Installing XAMPP on your MAC personal computer
XAMPP stands for “X (one of four OSs), Apache, MySQL, PHP, PERL” and is used to enable your personal computer with the web and database tools necessary to host its own dynamically driven websites for testing and development purposes. The following tutorial video demonstrations will show you the steps to set your computer up as a “localhost” server on a Mac.
Installing XAMPP on a Mac
The 2-part video playlist is embedded below, but first read through what each part covers!
Part one covers the following:
- What XAMPP is and why we use it
- The installation process
- Understanding the host name portion of the URL
- Understanding what the ‘hosts’ file on your computer does
- Understanding how ‘localhost’ maps to the loopback address, ‘127.0.0.1’
- Understanding what’s in the Dashboard.
IMPORTANT: INSTALL THE RIGHT VERSION. Please install the 8.1.6 version (163Mb installer) in the image below from the XAMPP Downloads page to follow this tutorial! Do NOT install a “VM” (Virtual Machine) version for this class. It will not function the same. Mac users should not download the version advertised on the main homepage of www.apachefriends.org.
Part two covers the following:
- How the ‘localhost’ URL maps to the ‘htdocs’ folder
- Understanding where all of the files are kept and in which pathways
- How the ‘index.php’ file in htdocs redirects to ‘dashboard/’
- How you can get a directory listing by renaming the index file.
THE VIDEO TUTORIAL:
If you have questions or problems with your installation, check out the OS X FAQs page before posting to the class discussion board.