XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use – just download, extract and start.

The distribution for Linux systems (tested for SuSE, RedHat, Mandrake and Debian) contains: Apache, MySQL, PHP & PEAR, Perl, ProFTPD, phpMyAdmin, OpenSSL, GD, Freetype2, libjpeg, libpng, gdbm, zlib, expat, Sablotron, libxml, Ming, Webalizer, pdf class, ncurses, mod_perl, FreeTDS, gettext, mcrypt, mhash, eAccelerator, SQLite and IMAP C-Client.

Installation XAMPP in 4 steps:

Step 1: Download XAMPP

Download the latest version of Xampp from SourceForge.

wget http://biznetnetworks.dl.sourceforge.net/project/xampp/XAMPP%20Linux/1.7.3a/xampp-linux-1.7.3a.tar.gz

Step 2: Extract XAMPP

Extract the archive using the following commands:

tar xvfz xampp-linux-1.7.3a.tar.gz -C /opt

That’s all. XAMPP is now installed below the /opt/lampp directory.

Step 3: Start XAMPP

To start it up, open a terminal and type this:

/opt/lampp/lampp start

To stop it, open a terminal and type this:

/opt/lampp/lampp stop

Step 4: Test XAMPP

That was easy but how can you check that everything really works? Just type in the following URL at your favourite web browser:

http://localhost

Step 5: Make XAMPP secure

XAMPP is not meant for production use but only for developers in a development environment. The way XAMPP is configured is to be open as possible and allowing the developer anything he/she wants. For development environments this is great but in a production environment it could be fatal.

Here a list of missing security in XAMPP:

1. The MySQL administrator (root) has no password.
2. The MySQL daemon is accessible via network.
3. ProFTPD uses the password “lampp” for user “nobody”.
4. PhpMyAdmin is accessible via network.
5. Examples are accessible via network.
6. MySQL and Apache running under the same user (nobody).

To fix most of the security weaknesses simply call the following command:

/opt/lampp/lampp security

It starts a small security check and makes your XAMPP installation quite secure. For example this protects the XAMPP demo pages by a username (‘lampp’) and password combination.

Step 6: Auto start XAMPP

Open /etc/rc.local using command

vi /etc/rc.local

Add the following line in at end of the file

/opt/lampp/lampp start

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