I have been looking into SASS on and off for a while now. I think the benefits of such a system could be great, as it will allow the use of global variables and other such features.
It will also allow me to have multiple CSS files that get compiled into one, which (as we all know) means only one HTTP request.
The problem is, we use a Red Hat Linux environment with PHP to run Joomla-based templates and I have been informed that I need to find a Ruby alternative. Also, anything that we install on the servers must be in the Red Hat repositories.
Is there any way around this for SASS? Do I have to find an alternative? And if so, what would the clever people of Stack Overflow recommend?
No, you don't need Ruby to run SASS in PHP, because PHP's own compiler for SASS is available. For this, you can download the package from https://github.com/richthegeek/phpsass.
One option is to only install Ruby/Sass on your development machine (I have a virtual box running BSD on my laptop). Compile local and push the finished CSS to your production machine.
You might also look into a Windows compiler like Scout (never used it myself): http://mhs.github.com/scout-app/
I'm in the process of switching over to developing on a Mac (woohoo, new Macbook Air) after years of Windows. My previous PHP development setup was:
WAMP
NotePad++
XDebug
TortoiseSVN and WinMerge (linked to an Unfuddle svn account)
I've just installed MAMP Pro (evaluation copy of Pro), Eclipse for PHP Developers (Version: Helios Service Release 2, Build id: 20110218-0911), and Subclipse. I'm trying to get over the "new to Mac" hump at the same time as switching dev tools. Which is making me question my setup eleventy billion times more than usual. I've read lots of StackOverflow questions and answers, googled the heck out of dev environment tutorials. What I really want to ask is "PLZ tell me what to do to get a good dev setup on my pretty new Mac!" but since that's probably not a very well-formed question, I'll try to narrow it down some. (But if you get bored reading this question, and just want to point me to a good book or tutorial, FEEL FREE!)
MAMP: OK, I think I'm fine on this one, right? It's pretty much the defacto standard, if I don't want to hammer everything together myself from what came pre-installed on my mac. I'm probably fine with dropping $60 to get MAMP Pro, as developers I know have told me the long-term convenience is worth it.
IDE: I used Eclipse for several years... but for Java development in a Windows environment. Part of me is happy to get back to a full IDE after a few years of PHP in Notepad++. But do I want Eclipse for PHP? EclipsePDT? Something else? I picked the version I have based on several StackOverflow answers mentioning that EclipsePDT didn't necessarily play well with Mac.
SVN: I took the StackOverflow hive mind advice to install Sublipse for the eclipse integrated SVN plugin. Yay, it looks like it's working, or at least I can browse my repository.
Debugging: Zend Debug comes with MAMP, right? I've never used it, but I was only semi-happy with XDebug + Notepad++ on my Windows box, as it kept locking up and requiring a Notepad++ restart multiple times a day. Will I love Zend more? Should I stick to XDebug? (Or, wait, does Zend only work with Eclipse PDT?)
Now for the actual setup questions. Given that I've got existing Unfuddle SVN repositories, what's the best way to set up my dev environment? Put the source code into the MAMP htdocs directory, and point the eclipse workspace there? (recommended by many SO answers, IIUC) Vice versa, with code into the default eclipse workspace, and point MAMP to it? A separate Projects/myProject1 directory, pointing both MAMP and Eclipse there? I'm concerned that any of these options will work for the initial setup, but that I'll get deep into the work and discover that my debugger won't work for one configuration or another, or... I dunno, something I haven't thought of yet will cause a problem I could have avoided, if only I'd known.
OSX (also the client version) already includes everything you need to develop with PHP! Oh, and it's all 64 bit :) (on Snow Leopard and Lion)
Apache 2 is included by default and can be enabled from System Preferences -> Sharing (its name is "Web Sharing", or something similar: I'm sorry but I use OSX in another language!).
PHP is installed by default too. You just need to enable it in /etc/apache2/httpd.conf: uncomment this line:
LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so
MySQL can be installed from binary packages, downloaded from: http://www.mysql.com/downloads/
The only things you need to change in the php.ini file (/etc/php.ini) are:
pdo_mysql.default_socket=/tmp/mysql.sock
mysql.default_socket = /tmp/mysql.sock
mysqli.default_socket = /tmp/mysql.sock
You need to manually set the socket location for MySQL or it won't work with PHP.
Also, remember to set a value in date.timezone.
SVN and Git are installed automatically when you install the developer tools for Lion, which can be downloaded freely from http://developer.apple.com/mac (a free registration is required).
If you need Mercurial or if you aren't on Lion (so you don't have XCode 4), download the developer tools, then an application named macports, which provides ports for thousands common UNIX tools: http://www.macports.org/ . Once MacPorts is installed, you can install the required packages with a simple command:
sudo port install subversion
sudo port install git
sudo port install mercurial
I don't use any graphical tool for these SCM, so I can't really suggest you. I prefer the old, plain command line!
Developer Tools (the package with XCode) is required also if you want to use pecl to install custom extensions (the default distribution of PHP Apple ships doesn't contain some extensions like mcrypt, gettext and intl, just to name the three most important).
Speaking about editors... The one I really prefer and love is Coda. It's not free, but it's perfect if you want to develop in PHP: http://panic.com/coda/ .
It's also integrated with SVN (but we use Mercurial so I never used that option!).
For (S)FTP, I recommend you Cyberduck, which is free (open source): http://cyberduck.ch/ . Another really good client should be Transmit, but it's not fee (it's from Panic, the same company that produces Coda): I've never tried it (I'm really happy with Cyberduck!), but I heard thousands of good opinions about it.
I'm planning to build a CMS in PHP and MySQL, mainly for my own amusement and education. (Though who knows, I may come up with something useful and cool. Anything's possible.) I'll be asking questions about code architecture etc. later. For now, I'm more interested in development tools.
So far, all my playing with code has been done on a web server, and I've edited over FTP. I was thinking it might be quicker to use a localhost. Also, that way, I could use version control (which I've never done before).
So,
A. How do I set up a localhost server with many subdomains on an Ubuntu 9.10 computer. Is XAMPP for Linux the way to go, or should I use a standard Apache distro? (Or another webserver altogether?) For that matter, is it possible to set up more than one webserver on the same computer, and to use them for different localhost subdomains?
B. How do I set up a version control thingy covering all the code (which will be on several subdomains of localhost, and in a few shared folders)? I've read Joel Spolsky's HgInt tutorial, and it makes Mercurial look good. And simple, especially if you're working on your own.
C. Should I continue to use gEdit to write HTML/CSS/JS/PHP, or is there a better free editor out there for these languages?
A. Why would you use XAMPP when installing a LAMP stack is as easy as sudo tasksel install lamp-server? You can add as many domains to the configuration as you want using VirtualHosts for example (well theoretically anyway, in practice the amount will be limited by the available resources), you don't need multiple servers for that.
B. sudo apt-get install mercurial maybe? Of course, how to create a repository and add your projects is up to you - you should read the documentation of Mercurial.
C. Use Eclipse or NetBeans if you're planning to do any serious development work.
I'd recommend against using XAMPP, particularly if you're inexperienced as this would bypass all the package management functionality integrated in Ubuntu (so you need to manually track and apply security changes, if you need extensions not in the XAMPP distro you'll need to compile from scratch, similar for most of the external admin tools which might interact with the Apache install).
Yes - you can have lots of virtual hosts on the same webserver (rcently worked somewhere with 1200 named virtual hosts on each Apache webserver - start up took about 2 seconds rather than 0.5 - but after that you'd never have known the config files were HUGE).
If you're working on your own, then this is about the only scenario where using a distributed version control system offers no benefits over concurrent version control system, and a concurrent version control system offers no benefit over a conventional version control system. But even though it offers no advantage in the technology, it may be of benefit to you to acquire specific product skills.
What editor you use is matter of personal choice. Though personally I would list gEdit in my recommendations (I'd suggest NetBeans or Zend Studio for people who like standalone IDEs, otherwise vim, Eclipse, emacs).
A php documentor is (IMHO) a must (I like phpxref) along with some sort of testing toolkit.
HTH
C.
A: I've used Xampp for Linux successfully on Ubuntu. It's not hard to setup a normal apache installation, but I like the advantage of having a "temporary" web server where the changes are easy to reverse without affecting my normal installation.
If you want subdomains, configure apache to use virtualhosts.
B: I suggest subversion, but VCS is something of a religious issue. It doesn't matter what you use particularly. Once you've made a choice, then research the usage of a VCS.
C: Netbeans is much better than gEdit. That or Eclipse would be my preference. I use Netbeans under Ubuntu myself. A full IDE though will make development much easier than a text editor. Mostly because of code completion/integrated debugger.
I think stackoverflow.com is for programming questions. You'd want to ask those server questions on serverfault.com. Then again, they'd probably ask you to google it. Give it a try.
The editor question is cool. I use Kate, just because it comes with KDE and has syntax coloring.
I mostly a .NET developer but need to do some new work in Drupal.
So I guess I need a portable
- Apache
- PHP
- MySQL
- phpMyAdmin
- Drupal codebase
What is the best way to work with the environment on a portable / thumb drive? I'm on Windows.
I want to go portable because I work on 3 to 4 different machines throughout the week.
Is there an equivalent to InstantRails but for PHP/Drupal?
Something I've used in the past is a combination of the portable XAMPP package along with DropBox.
The XAMPP package gives you all the development tools you need. Install it to your DropBox folder and keep the same development copy in sync on your 3 - 4 different machines.
You can install cygwin on your drive. It is self contained, so moving it around is simple. Then simply install the package versions of Apache, MySql and PHP. Once you got that stack up running, installing drupal is just a matter of downloading the newest version, unzip into the web root and follow instructions. PHP is a lot easier to configure than many other stacks.
Best way to get up and running on Windows is to use the [Acquia Drupal stack installer for Windows][1]. You'll have to investigate best options at that point for thumb drive use or machine syncing using Dropbox or LiveMesh. I would probably go with the syncing route rather than with portable thumb drive. I have used Portable Apps XAMP before and was impressed.
[1]: http://Acquia Drupal stack installer for Windows
I recently switch from USBWebserver, which is a completely portable stack that works really well. The only thing missing is a mail service, but I'm sure with enough tinkering, one can get one installed.
I switched to the Acquia Drupal stack simply because of its design. I work almost entirely in Drupal now, so this was ideal. Best of all, email service included. Now if I can just get it portable so I don't have separate databases on each workstation, I'll be good to go. In the meantime, I use Subversion and Dropbox to keep my files in synch. I know, it's overkill to use both, but Dropbox makes sure my "local" copies are synched in case I forget to do a commit.
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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/