install on OS X

Yosemite and above native OSX install

This page is for people who want to do an OSX install without using someone else's packaging. There are some warning to bear in mind. A native install of Moodle on an OSX machine is not really suitable as an internet linked live server but it is great for testing and development. The OS X install described here is essentially the same as a Linux install and so the advice there can be applied here also Apple does not cooperate with your changes when they upgrade the OS.

Most of this work is via the cli which you can use in the ‘terminal’ application. To edit files, use nano or vi. Mostly you need to be root to edit the files so precede your editor name by sudo. e.g sudo nano /etc/apache2/httpd.conf or sudo vi /etc/apache2/httpd.conf

If you are doing any kind of development on an mac then consider an installation of XCode (You can get this from the app store) which will install all sorts of odds and ends that you are likely to need now and then such as libraries for php etc.

Apache on Mac

Since Mac OS X Yosemite , Apache and PHP come packaged with the OS, So you only need to enable PHP and install MySQL

e.g sudo nano /etc/apache2/httpd.conf

Starting Apache

Since Apache is already installed and you need to start it and test it works. Start apache via this command.

sudo apachectl start

If you want it to start on boot then issue this command

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

Test this by going to http://localhost on a browser. If you see a message saying It Works!! , then apache is working correctly

Making “Sites” work (Optional)

Mac users are used to having a Sites folder which publishes a local-users web site on http://<host url address>/~<UserName>

cd /etc/apache2/users edit <username>.conf

with these contents. Don’t forget to change <username> for your username.

<Directory "/Users/<username>/Sites/"> AllowOverride All Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks Require all granted </Directory>

Making php etc work

in /etc/apache2/httpd.conf uncomment all the following lines

LoadModule authz_core_module libexec/apache2/mod_authz_core.so

LoadModule authz_host_module libexec/apache2/mod_authz_host.so

LoadModule userdir_module libexec/apache2/mod_userdir.soLoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so

Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

Restart apache for the changes to take effect

apachectl restart

Test php.

Make a file in the root of your webfolder ( The default DocumentRoot for Mac OS X Yosemite is /Library/WebServer/Documents ) called phpinfo.php and add this content.

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Then, visit the site by url httpd://localhost/<your user name>/phpinfo.php

This should give you the well known phpinfo page. The most likely error will be a page just showing the text <?php phpinfo(); ?> which means php is not working.

php modules

To Do Template:update

Mysql

Download your version of Mysql from the Mysql site http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/ and install it! The dmg install will put allow you to start or stop the MySql server from your system preferences . If you tick the option to start on boot then it may not actually start on boot. This is an on-off issue with OSX.

If you are not running OSX server then you will probably need to install Mysql again if Apple issue an upgrade of Yosemite.

The default Apache user is "_www" and so your moodledata folder needs write permissions for the _www user.

sudo chown <username>:_www moodledata

In the finder, choose the folder and using the get info dialogue to give _www write access to the folder.

Using Homebrew

This is an easier alternative to most of the above. Homebrew is a package management tool like apt and yum which was created for OSX. Everything ends up in /usr/local or similar and when Apple do an upgrade, they shouldn't muck it up. The homebrew site is at http://brew.sh

Start with the command

 ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"