The guide I followed to set up my personal web server on Yosemite. Full credit to author
etresoft. The original article can be found at
here.
Here is my definitive guide to getting a local web server running on OS X. This is meant to be a development platform so that you can build and test your sites locally, then deploy to an internet server. This User Tip contains instructions for configuring the Apache and PHP. I have another User Tip for installing and configuring MySQL and Perl.
Note: Yosemite introduces some significant changes. Pay attention to your OS version.
Another note: These instructions apply to the client versions of OS X, not Server. Server does a few specific tricks really well and is a good choice for those. For things like database, web, and mail services, I have found it easier to just setup the client OS version manually.
Requirements:
- Basic understanding of Terminal.app and how to run command-line programs.
- Basic understanding of web servers.
- Basic usage of vi. You can substitute nano if you want.
Optional:
- Xcode is required for adding PHP modules.
Lines in bold are what you will have to type in at the Terminal.
Replace <your local host> with the name of your machine. Ideally, it should be a one-word name with no spaces or punctuation. It just makes life easier.
Replace <your short user name> with your short user name.
Here goes... Enjoy!
Lion and later versions no longer create personal web sites by default. If you already had a Sites folder in Snow Leopard, it should still be there. To create one manually, enter the following:
mkdir ~/Sites
echo "<html><body><h1>My site works</h1></body></html>" > ~/Sites/index.html.en
PHP is not enabled in recent versions of OS X. To enable it, do:
sudo vi /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
Uncomment the following line:
#LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so
to
LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so
(if you aren't familiar with vi, just press 'x' over the '#' character to delete it. Then type ':w!' to save and then 'ZZ' to quit.)
10.7 Lion - line 111
10.8 Mountain Lion - line 117
10.9 Mavericks - line 118
10.10 Yosemite - line 169
For Yosemite only, uncomment the following line at line 166:
#LoadModule userdir_module libexec/apache2/mod_userdir.so
to
LoadModule userdir_module libexec/apache2/mod_userdir.so
and do the same at line 493:
#Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf
to
Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf
Save and exit.
And again, for Yosemite only, open the file above with:
sudo vi /etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf
and uncomment the following line at line 16:
#Include /private/etc/apache2/users/*.conf
to
Include /private/etc/apache2/users/*.conf
Save and exit.
While you are in /etc/apache2, double-check to make sure you have a user config file. It should exist at the path:/etc/apache2/users/<your short user name>.conf. That file may not be created in Lion and if you upgrade to Mountain Lion, you still won't have it. It does appear to be created when you create a new user in Mountain Lion. If that file doesn't exist, you will need to create it with:
sudo vi /etc/apache2/users/<your short user name>.conf
For all systems other than Yosemite, use the following as the content:
<Directory "/Users/<your short user name>/Sites/">
Options Indexes MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from localhost
</Directory>
For Yosemite, use this content:
<Directory "/Users/<your short user name>/Sites/">
AddLanguage en .en
LanguagePriority en fr de
ForceLanguagePriority Fallback
Options Indexes MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from localhost
Require all granted
</Directory>
In vi, press <esc> and then ZZ to save and quit.
If you want to run Perl scripts, you will have to do something similar:
Note: This section cannot be done on Yosemite. Yosemite does not include /usr/libexec/apache2/mod_perl.so. It should be possible to build your own mod_perl, but that would be outside the scope of this User Tip.
Uncomment the following line: (In Lion this is on line 110. In Mountain Lion it is on line 116. In Mavericks it is on 117.)
#LoadModule perl_module libexec/apache2/mod_perl.so
to
LoadModule perl_module libexec/apache2/mod_perl.so
Then, in /etc/apache2/users/<your short user name>.conf change the line that says:
Options Indexes MultiViews
to:
AddHandler perl-script .pl
PerlHandler ModPerl::Registry
Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks ExecCGI
Now you are ready to turn on Apache itself.
In Lion, do the following:
To turn on Apache, go to System Preferences > Sharing and enable Web Sharing.
NOTE: There appears to be a bug in Lion for which I haven't found a workaround. If web sharing doesn't start, just keep trying.
In more recent versions of OS X, the Web Sharing checkbox in System Preferences > Sharing is gone. Instead, do the following:
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist
In Safari, navigate to your web site with the following address:
It should say:
It works!
Now try your user home directory:
http://<your local host>/~<your short user name>
It should say:
My site works
Now try PHP. Create a PHP info file with:
echo "<?php echo phpinfo(); ?>" > ~/Sites/info.php
And test it by entering the following into Safari's address bar:
http://<your local host>/~<your short user name>/info.php
You should see your PHP configuration information.
If you want to add modules to PHP, I suggest the following site. I can't explain it any better.
If you want to make further changes to your Apache system or user config files, you will need to restart the Apache server with:
sudo apachectl graceful
