MAMP: OS X Web Development Made Easy

May 12, 2007 at 8:59pm in Apple, On the Web, Software

In preparation for GSoC development, I planned on setting up a Linux server. I quickly shot down that idea after Jon Christopher tweeted MAMP. MAMP is the ultimate Apache, MySQL, and PHP toolkit for OS X.

While OS X natively runs Apache and is capable of running PHP and MySQL, installation can be cumbersome. PHP and MySQL scatter files all throughout OS X, making cleanup a mess. Besides, PHP and MySQL constantly run when natively installed, consuming valuable resources.

Instead of setting up Apache, MySQL, and PHP the old fashion way, MAMP makes installation a breeze. Just drop MAMP in OS X’s Application folder and a complete web development environment is available in seconds. Not only is installation easy:

All files are contained in the MAMP folder. Just drag the folder to the trash to uninstall.
Apache, MySQL, and PHP can easily be turned on an off.
MAMP comes with tools such as phpMyAdmin preinstalled.

If you do any web development, I highly recommend you check out MAMP.

8 Comments

1 Bruce on May 12, 2007 at 11:15 pm (Quote):

I’ve been using MAMP for a couple of years, first to migrate from iBlog to WordPress, and currently for testing Joomla and building a WP theme from scratch. I agree it’s great, and the only practical downside is that you can’t test your designs in IE using Parallels since the MAMP servers are not available in the virtualised Windows environment. I’m not sure but think that maybe the Pro version (not free) overcomes this limitation.
2 Ronald Heft on May 13, 2007 at 1:41 am (Quote):

Bruce, I found this website which explains how to get MAMP and IE working.
3 Bruce on May 13, 2007 at 2:53 am (Quote):

Thanks Ronald. I set my virtual machine to use host-only networking, edited C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts to include 10.0.1.3 macintel.local (my IP and computer name taken from System Preferences), and enabled Personal Web Sharing (which opens port 80). Unfortunately http://macintel.local in IE gives me an “The address is not valid” error; any idea what I’m missing?
4 Ronald Heft on May 13, 2007 at 2:58 am (Quote):

Actually, undo what you just did. I found that using my Mac’s IP address:8888 works fine. So, for example, my Mac’s IP is 192.168.1.28. I just use http://192.168.1.28:8888 and my server loads. This is on Parallel’s shared networking setting and using a static IP address.
5 Bruce on May 13, 2007 at 3:57 am (Quote):

Thanks again Ronald! Joomla now loads fine. As for WP I have “localhost” set for DB_HOST in config.php so my CSS won’t load/ page links don’t work; changing this to my IP address (or macintel.local) doesn’t work. For the record, Personal Web Sharing still needs to be on.
6 Ronald Heft on May 13, 2007 at 4:01 am (Quote):

I have Personal Web Sharing disabled and I can still access my MAMP without issue. For WordPress, set your site’s domain to same address (ex. 192.168.1.28:8888) you use to access it in IE. Are you perhaps forgetting the :8888?
7 Bruce on May 13, 2007 at 4:40 am (Quote):

I had forgot the 8888, but that’s not it. I’ll try again when I’ve a clear head. Obviously not as simple as it sounds. Perhaps a good topic for a step-by-step how-to?
8 Jonathan on May 13, 2007 at 11:50 pm (Quote):

Sounds interesting. Though personally, for web development, I use the LAMP method, so my linux server is being used solely for that, and that alone. I do have an old sun box lying around, still haven’t had a chance to play with it yet, so perhaps I’ll install a mail server on that.