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I'm a coder (I'm on a mac) and I'm using a computer that is a computer that "shouldn't be messed with". I'd like to install some command-line programs but I want to somehow be able to erase everything I did.
I know, I shouldn't be doing any of that just-in-case something does happen.
But, I'd like to do all of my work and then have it automatically completely clean everything up when I'm finished.
I'm planning to code in php, java and maybe objective-c (Apple developer toolkit). I installed another OS (dual boot) and yeah. That didn't go over very well with the manager....
If it's fairly modern machine with decent amount of RAM, you could run a virtual machine with another OS in it. This way you're for all purposes sandboxed.
You can get a virtual machine and install the OS you want to code in in it. When you're down you can delete the OS first, then uninstall the virtual machine, then you can probably do a system restore to clean it off completely. I personally use VMWare. Its pretty easy to install a new OS in it and it has good networking features.
VMWare Link http://downloads.vmware.com/
You can check out some here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_platform_virtual_machines
Has anyone just said "Live OS"?
Many applications can be installed on a USB stick, see portableapps.com. (Windows only.)
If that doesn't suit your needs, download a Ubuntu image, burn that on a CD and tell your target computer to boot from this CD. E voila, now you have a complete OS at your hand, that doesn't leave any trace on the target computer. (Make sure to save your data on a real hard drive or USB stick before shutting down the computer.)
On a Mac, since it's a Unix, you could install another OS X inside a chroot environment. However, I doubt, that it will suit your needs as to leave the original system untouched, since you seem to have to install lots of other stuff to get this running: http://www.algonet.se/~afb/mac/chroot.html (Google for OS X and chroot, perhaps there is a cleaner solution).
Finally you can use a virtual machine. Download VirtualBox, create a machine, use it, and the remove it and uninstall VirtualBox.
My best recommendation would be to use a Linux live CD and save your data onto a USB flash drive. Boot the live CD (if you can select the machine's boot device), do what you need to do, save your data, and shut down.
Some examples -- many more are out there...
Fedora
Knoppix (the "classic" liveCD distribution)
Ubuntu
What's the purpose of this machine? Is it in a state that SHOULD NEVER BE CHANGED? Or does it get changed on a regular basis, just not by you?
If it doesn't get changed, and only provides services you could look at software like DeepFreeze. It's a program that my school used to use, it basically sets up an "Image" of the disc, and everytime the computer is reboot it restores that image.
http://www.faronics.com/ <-- I think this it the site, I can't visit it because my company's firewall blocks it... hmmm
I have a flash drive with utilities, including pathman.exe and a batch file that adds the utilities to the path. Unplug the flash, log out, and they're all gone. Note that this could leave traces, e.g. in the event log or antivirus logs, or be logged by any software that's monitoring activity.
Edit:
Mac, huh? You could apply the same idea, utilities on a flash, script to put them in your path.
I get more and more trouble from running WAMP on my XP computer to solve my local development needs. It feels like as more and more things just go wrong or could not be installed at all to a Windows version of PHP.
I have been looking for an alternative and found AndLinux plus this link.
Would it be a good idea to get an Ubuntu box running virtually on my XP computer to simulate the production web server?
Yes, in case you don't want to use Linux as desktop OS running it virtually in a VM is quite practical. by using the VM's "shared folder" support you can use the same directory for local development using your Windows IDE and serving requests from the Web Server inside the VM.
In the past - ~5 ears ago or so - I used coLinux and wasn't too happy. On modern systems a small Linux VM just works well.
Regarding virtual machines:
Advantages
Isolation: Everything in the VM is completely separate from the host; no cross contamination.
Easy Testing: Most VM software have snapshot and rollback capabilities.
Mobility: If you wanted to, you could easily move the self-contained VM over to another machine.
Disadvantages
Inconvenient: File transfer between the host and guest. Using "shared folders" alleviates this somewhat.
Virtual Hardware: Not good for graphics-intensive programs or other software that relies on certain hardware features (which shouldn't be a problem in this case).
Generally speaking, the closer you can get to the production environment the better. Developing on Windows isn't wrong, per se, but you need to be able to test in an environment which matches production.
If you have the resources on your PC to do it in a VM, that will work just fine. If you don't, running it natively or using a remote server somewhere would also work.
Hope that helps!
Thanks,
Joe
I have never developed for WAMP, the hosting guy for my new client says they are using Windows servers, they can setup PHP and MySQL for me, but they cannot switch to a *nix server.
He said there are some nuances from PHP on *nix Vs. win.
So my question is, if I have never programmed PHP on win, should I go through the hassle of switching hosts (since they cannot do *nix themselves), or are the differences slight enough that it shouldn't be too big a problem for me?
(side note: the state of the clients website has no effect since it is a static all-flash site and is going to be completely rebuilt)
Thanks!
I would suggest XAMPP which is a complete LAMP package which will install on either Windows or Linux.
You can do all your development on your local machine this way.
Edit to address the actual question: Before bringing this up with the client, here are some things to consider:
What is your relationship with the client? Is this a one project deal, or do you hope to continue working for them? Either way, do you want to get a good reference from them? Are you a long established service provider with a high level of trust, or a new face who has yet to prove themselves? How would they respond if you suggest that they change? Would they mind switching web hosts?
How comfortable are you working with Windows in general? Can you can use it with moderate skill and comfort?
What is your time frame for project completion? How long would it take to find a new hosting service and get set up? How will this impact your scheduled completion?
Ultimately, if you decide to raise the issue, the client has to decide whether they want to move to a new hosting company. Some factors to consider there include:
How long have they been with this host? How good or bad is the relationship between your client and their hosting company. What contractual obligations are in place between them? Would your client have to pay to leave?
After you finish the initial development, who is going to maintain and administer the system (you or someone at the client company), and which system do they know?
Now, if you want to use Windows, I'll mention that, in addition to XAMPP, the WAMP server, which will run on just about any modern version of Windows. I used it for a class (where it was required), and then on a development system for a project at work that ultimately ran on a Linux server. Both ran Windows XP. I don't recall needing to make any changes when copying the PHP from Windows to Linux, although I did stay away from any functions which would have been platform dependent. FWIW, I found WAMP very easy to set up, administer, and use.
I'd suggest to avoid windows hosting. There is no much difference for the PHP as it already multiplatform, but windows is not an option for the public host. Less performance, less security, less operability.
Also, note that they never administer php installation, so, it will be trouble in support.
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Does anybody know an ISO image of a up-to-date Linux distribution aimed at web developers with one, some or all of the following features:
LAMP stack readily set up (Readily installed Apache 2, virtual sites directory structure (hosting), PHP installed, mySQL installed)
Ruby/RoR set up for a beginner to start with
Subversion set up for multiple repositories
Firewall configured for functioning as a web server (Port 80 open, not much else)
Python and Trac installed and integrated with Apache (Multi-environment capable)
Background:
I have a powerful new workstation and would like to set up a number of virtual machines for testing, development and version control, preferably on Linux. The machines will not be exposed to the public.
I would like to save as much installation and set up work as possible - setting up everything from the above list would cost me weeks if I'd do it alone.
Bounty
I have had to put this on the shelf for the time being due to other, more pressing projects. The suggestions made are already a brilliant list; I'm putting a bounty on the question to try and gather as much input as possible, so this can be the reference question on the issue for future generations.
I will be awarding the bounty either based on popular vote or on a whim, from what looks the best solution to me.
Seriously, I think the best thing to do is create your own. Some people for example use Redmine instead of Trac. Finding a pre-configured VM with these specific installations is going to be difficult.
So, having the "create your own" as a precondition, I believe you have the following options:
Use a a "VM Aware" distro
Ubuntu Server comes to mind: it has an option to install a minimal installation specific to VMs.
Download the server ISO image, boot from it, press F4 on the first screen and select "Install a minimal virtual machine".
Less than 380MB installed footprint
Specialized server Kernel (-virtual)
Optimised for VMWare ESX, VMWare Server and KVM Intel or AMD x86 architecture
Minimum memory 128MB
No graphical environment preloaded as it is aimed at server virtual appliance
IMHO, you're going to spend at most a day configuring your VM to your tastes, not weeks. Using apt-get is going to save you some time in almost all packages in your feature list.
...and if you want even more customization, you can even try to use vmbuilder.
vmbuilder is a script that automates
the process of creating a ready to use
VM based on Ubuntu. There is no need
for a JeOS CD image. The currently
supported hypervisors are KVM, Xen and
VMware.
Use a well known distro and "strip it down"
Install a minimal Debian system and strip down some features, or create a small live image and use it.
Use Linux From Scratch (LFS) and build a system only with essential software
This is the most difficult one and you're going to spend a lot of time.
But you'll be able to have a really small distribution and understand how a Linux system really works. Understanding how everything works you can install just what is needed in your setup, and use lighter binaries like Busybox.
There's an old project called Debian From Scratch (last update is from 2006, so I don't know if it's reliable) that aims to do the same LFS does but using Debian.
(...) is a unique distribution that
allows you to install a Debian system
with almost the same level of control
as what you would get with a Linux
From Scratch installation but with the
Debian advantages (easy to update and
maintain).
You just want a Damn Small Linux out-of-box solution
Well, you can try Damn Small Linux, it's only 50mb and Debian Based and I believe it's the most famous minimal distribution (you can check more distros in this list). I just don't know how it would perform in a Web Server Development scenario.
Final advice
To all situations above, after configuring, save your VM as a default one for future use. Or better, use snapshots, each one with minor differences you may have with your installation (beware though that controlling too many snapshots may be a little cumbersome).
"I don't want to configure my own"
If for some reason you didn't like my approaches or don't have too much time to follow my advice ("create your own VM") you can check this question on ServerFault. There's a list for a bunch of appliances from different distros.
...but if you're going to test a bunch of them, to see if they fit your needs, why not just use the time spent with them creating your own?
Icing on the cake: use Vagrant to manage your vms.
Vagrant is a tool for building and distributing virtualized
development environments.
By providing automated creation and provisioning of virtual machines
using Oracle’s VirtualBox, Vagrant provides the tools to create and
configure lightweight, reproducible, and portable virtual
environments.
This means Vagrant helps you automating a lot of things you usually do when creating a new VM (these features are from the official website):
Automated virtual machine creation using Oracle’s VirtualBox
Automated provisioning of virtual environments using Chef, Puppet, or just shell scripts!
Full SSH access to created environments
Assign a static IP to your VM, accessible from your machine
Forward ports to the host machine
Shared folders allows you to continue using your own editor
Package environments into distributable boxes
Completely tear down environment when you’re done
Easily rebuild a complete environment with a single command
I would create a vm with the same configuration (well, almost the same) as my production server, so some platform problems would not appear just when deploying.
Set up a Debian or Ubuntu Server Edition. Easy to set up, and it takes one day to install/configure everything that you listed above with tutorials, even if you are beginner, and nothing is buggy.
That's a very specific list! A quick exercising of my Google-fu leads me to Noys, which has the following software pre-installed.
Apache 2.2
MySQL 5.0
MySQL Administrator
MySQL Query Browser
PHP 5.2 with some important extensions (PDO, MySQL, PEAR)
XDebug
NetBeans 6.5
Subversion with Nautilus integration
Firefox 3.0.7 with some great extensions (Firebug, Web Developer Toolbar, Greasemonkey)
gFTP
GIMP 2.6
Any distribution with a decent package manager should take care of a lot of the grunt work for you though.
Try searching in the VMWare appliances directory. Choose 'Operating Systems' and search for 'LAMP'
I don't know of one. I would suggest building your own distribution or image. If you do, please distribute it.
You may want to try turnkeylinux. They have all the images you need from LAMP stack to ROR.
Why don't you use one of the BitNami stacks depending on the specs of the project? It seems to be a waste of resources to install everything on one VM (unless you really need everything all the time).
http://bitnami.org/stack/
Personally, I would create a VM with an Ubuntu (or Debian) server install, and just apt-get the necessary packages needed for the project. If you have problems installing a full LAMP stack have a look at the tutorials on HowToForge. Installing most projects - with standard configs - is really not that hard.
BTW "Subversion setup for multiple repositories" - you can create as much repositories as you want using svnadmin, the only thing you have to do is install subversion itself (apt-get install subversion), and configure your repo's once you created them.
There is one that I know of called Excelixis 1.0 (previously Workbench linux). Check it here:-
http://excelixis.wordpress.com/excelixis-details/
It is based on Ubuntu 8.04, and the ISO developer seems to suggest that with the next Ubuntu LTS (10.04), there could be an update for it.
It has the following preinstalled:-
Development
* GCC, G77, Sun JDK, FPC, Python
* Eclipse (+ All Callisto Repository Plugins)
* NetBeans 6
* Monodevelop
* Anjuta
* Glade
* Gambas 2
* Lazarus
* wxGlade
Web Design & Development
* Apache, PHP, MySQL Servers (XAMPP)
* Kompozer
* Bluefish
* gPHPEdit
* Cssed Editor
Development Utilities
* SVN WorkBench
* Geany
* PoEdit
* HexEditor
* ManEdit
* Umbrello UML Modeler
* regExxer (advanced search & replace tool)
Graphics
* GIMP
* Inkscape
Network
* Firefox Web Browser
* Thunderbird Mail/News Client
* Filezilla FTP Client
* Transmission Bittorrent Client
* Wireshark Packet Sniffer
* Pidgin Instant Messenger
Turnkey linux is a solution ;)
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/
As I know no bounds there, I just bugged my provider. He sent me his servers apt.list and package selection (Debian Linux). Additionally I got a stripped down Apache httpd.conf, so I could set up a near-100% emulation of my actual webserver.
That's not a turnkey solution, but quite useful if you want to test deploy things. Though I used that rarely, and ooops IIRC it was on the stolen laptop..
You may want to checkout our project, BitNami You can get either individual virtual machines or installers for Trac, LAMP, MySQL, Rails, etc. The beauty of it (apart from being free) is that you can mix and match the installers via the module system and build your perfect environment (aka "stack"). The stacks are self-contained, so when you don't need them you can simply uninstall them. You can keep multiple stacks around simultaneously and they won't interfere with each other
I'm not aware of one which specifically meets these requirements, however I have experimented with PCLinux OS bootable CDs where you can extensively customize the system after starting it up (installing direct from the internet with easy to use tools) - I'm not sure if it directly supports saving the resulting image, but if you were to run it within vmware then snapshotting the system is a no-brainer.
If you wanted to create your own image (e'g' if you needed to redistribute a natively bootable image) then I'd suggest you have a look at puppy linux - which is very easy to customize.
C.
Take a look at eBox and it's features
Am not aware of whether it is available !
Actually as per the above answers, most probably it is not available. A team can be formed to do this..
The requirement has to improvised, and team can work on that, and release it as a open source..
What do you guys feel ? ( i would be happy to be a part of that team. )
You said you were looking for virtual machines so I looked around the VMWare appliances and found two you might be interested in
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/289
Trac
Python
Subversion (Client and server components)
Apache web server
PostgreSQL
MySQL
SQLite
The underlying operating system is OpenBSD.
ruby18-base-1.8.4nb1 Ruby 1.8 based release minimum package
ruby18-subversion-1.3.0nb3 Ruby bindings for Subversion
Only thing this is missing is PHP and Ruby on Rails which shouldn't be to hard to install on your own.
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/134
Apache2 (2.0.54)
PHP (4.4.0)
MySQL (4.1.12)
PostgreSQL (8.1.2-1)
phpPgAdmin (3.5.6)
Ruby 1.8.4
Ruby on Rails (1.1.2)
They both seem to contain most but not all of what your looking for.
This last link seems to have Ruby and php but I'm not sure what else. Not going to check a torrent site a work lol.
http://www.kickasstorrents.com/ubuntu-php-ruby-on-rails-django-web-development-vmware-appliance-t3040351.html
Hope this helps
How about this one?
http://lamppix.tinowagner.com/
SuseStudio.com
Build an appliance — or your own custom Linux distro — with a few mouse clicks. Customize it to your heart's content, and share it with the world!
SUSE Studio is an online Linux image
creation tool by Novell. Users can
develop their own Linux OS, software
appliance or virtual appliance, mainly
choosing which applications and
packages they want on their "custom"
Linux and how it looks. In addition,
they can choose between openSUSE, SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Linux
Enterprise Desktop bases, GNOME and
KDE desktops, and a plethora of other
features. The user can create a fully
functional system with Firefox, 3D
graphics, and whatever apps he or she
can find installed. SUSE Studio is
what powered the fan-made "Chrome OS",
which was a semi-stripped-down system
loaded with the developers' version of
Google Chrome, Google web application
links, and OpenOffice.
Not exactly fitting your question, but maybe still what you were asking for:
You can create linux servers that perfectly fit your needs with a graphical user interface called PuPHPet.com. This let's you choose everything, from PHP version to mysql password, phpmyadmin, packages, etc.
The resulting config file can be used to setup a real server (see the page) within minutes and one click or create a local virtual machine with exactly these settings automatically via Vagrant (which is a technology that creates virtual machines from little config files that you create for example with puphpet.com).
I've written an extremely detailed tutorial on this.
Even if you are totally new to PuPHPet and Vagrant, you'll be able to setup professional (!) linux servers.
How to setup a (or multiple) server/LAMP-stack inside a virtual machine for local development with Vagrant and PuPHPet
Clinker
It touches every aspect of software development and they call themselves a Software Development Ecosystem.
It includes;
Repositories (Git + SVN)
Continous Integration (Jenkins)
Source Code Inspection (Sonar)
Repository Management (Nexus)
Project Management (Trac + Redmine)
Deployment Environment (Jelastic + Engine Yard + Heroku)
They have both a hosted solution and a free of charge installation package.
Use Puphet Gui tool its perfect for linux web developers with customization settings you can just select the packages ,it creates bundle on ur environment and u can just execute it .It creates virtual machine and install all the packages into this machine.
Handy:
https://puphpet.com/
In few months I start a project in PHP and I am hesitating to do like usual : develop on my Windows Vista 64bits machine. Since I know few things on Linux, I think it can be a good way to learn by working on a Linux distribution.
Do you think it's a good idea or not? I would run a VirtualBox with Ubuntu (on my Vista64bits). I was thinking to install XAMPP to be able to develop in PHP.
If you think it's a good idea, feel free to suggest me some tutorial about what I should know with Virtualizing an OS, or Linux/dev.
Update
I have build many website in PHP with Windows, the question is more about if it's a good way to start learning Linux by developing on it via a Virtual machine? I have 4 gigs rams, will it be smooth if I install Eclipse in the Virtual Machine? etc.
You should really develop on the same platform where you are going to deploy. I'm not saying it is bad to do differently, but it can save you some pain in the long run. OTOH, you might learn faster about platform differences that way. So, the main question is: do you want to have a production system running ASAP without much headache? Or, you want to spend some time and make some effort to learn how to develop cross-platform stuff?
And yes, there are differences. For example, case sensitive and case in-sensitive filenames. Then, some PHP functions use native C functions that have different implementation. For example, printf() does not produce the same amount of whitespace for some of the types. Resolution of time measurement (milliseconds vs microseconds) can be different, etc. Then, you have different ways filesystem permissions are handled. These are just some recent problems I've found that I can remember off the top of my head.
PHP should be the same on any platform - so where you develop shouldn't matter.
However, in my experience and observation,more sites running PHP are running on Linux than Windows.
Getting Apache and PHP setup on something like Ubuntu or Fedora is a cinch, and testing everything is pretty simple, too.
Also, when you go live with your site, what platform will it be running on? I prefer to do development on the platform it will be running on whenever possible.
Personally, I don't think that for local production you should be using a VM. Would you be running your IDE inside the VM too?
If you are aware enough of the pitfalls of moving between Windows and Linux environments (such as case sensitivity and permissions), you should have no problem developing on Windows and deploying on Linux.
Working on a Linux distribution is defnitely the easiest way to learn it. And setting up some servers and doing some dev work is an excellent start.
Virtualising Linux is also really easy. I've done it quite a few times and it's really obious. Also, going this way will ease you into using Linux, much better than just jumping in and finding out your wireless card is unsupported like I did :)
As for PHP development on Linux... I've done some PHP coding on Windows and on Linux and I can tell you there's very little difference between the two. I use Eclipse on both platforms and Apache &MySQL / XAMPP. The only major difference I've seen is that Linux is much more finicky about permissions and case.
PHP is not the same on all platforms, and until very recently the windows versions had problems which were not found in the Linux versions. Lots of useful features are *nix specific.
I would echo #Milan's sentiments about developing in the deployment environment. You learn a lot more about the deployment environment by doing so too.
On the VM issue, if you want all your Windows tools and your windows machine, setup a linux server in your VM (can have a GUI if you want, but you're going to mainly use it as a server). Set it up so that windows can view the apache install running in your VM and you use samba shares to access the vm's files like a drive in windows. That way, you develop in windows but are testing deploy / setup on a running linux server. While two devs at my shop run Ubuntu, a third needs to use Photoshop and various other bits of windows software all the time, so she uses this method of running a server in a VM but developing from windows.
Oh, and if you're running on Linux, don't use XAMPP! A few simple commands will have you up and running and you'll get a much better understanding of your deploy. XAMPP is fine, but it's for OS's that don't have Linux's package management.
while XAMPP works great, running Apache and PHP on Linux is a given; while on Windows it's something extra you have to do... and support. Also, most parts of the stack are far more optimised and mature for a POSIX environment. The database engine(s) performance is particularly sensitive to the available primitives.
Most OSS runs on windows, but it's a round peg whammed on a square hole.
On principle, I would advise against "learning by doing" in a real project - unless it it really small, or you have doen very similar projects before, so that the learning curve on project related issues would not be steep. In that case you may have ressources free for learning about the developing environment.
Generally I like the Linux environment better than Windows. Mainly because all the CLI tools you would need are provided and Bash beats cmd.ext any time. But with Cygwin I find even Windows a comfortable development environment.
Regarding PHP development I can't really see how it would be much different. Maybe there is some benefit in being forced to make the code more portable (things like line endings, forward slashes in filenames and such) if you use booth systems.
As a desktop or workstation there isn't much difference between the two. I find that the biggest differences lies in how you administer them, but hopefullt you have some other people doing that for you.
In my opinion you needn't to develop in a linux distribution.
Web Development can be done from any OS. I don't know, why you are programming for the web... as a professional? for your personal homepage?
I think, it's enough to get some free webspace running a PHP Server and to upload your files there... it doesn't take you much time and there are less things to manage.
a german student ;)
Use the OS your deployment server will be running, and it is highly probable to be linux. I have recently seen a deployment gone ultra bad cuz it was developed using wampserver and deployed on CentOS. With major differences in apache and PHP config. So know your deployment server and match it as closely as possible.
Try creating a development environment using VmWare Player. I have several Linux environments that I run on my Vista laptop. You could also just dual boot. I use Ubuntu, it is easy.
The side effect of developing inside a VM: more overhead and eventually the needs of additional tools to make the development more comfortable.
Often people need special tools for their development like Photoshop or some vector design tools not available on Linux. If the working copy of the project is inside the VM, it makes sense to have easy access to it. So you will setup SAMBA (which makes often problems with the login from XP) or setup SSL(SFTP)/FTP.
Also you must learn how to use networking with the VM (NAT, bridging, port forwarding).
On the other side, developing on another platform as the target can give some headache. I found myself often confused with .htaccess files for password protection, because oft the different path on Windows/Linux. If you forget to change this entries later on the production server, you have a problem...
A better solution: use the best of both worlds.
A VM eventually running later headless (no gui, more like a "remote server") with Ubuntu/Debian/FreeBSD) and only running the needed servers (Apache, MySQL, FTP, SSH...).
Eclipse or the other development tools on Windows/Mac.
5 years later: My opinion is to use the Linux solution. There are many advantages for using PHP in Linux. The primary reason is the level of help available from the community. PHP seems to be optimized for Linux environments as well.
There is also safety in numbers as an overwhelming number of sites are hosted and run with LAMP solutions. There are a wide range of frameworks and CMS' that run best on Linux with Apache2.
Make your life easier and start learning PHP straight away.