Equivalent of Mongrel/Webrick for PHP Development?

Question

Hi all.

Is there an equivalent in PHP development to using Mongrel/Webrick during Rails development?

I normally use Mongrel on port 3000 to serve up my Rails app during development.

Its been a couple of years since I've done PHP development. From what I recall, the method was to run Apache on the dev machine during PHP development (which involved setting up virtual domain in Apache etc....).

Is this still the case or is there a simpler method these days. Unfortunately a quick Google did not yield anything of interest.

Before I forget, the dev environment is on Debian Lenny. Ubuntu solutions also welcome.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Answer 1

You could take a look at lighttpd - that's quick & easy to install and configure with PHP.

Answer 2

If you're on Debian/Ubuntu it's fairly easy to set up an Apache environment. Everything you need is in Synaptic.

Answer 3

Below is how to do it in ubuntu, but if you want really easy, use a VM appliance: LAMP appliance.

XAMPP may also be workable, but I have only used that in windows.

In ubuntu:

sudo tasksel

select LAMP, and that will set up apache, etc. In the middle of the install it will ask for the mysql password.

Files live within /var/www, but this can easily be changed in vhosts (I use a subdirectory of my home folder which is more often backed up). A quick check of the ubuntu online documentation should show you the correct files to edit (since I think there was a change after hardy).

Subversion and phpmyadmin are a good idea as well, as I'm sure you are aware.

a2enmod will enable mod-rewrite, etc, as that is not enabled by default