Since I couldn’t find any instructions for doing this, I thought I’d write up the steps I followed to put this all together.  After following these steps, you should have a distinct installation of Apache, MySQL, PHP, and phpMyAdmin for each project you are currently working on.  For this writeup, I use Apache 2.2.17, MySQL 5.5.9, PHP 5.3.5, and phpMyAdmin 3.3.9.2.  The same fundamental principles should apply to any version, but the exact procedures will undoubtedly differ.

I chose to compile everything from source because I like to have more control than you normally get with bundle installers such as MAMP, and frankly I have no idea how to install and run MAMP for a single user, and don’t really care to find out.

Step 1: Create a User for Each Project

I prefixed my user accounts with work- (so for example you might have several users: work-project1, work-project2, etc.).

Step 2: Download Source Code

Download the source for Apache, MySQL, PHP, and phpMyAdmin, and create a directory /Users/Shared/src to hold the untarred source code.

mkdir /Users/Shared/src

Untar the source archives into the new directory.  The contents of /Users/Shared/src should look something like this:

drwxrwxrwx@  50 xxxx xxxx 1700 Feb 24 12:27 httpd-2.2.17
drwxrwxrwx@  50 xxxx xxxx 1700 Feb 25 18:11 mysql-5.5.9
drwxrwxrwx@  92 xxxx xxxx 3128 Feb 25 19:49 php-5.3.5
drwxrwxrwx@ 104 xxxx xxxx 3536 Feb 11 10:56 phpMyAdmin-3.3.9.2

Step 3: Configure and Install Apache

The rest of these steps should be repeated for each of the work-XXXX users you created in Step 1.  Log in to the first account to continue.

To install Apache for an individual user, we’re going to create a new layout structure to contain the entire Apache installation within the user’s home directory.  Feel free to put this wherever you want.  I chose the user’s Library folder.

cd /Users/Shared/src/httpd-2.2.17
make clean
vi config.layout

Add the following code to the top of the config.layout file, replacing work-XXXX with the name of the user you’re currently working with:

#  Custom layout for work-XXXX user
<Layout work-XXXX>
    prefix:        /Users/work-XXXX/Library/apache-httpd-2.2.17
    exec_prefix:   ${prefix}
    bindir:        ${exec_prefix}/bin
    sbindir:       ${exec_prefix}/sbin
    libdir:        ${exec_prefix}/lib
    libexecdir:    ${exec_prefix}/modules
    mandir:        ${prefix}/man
    sysconfdir:    ${prefix}/conf
    datadir:       ${prefix}
    installbuilddir: ${datadir}/build
    errordir:      ${datadir}/error
    iconsdir:      ${datadir}/icons
    htdocsdir:     /Users/work-XXXX/Sites/htdocs
    manualdir:     ${datadir}/manual
    cgidir:        ${datadir}/cgi-bin
    includedir:    ${prefix}/include
    localstatedir: ${prefix}
    runtimedir:    ${localstatedir}/logs
    logfiledir:    ${localstatedir}/logs
    proxycachedir: ${localstatedir}/proxy
</Layout>

Save the config.layout file, and run the following configure command, adding in any other options you might need (see here for a list of available options):

./configure --enable-layout=work-XXXX --enable-so

Kick off the install:

make && sudo make install

This should install Apache in /Users/work-XXXX/Library/apache-httpd-2.2.17.

Edit the Apache configuration file conf/httpd.conf and set the port to something unique.  The idea here is to run each of your Apache instances on a different port, so that they can run simultaneously.  I started at 2020 for the first instance, and counted up from that for each additional instance.

# Listen: Allows you to bind Apache to specific IP addresses and/or
# ports, instead of the default. See also the
# directive.
#
# Change this to Listen on specific IP addresses as shown below to
# prevent Apache from glomming onto all bound IP addresses (0.0.0.0)
#
#Listen 12.34.56.78:80

Listen 2020

Save httpd.conf and try starting it up:

sbin/apachectl start

You should be able to see Apache’s default index.html file by pointing your browser at http://localhost:2020.

Step 4: Configure and Install MySQL Server

MySQL uses CMake as a build manager.  If you don’t already have it you can download and install the Mac OSX Universal (.dmg installer for Tiger or later) from this page.

I found this page in the MySQL docs to be quite helpful.

cd /Users/Shared/src/mysql-5.5.9

To make sure everything goes smoothly, run make clean and remove the CMake cache:

make clean && rm CMakeCache.txt

I ran the following CMake command.  Like Apache, the idea here is to run each of your MySQL instances on a different port, so that they can run simultaneously.  I started at 3030 for the first instance, and counted up from that for each additional instance.  Feel free to add any other available options.

cmake . -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/Users/work-XXXX/Library/mysql-5.5.9 \
        -DMYSQL_TCP_PORT=3030 \
        -DMYSQL_UNIX_ADDR=/Users/work-XXXX/Library/mysql-5.5.9/tmp/mysql.sock \
        -DSYSCONFDIR=/Users/work-XXXX/Library/mysql-5.5.9/conf

Then make and install:

make && make install

This’ll take a little while, but when it’s done you should have a MySQL server installed at /Users/work-XXXX/Library/mysql-5.5.9.

Run the mysql_install_db script to set up the grant table.

cd mysql-5.5.9
scripts/mysql_install_db

Copy over the default configuration file:

cp /Users/Shared/src/mysql-5.5.9 support-files/my-medium.cnf \
   ~/Library/mysql-5.5.9/conf/my.cnf

Start up the server and set a password for the root user:

./bin/mysqld
./bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'

Step 5: Configure and Install PHP

To install PHP, I mostly followed the instructions here.

cd /Users/Shared/src/php-5.3.5

Run make clean if you’ve previously compiled:

make clean

I used the following configure command (see here for more available options):

./configure --prefix=/Users/work-XXXX/Library/php-5.3.5 \
            --with-apxs2=/Users/work-XXXX/Library/apache-httpd-2.2.17/sbin/apxs \
            --with-config-file-path=/Users/work-XXXX/Library/php-5.3.5/conf \
            --with-mysql=mysqlnd --with-mysqli=mysqlnd --with-pdo-mysql=mysqlnd \
            --enable-zip --enable-mbstring --with-gd --with-jpeg-dir=/usr/local/lib \
            --with-png-dir=/usr/local/lib

This requires that you have the libjpeg and libpng libraries installed.  I installed them from source, but there’s a handy installer here that might be easier. If you use the installer, I believe you’ll have to change the –with-jpeg-dir and –with-png-dir to /usr/local:

--with-jpeg-dir=/usr/local --with-png-dir=/usr/local

After configuring, compile and install:

make && sudo make install

Copy over the configuration file:

cp /Users/Shared/src/php-5.3.5/php.ini-development \
   ~/Library/php-5.3.5/conf/php.ini

Edit Apache’s httpd.conf and add the following lines in the appropriate places:

LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so

<FilesMatch \.php$>
    SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
</FilesMatch>

Add index.php to the DirectoryIndex list:

DirectoryIndex index.html index.php

Edit the PHP configuration file, and set the date.timezone property accordingly.  I also set the MySQL default_socket properties to /Users/work-XXXX/Library/mysql-5.5.9/tmp/mysql.sock, and set all of the default_port properties to 3030.

Restart apache:

~/Library/apache-httpd-2.2.17/sbin/apachectl restart

To test the PHP integration, create a new file called index.php in ~/Sites/htdocs or whatever your Apache DocumentRoot is and add the following line:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Open up http://localhost:2020/ in your browser, and you should see a display of your PHP configuration information.  Scroll down and check that all of your requested extensions are loaded and configured correctly.

Step 6: Configure and Install PHPMyAdmin

Copy phpMyAdmin from the src directory into your Apache DocumentRoot:

cp /Users/Shared/src/phpMyAdmin-3.3.9.2 ~/Sites/htdocs

I didn’t want to have the version number in the phpMyAdmin URL, so I created a symbolic link:

cd ~/Sites/htdocs
ln -s phpMyAdmin-3.3.9.2 phpmyadmin

Copy the default configuration file:

cp phpmyadmin/config.sample.inc.php phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

Refer to the phpMyAdmin documentation in ~/Sites/htdocs/phpmyadmin/Documentation.html for configuration options and other help.

Once configured, you should be able to log into phpMyAdmin at http://localhost:2020/phpmyadmin/ using the root user you set up earlier.

Step 7: Set up Bash aliases

I’ve added the following aliases to each user’s .bash_profile file to more easily manage the running web servers.

# Apache
export APACHE_VERSION="2.2.17"
alias apachestart="~/Library/apache-httpd-$APACHE_VERSION/sbin/apachectl start"
alias apacherestart="~/Library/apache-httpd-$APACHE_VERSION/sbin/apachectl restart"
alias apachestop="~/Library/apache-httpd-$APACHE_VERSION/sbin/apachectl stop"
alias apacheconf="mate ~/Library/apache-httpd-$APACHE_VERSION/conf/httpd.conf"

# MySQL
export MYSQL_VERSION="5.5.9"
alias mysqlstart="~/Library/mysql-$MYSQL_VERSION/bin/mysqld &"
alias mysqlstop="~/Library/mysql-$MYSQL_VERSION/bin/mysqladmin --user=root --password=password shutdown"
alias mysqlrestart="mysqlstop && mysqlstart"
alias mysqlconf="mate ~/Library/mysql-$MYSQL_VERSION/conf/my.cnf"

# Apache + MySQL
alias amstart="apachestart && mysqlstart"
alias amrestart="apacherestart && mysqlrestart"
alias amstop="apachestop && mysqlstop"

# PHP
export PHP_VERSION="5.3.5"
alias phpconf="mate ~/Library/php-$PHP_VERSION/conf/php.ini"

And that’s it.  Enjoy!

Feel free to leave questions/comments below.

A: Waldorf Salad.

Back just in time for my birthday

An old cottage rested at the end of an overgrown path just outside of town, and in it sat a concerned monk.  He did not sleep.  He did not eat.  He did not waste any time; he simply sat, and prayed for rain.

At the other end of town was another old cottage, and in this one stood a concerned missionary.  Quite opposite of the monk, he had decided that personal prayer was useless.  What difference would it make if he himself prayed while no one else prayed with him?  There’s no way he could bring the rains by himself.  Yes, the only reasonable course of action was to spread his knowledge and convince all of the villagers to pray.

The missionary took to the roads, tirelessly traveling the length of the village and spreading his message.  He took no time to break, not even for prayer.  Some accepted his message without question, and woke up early in the day to pray before leaving for work, but many questioned him.  Why should they pray when the very man telling them to pray did not even pray himself?

For weeks the monk prayed in his cottage and the missionary made his way across the village.  Though the monk had prayed so focused and deliberately and the missionary had delivered his message to nearly every person in the village, the rains still had not come.

One day near the end of his journey, the missionary came to an overgrown path just outside of town.  He followed the path and came to an old cottage.  Knocking on the door brought him face to face with the monk, and he smiled and let loose his well-rehearsed speech.

“Good day,” the missionary said, “I’ve come to ask you to pray for rain.  It is the only way that we can bring water to our parched farms that so desperately need it.  Can I count on you?  Our livelihood depends on it.”

“I have been praying,” replied the monk.  “For weeks I have done nothing but prayed.  I have not slept a single minute and I have not eaten a single bite.  Tell me, brother, how much time do you devote to prayer yourself?”

“For me, prayer is a waste of time,” the missionary calmly responded.  “It is much more sensible to spread the message of prayer to others, for the power of many is vastly superior to the power of one.  Do you really think that you can command the rain all by yourself?”

“No, I know that I cannot do it alone, but I have faith in the other people of this village.  I have faith that they will see the truth as I have, that they will pray for rain without anyone commanding them to.”

“But I have traveled across the entire village.  I have talked with every single villager.  No one understands.  No one prays.  My speech was the first that they had heard on the matter.  The message must be taught.  People will not learn it on their own.”

“But people will not believe your message when they realize that you do not practice what you preach.  Don’t you see that they will think you a hypocrite?”

The missionary paused for a moment, and then responded, “I see what you’re saying, and from our conversation it has become apparent that both of our actions over the last weeks have been flawed.  On one hand, it is not enough to simply spend your time praying, because you cannot bring the rains alone and it is not safe to assume that others will join you in prayer without your talking to them.  But on the other hand, it is not enough to spend all of your time preaching, because people will see you as a hypocrite and disregard your message.”

The monk and the missionary left the cottage together and walked along the overgrown path back to the village.  They traveled again from door to door, but this time they were sure to spend half of their time praying and half of their time speaking with villagers.

They gathered a large following, and eventually their prayer grew strong enough that clouds gathered and rain poured down on the village.  Water flowed through the farmers’ fields nourishing the roots of the dry crops, and the drought was over.