MySQL on Snow Leopard

PHP

In /etc/apache2/httpd.conf, uncomment this line:

LoadModule php5_module        libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

Restart Apache

sudo apachectl restart

Fix a warning appearing in phpinfo()

Create /etc/php.ini and make it writable

cd /etc
sudo cp php.ini.default php.ini
sudo chmod 666 php.ini

In php.ini, find this line:

;date.timezone =

Uncomment it and insert your time zone (http://php.net/manual/en/timezones.php)

date.timezone =America/Vancouver

Restart Apache

sudo apachectl restart

MySQL

Download the MySQL package for Mac OS X.5 (32 or 64 bits depending on your machine)
Install everything in the package in this order: mysql, the startup item, the preference pane.
Start MySQL in the preference pane.
Test it's working:

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql

Fix mysql.sock location in php.ini

In /etc/php.ini, replace the three occurences of /var/mysql/mysql.sock by /tmp/mysql.sock

pdo_mysql.default_socket=/tmp/mysql.sock
mysql.default_socket = /tmp/mysql.sock
mysqli.default_socket = /tmp/mysql.sock

Restart Apache

sudo apachectl restart

Extra

Activate PHP short tags

In /etc/php.ini, under Language Options, change

short_open_tag = Off

short_open_tag = On

Restart Apache

sudo apachectl restart

Feedback

Works great! Thanks.

fieg
September 21, 2009
#1

Thank you very much!

Dae
September 21, 2009
#2

Very simple, worked perfectly, thanks! One point, you can restart apache with just one command: sudo apachectl restart

Nick
September 22, 2009
#3

Thank you Nick, that's fixed :)

Jérôme Jaglale
September 22, 2009
#4

Thank you very much! Great tutorial.

Vik
September 30, 2009
#5

Awesome! Thanks for this extremely clear tutorial.

Boone
September 30, 2009
#6

Fantastic job! Easiest install tutorial seen yet, perfectly clear and concise!

zb
October 5, 2009
#7

Nice. Thanks!

Chris
October 7, 2009
#8

This is excellent! Thank you.

Tricia
October 10, 2009
#9

This is not an install! These are instructions to get the compiled and installed version on Snow Leopard started and working with PHP and MySQL. What's the difference you ask? Too much to explain here. These instructions only work on a fresh install of Snow Leopard.

ricbax
October 13, 2009
#10

Yes ricbax, a more accurate title would be "Start Apache, activate PHP and install MySQL on Snow Leopard" My apologies :)

Jérôme Jaglale
October 13, 2009
#11

Very nice. Do you have any pointers about how to get phpmyadmin working for those of us who like a graphical mysql database manager? Thanks, -Luc

Luc
October 13, 2009
#12

Good Good Good Good Good Good !!! thx

Charles
October 16, 2009
#13

Thanks! This was very helpful.

Jonah
October 19, 2009
#14

Thanks, Works great!

Johan
October 20, 2009
#15

When trying to enable the mysql prefpane I get a message that System Preferences has to restart – this because the MySQL.prefPane is a 32-bit app. Found an alternative version of the app for Snow Leopard here that solved the issue: http://www.swoon.net/site/software.html

Johan
October 20, 2009
#16

This is NOT INSTALLING ! This is ENABLING... Thanks for the misleading title.

Grb0
October 23, 2009
#17

Perfect! It's the first time that I can end with sucess. So, how to I creat an url like: marciotoledo.local/ and this open and website on folder? Thanks.

Marcio Toledo (mntoledo@gmail.com)
October 23, 2009
#18

Trying to open httpd.conf file to uncomment the php line and having trouble as it is a root file? This tutorial may help.. http://www.anujgakhar.com/2009/01/19/how-to-edit-httpdconf-on-macos/

Teej
October 24, 2009
#19

Great! Worked like a dream!

Samuel
November 5, 2009
#20

Thanks!!...i was having problems installing mysql. all got resolved

Konix
November 5, 2009
#21

thanks for being so informative! helps a lot.. also the way it's written.. So pleasant to follow! Big thanks!

Ed
November 7, 2009
#22

perfect. Thanks.

November 9, 2009
#23

Worked perfectly. Thanks

David
November 11, 2009
#24

straight to the point, really good

decarola
November 15, 2009
#25

Thanks a lot

Vasily
November 15, 2009
#26

Simple steps. Great job. Thanks a lot

Saud
November 17, 2009
#27

thanks a gig!

otsy
November 18, 2009
#28

This worked great, until I enabled short tags in my ini and then the date.timezone broke itself. anyone else having this issue?

morgan
November 20, 2009
#29

I also recommend enabling short tags; on Snow Leopard, they're off by default. I was scratching my head for nearly an hour trying to get an old script to run, but it was short tags.

Ted
December 2, 2009
#30

You are a master!!!! Thanks!!!

Alex
December 6, 2009
#31

Very well written and concise. Much appreciated :]

Jeff
December 7, 2009
#32

God bless You! Grazie mille.

Francesco
December 14, 2009
#33

Fantastic, simple guide. Seconding PHPMyAdmin help!!

Thanks
December 14, 2009
#34

My thanks as well.

Guy
December 16, 2009
#35

Great Tutorial. I transferred my PowerBook G4 account to a new MacBook Pro with the Apple Migration Assistant application in the Applications>Utlities folder (and of course a firewire cable, ethernet works too). All the files including the MySQL DB transferred without me doing anything except this tutorial. My MySQl folder from my old PowerBook G4 was called "mysql-5.0.37-osx10.4-powerpc". In the /usr/local/mysql-5.0.37-osx10.4-powerpc are all my Db's with the usernames and paswords. There was really nothing else but this tutorial to get me converted over. Dang this is a life saver tutorial!!!!

Long Time PHP MySQL user - Matt
December 19, 2009
#36

Finally a simply & straight forward guide that works. Thanks.

e
December 24, 2009
#37

It's great to be able to search the web and find such clear (and correct) instructions. Thank you!

Beth
December 26, 2009
#38

I love you! :d

djalmaaraujo
December 28, 2009
#39

perfect

romeoracz
December 28, 2009
#40

Thank you, this was exactly what I was looking for!

samspencer.com
December 31, 2009
#41

Perfect !! Thank you !

jbuchanan7
January 4, 2010
#42

Easy tutorial! Thanks! Plz add a note to change short_open_tag to On if php doesn't seem to work. I took me hours to solve that issue...

Peter Parker
January 6, 2010
#43

Wow, that worked a charm! Thanks for your clear and concise tutorial!

Paul
January 6, 2010
#44

You are wonderful!! I can't thank you enough for providing this clear, concise tutorial. Thank you, thank you.

Jane
January 20, 2010
#45

Thanks! All working nicely!

Gunther
January 27, 2010
#46

VERY Much appreciated - worked perfectly - thank you!

Jono
January 27, 2010
#47

Ditto! Gracias!

Julia
January 28, 2010
#48

Jerome, great stuff - could you please add two things for others like me, just to save them 10mins I spent fixing up afterwards?

First - it's worth putting both php.ini edits in the same block, or repeat the chmod lines etc?

Second - for those using ~/Sites/ instead of the root /Library/WebServer/Documents/ it would be worth adding the fix I found elsewhere on the web -for /etc/apache2/users/(username).conf for FollowSymlinks and Allow All?

My wordpress/php running nicely now thanks in no small part to you! Cheers.

Andrew Walker
January 30, 2010
#49

This was a great tutorial. Restores my faith in humankind!

Tommy
January 31, 2010
#50

Thank you so much for this concise and powerful article! It simplifies things for those of us who kinda know what we need to do, but don't remember the commands. I'm officially bookmarking this one!

Tyler Bird
February 8, 2010
#51

Superb! Just what is needed, with no fluff. Thank you!

Chuck McKinnon
February 10, 2010
#52

Hi,great guide. Ok I know I'm OT but i'm having this issue:
I'm behind a proxy on my college network, if i turn off the wifi and type "http://MyMacName" or "http://localhost" or "http://127.0.0.1" i got an error msg from firefox cause i'm offline. If i turn on airport and connect to the college network i got and error from the proxy "ERROR The requested URL could not be retrieved
". Really don't know what to do..I checked the hosts file but it seems ok (i should be correctly 127.0.0.1)

SAMM
February 11, 2010
#53

This is a perfect walk-through for someone who just wants to get this stuff working so they can move on with development. Thanks!

Simeon
February 11, 2010
#54

where and how do I install phpmyadmin? and anything I want to view needs to be put into the sites folder correct?

ScottNYC
February 12, 2010
#55

Hi, excellent guide! Thank you very much

NatMil
February 16, 2010
#56

Thanks for the tutorial. I found out that you can recently download a snow leopard version of mysql which is probably the same as the leopard version.

Imre
February 19, 2010
#57

Hi I have a corrupted installation of apache on snow leopard.
Anyone knows how to reinstall?
Please help

kappu
February 19, 2010
#58

Dude, you need a donation button.

Thanks!

Tom
February 20, 2010
#59

Quick tip : you need to set "short_open_tag = On" in /etc/php.ini if you want to use the short tag <? instead of <?php

I thought something was wrong until I edited my test.php page to use <?php
Now it works. I guess it's better to use the long php tags, but in case you don't it's good to know this little tip.

Some Guy
February 20, 2010
#60

Ummm...I'm a jackass...you did put a note there about the short tags...nevermind..

p.s. Great info here..thanks very much!

Some Guy
February 20, 2010
#61

Very nice - perfect instructions got me set up quickly. Thanks much!

Ray Wenderlich
March 1, 2010
#62

When I log in to http://localhost/ it states that the server cannot be found. Obviously there's something wrong with the Apache setup but I can't figure out where to look. Once that's up and running I should be able to get PHP and MySQL running... Anyone out there in the same boat?

BluemantisNY
March 2, 2010
#63