Setup & Workflow

Mac OS X Setting Up Initial Tools for a Web Developer

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About an year ago I bought a Macbook Pro Retina and completely switched from Ubuntu (older PC) to Mac. In this guide (for starters) I’ll quickly show how to install and setup various important softwares and tools that are essential for web development like apache, php, mysql, ruby, python, node, redis, mongo, git, wget via Homebrew which is a package manager for OS X. It is similar to the Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) on Debian or Ubuntu.

Installing Homebrew

Getting homebrew is easy:

Shell

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/go/install)"

Note: You need Xcode or just the Xcode command line tools (consumes lesser space) for the installation.

Installing git, htop, wget, tmux, pv

Shell

$ brew install git htop wget tmux pv

Installing MySQL

Shell

$ brew install mysql

==> Downloading https://downloads.sf.net/project/machomebrew/Bottles/mysql-5.6.1

######################################################################## 100.0%

==> Pouring mysql-5.6.10.mountain_lion.bottle.tar.gz

==> /usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.6.10/bin/mysql_install_db -verbose -user=rishabh

==> Caveats

A "/etc/my.cnf" from another install may interfere with a Homebrew-built

server starting up correctly.

To connect:

    mysql -uroot

To have launchd start mysql at login:

    ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/mysql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

Then to load mysql now:

    launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist

Or, if you don't want/need launchctl, you can just run:

    mysql.server start

==> Summary

   /usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.6.10: 9245 files, 351M

$ ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/mysql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

/Users/rishabhpugalia/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist -> /usr/local/opt/mysql/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist

$ launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist

Installing Apache

Apache is installed by default on Mac.

Installing PHP 5.4

Shell

$ brew tap homebrew/dupes

Cloning into '/usr/local/Library/Taps/homebrew-dupes'...

remote: Counting objects: 894, done.

remote: Compressing objects: 100% (488/488), done.

remote: Total 894 (delta 489), reused 797 (delta 406)

Receiving objects: 100% (894/894), 155.44 KiB | 115 KiB/s, done.

Resolving deltas: 100% (489/489), done.

Tapped 41 formula

$ brew tap josegonzalez/homebrew-php

Cloning into '/usr/local/Library/Taps/josegonzalez-php'...

remote: Counting objects: 3185, done.

remote: Compressing objects: 100% (1649/1649), done.

remote: Total 3185 (delta 1810), reused 2765 (delta 1430)

Receiving objects: 100% (3185/3185), 554.99 KiB | 84 KiB/s, done.

Resolving deltas: 100% (1810/1810), done.

Tapped 118 formula

$ brew install php54 -with-mysql

==> Downloading http://www.php.net/get/php-5.4.15.tar.bz2/from/this/mirror

Already downloaded: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/php54-5.4.15

==> ./configure -prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.15 -localstatedir=/usr/loc

==> make

==> make install

==> /usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.15/bin/pear config-set php_ini /usr/local/etc/ph

==> Caveats

To enable PHP in Apache add the following to httpd.conf and restart Apache:

    LoadModule php5_module    /usr/local/opt/php54/libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

The php.ini file can be found in:

    /usr/local/etc/php/5.4/php.ini

✩✩✩✩ PEAR ✩✩✩✩

If PEAR complains about permissions, 'fix' the default PEAR permissions and config:

    chmod -R ug+w /usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.15/lib/php

    pear config-set php_ini /usr/local/etc/php/5.4/php.ini

✩✩✩✩ Extensions ✩✩✩✩

If you are having issues with custom extension compiling, ensure that this php is

in your PATH:

    PATH="$(brew -prefix josegonzalez/php/php54)/bin:$PATH"

PHP54 Extensions will always be compiled against this PHP. Please install them

using -without-homebrew-php to enable compiling against system PHP.

==> Summary

   /usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.15: 485 files, 38M, built in 2.3 minutes

Make sure you go through the common issues here, especially the Xcode command line tools one. Make sure they’re installed else you might fall into the same trap as demonstrated here.

Adjust .bash_profile:

export PATH="$(brew -prefix php54)/bin:$PATH"

Just find LoadModule php5_module in /etc/apache2/httpd.conf and after that line (which is commented) add this:

LoadModule php5_module /usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.15/libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

Finally, change your document roots in the same file (I made mine at ~/www):

#DocumentRoot "/Library/WebServer/Documents"

DocumentRoot "/Users/rishabhpugalia/www"

and

#<Directory "/Library/WebServer/Documents">

<Directory "/Users/rishabhpugalia/www">

If you want to add vHosts then the proper way of doing it is to first uncomment this line in httpd.conf:

# Virtual Hosts

#Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

Then in the same file, add your virtual host definitions at the end, for instance like these:

# Virtual hosts added by rishabh

<VirtualHost *:80>

  DocumentRoot "/Users/rishabh/www"

  ServerName localhost

</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>

  DocumentRoot "/Users/rishabh/www/temp/public

  ServerName temp.org

</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>

  DocumentRoot "/Users/rishabh/www/temp/public/sandbox"

  ServerName s.temp.org

</VirtualHost>

If you’ve to compile a PHP extension later (after the installation) then here’s an example of how to do that – http://danbarber.me/postgresql-php-on-snow-leopard/. This post explains how to install the PostgreSQL extension for PHP.

Some extra resources on the same topic for reference –

Installing phpmyadmin

Shell

$ brew install phpmyadmin

==> Installing phpmyadmin dependency: mcrypt

==> Downloading http://sourceforge.net/projects/mcrypt/files/Libmcrypt/2.5.8/lib

######################################################################## 100.0%

==> ./configure -prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/mcrypt/2.5.8 -mandir=/usr/local/Cell

==> make install

   /usr/local/Cellar/mcrypt/2.5.8: 12 files, 348K, built in 3.5 minutes

==> Installing phpmyadmin dependency: php54-mcrypt

==> Downloading http://www.php.net/get/php-5.4.15.tar.bz2/from/this/mirror

######################################################################## 100.0%

==> /usr/local/Cellar/php54/5.4.15/bin/phpize

==> ./configure -prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/php54-mcrypt/5.4.15 -with-php-config

==> make

==> Caveats

To finish installing mcrypt for PHP 5.4:

  * /usr/local/etc/php/5.4/conf.d/ext-mcrypt.ini was created,

    do not forget to remove it upon extension removal.

  * Restart your webserver.

  * Write a PHP page that calls "phpinfo();"

  * Load it in a browser and look for the info on the mcrypt module.

  * If you see it, you have been successful!

==> Summary

   /usr/local/Cellar/php54-mcrypt/5.4.15: 3 files, 56K, built in 3.6 minutes

==> Installing phpmyadmin

==> Downloading http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/phpmyadmin/phpMyAdmin/3

######################################################################## 100.0%

==> Caveats

Note that this formula will NOT install mysql. It is not

required since you might want to get connected to a remote

database server.

Webserver configuration example (add this at the end of

your /etc/apache2/httpd.conf for instance) :

  Alias /phpmyadmin /usr/local/share/phpmyadmin

  <Directory /usr/local/share/phpmyadmin/>

    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews

    AllowOverride All

    Order allow,deny

    Allow from all

  </Directory>

Then, open http://localhost/phpmyadmin

More documentation : file:///usr/local/Cellar/phpmyadmin/3.5.7/share/phpmyadmin/Documentation.html

==> Summary

   /usr/local/Cellar/phpmyadmin/3.5.7: 1002 files, 21M, built in 5.2 minutes

As suggested above add the following piece of config snippet in your /etc/apache/httpd.conf:

Alias /phpmyadmin /usr/local/share/phpmyadmin

<Directory /usr/local/share/phpmyadmin/>

  Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews

  AllowOverride All

  Order allow,deny

  Allow from all

</Directory>

Installing Node

Shell

$ brew install node

When using homebrew to install node, NODE_PATH needs to be pointed to the correct place to find Node modules. More on NODE_PATH here. So lets do that:

Shell

export NODE_PATH="/usr/local/lib/node"

Finally, we also need to change our our $PATH to access executable files of globally installed node modules

Shell

export PATH="/usr/local/share/npm/bin:$PATH"

All these exports can go to .bash_profile.

Installing MongoDB

Shell

$ brew install mongodb

==> Downloading http://fastdl.mongodb.org/osx/mongodb-osx-x86_64-2.4.3.tgz

######################################################################## 100.0%

==> Caveats

To have launchd start mongodb at login:

    ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/mongodb/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

Then to load mongodb now:

    launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mongodb.plist

Or, if you don't want/need launchctl, you can just run:

    mongod

==> Summary

   /usr/local/Cellar/mongodb/2.4.3-x86_64: 20 files, 315M, built in 35.1 minutes

$ ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/mongodb/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

/Users/rishabhpugalia/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mongodb.plist -> /usr/local/opt/mongodb/homebrew.mxcl.mongodb.plist

$ launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mongodb.plist

Installing Redis, Ruby, Python

These are easy:

Shell

$ brew install redis ruby python3

… and follow any instructions provided at the end of installations, especially those for auto-starting redis.

Since OS X ships with ruby and python already I added this to .bash_profile so that the newly installed binaries (latest version) takes precedence:

Shell

export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"

Shell

$ ruby -version # before export

ruby 1.8.7 (2012-02-08 patchlevel 358) [universal-darwin12.0]

$ ruby -version # after export

ruby 2.0.0p0 (2013-02-24 revision 39474) [x86_64-darwin12.2.1]

Installing luajit

Shell

$ brew install luajit

$ sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/luajit /usr/bin/luajit # need symlinking for scripts with hashbangs to work

Hope that helps some of you who are a web software developer and just beginning your journey on a Macintosh.