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Good or Bad installs?

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:16 am
by ptrpan
I want to know, is it better to download the software packages seperate, i.e. Apache, php, mySQL, and configure all the settings manually, or is it better to download "out-of-the-box" packages like xampp?

I would please like to know both the pros and cons of each one of the options.

And if you use "out-of-the-box" packages, other than xampp, where can one find them?

Thanks


ps. I'm sorry if this post is in the wrong thread. :?

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:23 am
by feyd
I personally only download the individual packages. I've never had the installation problems so many people seem to have when they post about them here.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:35 pm
by AKA Panama Jack
We have found using the all in one packages like XAMPP to be far superior to any other method. It also allows for much easier upgrading to newer versions when they are released.

We completely dumped the individual method and went to using XAMPP on our servers. We can have one up and running with full security in a FRACTION of the time it takes installing the individual packages.

It's just not worth the wasted time and effort to go the individual route anymore.

Plus packages like XAMPP have just about every module you could ever want to install ready to be used. No need to hunt for the modules and find the dependencies to try and make them all work together. Packages like XAMPP do it all for you.

Going the route of installing each bit yourself is like buying a kit car and building it bolt by bolt.

Going the XAMPP route is like buying a car from a dealership and sticking on the license plate.

Which do you think is the best way to go. ;) Building the kit car doesn't mean it will be better since most people tend to have parts left over and raw throats after screamming at the problems while building the kit. :D

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:24 pm
by nickvd
It depends on the situation for me. On my windows machines, I run xampp(lite) due to it's speed of installation, and the fact that I can backup my e:/xampplite folder and move it to another system and whammo! my apache/php/mysql work perfectly... Can you say portable development environment?! :)

If I was building a production server, or any other server for that matter, I would go the (sort of) build it yourself route. I say sort of, only because ./configure && make && make install can take way too much time so I always pick a distro (usually debian) that offers good package management, that way I can get a development/staging server setup in pretty much one command (assuming apache/et al weren't installed by default).

apt-get install apache2 mysql5 php5 etc ......

and you're done! Forgot to install a module for php?

apt-get install php5-json php5-pdo php5-pdo-mysql etc...



Note: I doubt I got any of the package names right, so don't go copy/pasting :)

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:29 am
by ptrpan
Thanks a lot guys!

I first went the build it yourself PITA route, and found myself in a bit of a pickle :?

But I downloaded the xampp install and everything is working fine now

Once again, I thank you very much.

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:38 am
by RobertGonzalez
What did you encounter? I am interested because I am going to be writing a step by step on how to install AMP and would like to hear what people are going through.

For the record, I have installed Apache, MySQL and PHP on Win2K, WinXP and Fedora Core Linux using the manual instructions without any incidents at all. So that makes me more eager to hear what went wrong for you.

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:58 am
by AKA Panama Jack
I think for most people the biggest problems are all of the extra modules like all of the various databases, mbstring, mhash, curl, gd library, mcrypt, zip, zlib and many others. There are so many dependencies you have to have when it comes to installing those modules it can be a pain in the butt.

You have to install each module and then compile PHP to use them. With packages like XAMPP you do not need to do any of that. You just uncomment the modules you want to have loaded in the php.ini. It makes it so much easier.

Having to do it without something like XAMPP seems to be old and archaic.

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:18 am
by RobertGonzalez
I installed Apache before any of the others. I then installed MySQL and then PHP (last). I installed each per the instructions of their manuals. When all was said and done it was really nothing more than adding three line to httpd.conf (for PHP) and removing a few comments from php.ini to load modules.

For me it wasn't that hard using the instructions from the manual.

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:15 am
by AKA Panama Jack
The problem is most Linux installs do not have any of those modules installed by default. And just uncommenting lines in the php.ini won't cut it. Especially since PHP need to be compiled with switches to enable support for some features.

I know as I have been doing this for years. :D

Heck, just try getting mcrypt installed for use with PHP. Most people would give up trying to get it working. Packages like XAMPP make things so much simpler. There really is absolutely no reason to install individual items on your own anymore unless you want or like the extra work and effort involved.

It is kind of hard to justify NOT using something like XAMPP anymore.