Goals

Create a Ruby on Rails development environment with Apache, MySQL, and PHP.

There are several possible ways of doing this, but since OS X is a Unix-based platform, I don’t see any reason to use pre-compiled packages like MacPorts and replacing the built-in software. Plus, this is supposed to be a learning experience.

Sources

http://maestric.com/doc/mac/apache_php_mysql_snow_leopard

http://michaelgracie.com/2009/09/23/plugging-mcrypt-into-php-on-mac-os-x-snow-leopard-10.6.1/

Basic Setup

OS X comes with Apache, Ruby, Rails, and PHP pre-loaded; the specific versions of each are dependent upon the installed version of OS X. In my case, I am starting with a fresh installation of Snow Leopard (10.6), and beginning by downloading all available System Updates, which brings my system to version 10.6.5, with Apache version 2.2.15, Ruby 1.8.7, Rails 2.3.5 , and PHP 5.3.3.

In order to use the pre-loaded Apache installation, go to “System Preferences” > “Sharing”  and check “Web Sharing”. This will enable the Apache web server. If you ever need to restart the server, either uncheck and re-check this box, or use the command <code>sudo apachectl restart</code> from the command line.

Next, we need a compiler, so we’ll install Apple’s Xcode Developer Tools, which can be found on the OS X installation CD/DVD and also online directly from Apple (http://developer.apple.com/technologies/tools/xcode.html). I have version 3.2.3 installed. I’m writing this up after having performed all of the updates, so the initial version may have been different.

MySQL

MySQL doesn’t come installed as part of the normal OS X distribution; just OS X Server. No problem; just download an OS X *.dmg package for MySQL Community Server: http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/#downloads

Note: OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) and later compile in 64-bit C, so be sure to download the 64-bit version of MySQL (x86_64 suffix). This took me a while to figure out, as I had downloaded the 32-bit version for my 32-bit kernel. I thought it made sense. Version 5.1 should work just fine; I didn’t try 5.5.

Anyway, the MySQL *.dmg contains three files: the MySQL installer, the MySQL Startup Item installer, and the Preference Pane item. Install them in the order I have listed here. Once it’s installed, go ahead and try starting the server. The indicator in the Preference Pane item should turn green.

Edit /etc/profile and add “PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin”, otherwise you’ll have to type the full path to the mysql and mysqladmin executables in order to use them.

PHP

You’ll need to enable PHP by un-commenting a line beginning with “LoadModule php5_module…” in your Apache configuration file, typically found at /private/etc/apache2/apache2.conf.

Additionally, you’ll have to create a php.ini file in /etc/, which is most easily done by making a copy of “/etc/php.ini.default”. While you’re doing that, un-comment the line for your time zone, and enter a valid value. Additionally, change the three occurrences of “/var/mysql/mysql.sock” to “/tmp/mysql.sock” in order to point PHP at your MySQL installation.

I like using phpMyAdmin to manage my MySQL databases, so I’ll need to install this. The process is straightforward and well-documented. However, once you do this, you’ll notice that you’ll need PHP to have been compiled with the mcrypt extension, and the OS X distribution hasn’t been. Not to worry, Michael Gracie has a solution to that problem (http://michaelgracie.com/2009/09/23/plugging-mcrypt-into-php-on-mac-os-x-snow-leopard-10.6.1/).  Be sure to update the version numbers of the different software packages accordingly.

Restart the Apache server so these changes to php.ini take effect.

Ruby on Rails

I’m going to be using Rails 3.0, so I’ll need to update RubyGems with “sudo gem update –system” followed by “sudo gem update” to update all installed gems.

I’ll need to install a database adapter so that RoR can interface with MySQL. Rails 3 defaults to the mysql2 gem for MySQL databases, so we’ll install that with “sudo gem install mysql2 — –with-mysql-config=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config”.

I want to use the devise plugin for user authentication, so I’ll install that and its dependent gem, warden.

Finally, I want to use passenger to deploy my Rails application just to make my life easier: “sudo gem install passenger” followed by “sudo passenger-install-apache2-module” and follow the directions.

Done!

I was going to write more about configuring virtual hosts, but this post languished with “draft” status for over a week already.

In any case, I installed Microsoft Security Essentials as antivirus software on both, partly to test it out, and I’ll move my Avast license over if I can once I’ve migrated over from Vista.  No complaints yet.

I also installed Windows Live Essentials, which is a suite of programs, including Windows Mail (formerly Outlook Express), Movie Maker, Photo Gallery, and a few others.  One of the “others” is Windows Live Messenger, which just like MSN Messenger before it in XP, starts up automatically when you boot up your computer, and it’s annoying as hell, especially considering I don’t plan on using it.  So, to disable it, follow these steps:

• In the search box at the bottom of the Start menu, type “msconfig” to bring up the System Configuration utility.
• Click the “Startup” tab.
• Find the “Windows Live Messenger” entry, and uncheck the box to disable.  I sorted the list by Startup Item to make this easy.
• Click OK, and you’re done!