute anot?

Activating the PHP module

You will need to type things into terminal this time. This is also a piece of cake, don’t be afraid, the Terminal is our friend :)
To run terminal you can spotlight it or go to Applications / Utilities using Finder.

Terminall app via Finder

Here’s what you have to do in Terminal.

First go to /etc/apache2/ directory by typing cd /etc/apache2/ . If it returns an error check your input, see if you’ve typed it right.
Opening the httpd.conf in terminal
Next on, let’s open the apache configuration file: httpd.conf as root. We do this by typing sudo nano httpd.conf. You will be prompted to enter your login password. Upon doing so, this screen will show. This is nano, Terminal’s text editor.
Editing httpd.conf using nano on Terminal
Now we’re going to activate the PHP5 module. If you take a look at the terminal screen, you’ll see a list of commands. We’ll do a ^W aka Where Is to find the line that says php5. Press Ctrl+W, type in php5
Take a good look at the terminal screen, you will see this line:
#LoadModule php5_module libexec/httpd/libphp5.so. You only have to delete the # sign:
LoadModule php5_module libexec/httpd/libphp5.so
Done, now exit nano with ^X command. You will be prompted to save your changes. Type Y to save and exit. Don’t change the file name in process btw ;)
Save and exit with ^X

That’s it, we have ourselves an apache2 web server with PHP. You can check if the PHP module’s running with a simple phpinfo();

Installing mySQL

Another walk in the park. If you don’t already have it, you can download mySQL server here. You are looking for the mySQL server installer in package format, it’s the .dmg format you’re already familiar with. It’s a 60MB download, smaller than the 70+ MB XAMPP and 130+ MB MAMP ;)

Installing is simple, mount the .dmg and then install all the packages including the .prefpane. After installing all items you will be taken to the newly installed mySQL prefpane.

mySQL prefpane

Done, now mySQL’s up and running. You might want to install Navicat or phpMyAdmin for the mySQL front end. Now that you have everything working, you can already start developing.

Extra: VirtualHostX to shorten your working URL

I’m not a big fan of long URLs, my working host is http://localhost/~anima/ and my phpMyAdmin URL is http://localhost/~anima/phpmyadmin/. Those are long badass URLs and I hate them, so I looked for a workaround shortening them and that’s when VirtualHostX comes to the rescue.

VirtualHostX

This way I can shorten my http://localhost/~anima/ to http://anima/ and my http://localhost/~anima/phpmyadmin/ to http://mysql/

Free version of VirtualHostX allows you to create 3 host names, that should be enough: one for the main working URL, one for mySQL and you have an extra one. Different story if you want to assign each projects of yours with a different host name. You must get a license then :)

Tyler Hall (the developer of VirtualHostX) was very kind to give me a free license of this because I tweeted something about it :)

Gotta love Macs, they have the beauty and the brains inside :) Happy developing!

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Tweaking Safari 4’s Hidden Preferences

anima — Mon, 04 May 2009 02:05:04 +0000

Okay, who else thinks Safari 4 is cute and all that, and that it looks like Google Chrome? New look and spanking great new features. Safari 4 has the tab bar on top, fancy URL completion, circular progress bar (instead of the bluish progress bar on the address bar we used to have in the previous version) and many more.

Some people are excited about the changes, some don’t. I personally can’t get used to the tab bar relocation so I looked for a solution to revert it back. There is the hard way, typing this and that into Terminal app but hey, let’s cheat and use the easier way.

Swoon dot net made a neat app that allows us to tweak the hidden preferences in Safari, such as relocate the tab bar to where it used to be. Installation is fairly simple, you can’t screw this up, really. Download the app here and run it.

My safari 4 buddy preferences

Press apply and restart your Safari. Voila! You’ve got your familiar-looking Safari with the massive new features :)

Note: if you are using Safari 4 on Windows and you’re looking for the hidden preferences: sorry, not your lucky day.

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Enable Growl notifications on iChat

anima — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 06:30:49 +0000

Being the default messenger app on Mac, iChat sure is pretty and well integrated to the system. However, unlike AdiumX, iChat does not show Growl notifications (wow I’m speaking alien language aren’t I? Mac users should understand this, I think).

I’m not sure if it’s an iChat issue or Growl issue, but we have a solution :)

Chax aims to make your experience using iChat more enjoyable. Go to their site, download the installer and run it. It should prompt you to restart iChat after installation.

Chax’s preferences is located inside iChat preferences. There are many things you can do there, but for me the most important thing is to turn on the Growl notifications. There. Now I am a happier iChat user :)

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GreaseKit – Use GreaseMonkey’s User Scripts in Safari

anima — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:25:14 +0000

GreaseMonkey is a very powerful Firefox add-on that lets us make on-the-fly changes to websites we visit by installing user scripts. Simply put: that means we have more control over websites we visit. For example, we can add a ‘download’ link to Youtube video pages and remove annoying quizzes from our Facebook homepage.

Neat innit? The problem is: GreaseMonkey cannot be installed in Safari, Mac OSX’s default browser (and by far my favorite one). Solution: GreaseKit. Here’s how.

First we’re going to have to install SIMBL. SIMBL is a software that lets you modify Cocoa applications. In this case, we’re modifying Safari.

After installing SIMBL, we can now proceed to installing GreaseKit (download it here). GreaseKit is not an application, it’s a SIMBL add on. Double click the DMG file and you’ll see this file:

Drag GreaseKit.bundle to OSX (this being your system root) > Library > Application Support > SIMBL > Plugins.

Install location - click to view larger image

Now restart your Safari app and check the menu bar, there will be an additional menu that says GreaseKit. That does it, now you can browse the available user scripts and install the ones you like :)

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