install on OS X

Yosemite 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 keep apache and php up to date on a standard OS X install.

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 which will install all sorts of odds and ends that you are likely to need now and then such as libraries for php etc.

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

Enable Apache.

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.

at the time of writing 01/09/2015  this test was passed by Safari, Firefox and Chrome.

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.

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

Test php.

Make a file in the root of your webfolder 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.

Mysql

Download your version of Mysql from the Mysql site http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/ and install it! The dmg install will put a system settings item enabling Mysql to be started/stopped. 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.