Upgrading From Xampplite For This Book

[Necuima]

Hi,

 

I have just bought this book and would like to use current versions of PHP, MySQL etc.

 

My current localhost environment is via XAMPPLITE 1.7.3 which has been stable and met all my needs so far.

 

XAMPPLITE 1.7.3 comprises:

.. Apache 2.2.14

.. PHP 5.3.1

.. MySQL 5.1.41

.. PHPMyadmin 3.2.4

 

But I am tempted to upgrade to more current versions of the localhost environment.

 

Can you recommend either WAMP or the full XAMPP or BitNami?

 

As I have data in current MySQL database tables, will I need to do anything special (apart from backups) to make sure I don't lose them?

 

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

Cheers from Oz, Necuima.

[Larry]

What operating system are you using?

 

As for your databases, make sure you back them up before you do anything. If you install a XAMPP over XAMPP Lite, it may overwrite the databases (may, I'm not positive). If you switch from XAMPP Lite to Bitnami, for example, you'll have to reimport the databases there.

[Necuima]

Hi Larry,

 

Sorry, I should have included the following:

 

My  current environment is:
. Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
. Internet Explorer 10
. Firefox 22.0
. Dreamweaver CS5  as the text editor
. Xampplite 1.7.3 which comprises:
.. Apache 2.2.14
.. PHP 5.3.1
.. MySQL 5.1.41
.. PHPMyadmin 3.2.4

 

WAMP seems to offer both 32 bit and 64 bit options but Bitnami seems to offer easy options to add say Wordpress. etc..  XAMPP seems to offer an included upgrade facility.

 

I am a bit unclear as to Apache and MySQL which I understand run as services. Will these need to be uninstalled first before installing the newer versions?

 

Again, I'll appreciate any advice and I'm looking forward to doing the exercises in my new book :-)

 

Cheers from Oz, Necuima.

[Larry]

Offhand, I don't know how XAMPP Lite installs these things, although it'd kind of surprise me if they were installed as services. My inclination would be to:

 

1. Choose a new solution.

2. Back up your databases (export the SQL).

3. Back up your computer (if you're not doing that already!).

4. Uninstall XAMPP Lite (I hope it has an installer).

5. Install the new solution.

6. Import the databases.

[Necuima]

Hi Larry,

 

Thanks for the guidance - I will follow it.

 

Rest assured that I do comprehensive backups of my whole system regularly!

 

For my critical databases, I have implemented your database backup and restore routines as per your PHP 5 ADVANCED book Chapter 10.

 

I am leaning towards the full XAMPP to replace my current XAMPPLite. This will give me the latest versions of PHP, MySQL, etc. so will set me up for the exercises in the new book.

 

Cheers from Oz.

[Necuima]

Hi Larry,

 

By way of closure on this topic, and of possible interest to other forum users, in the end I chose XAMPP.

 

XAMPPlite did have an uninstall procedure which I used after backing up all my data and databases.

 

The XAMPP 1.8.3 installation went fairly well though I did have an initial problem with port conflicts with Skype.

 

So now my configuration is:

 

. Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

. Internet Explorer 10

. Firefox 22.0

. Dreamweaver CS5 as the text editor

. XAMPP for Windows 1.8.3 which comprises:

.. Apache 2.4.4

.. PHP 5.5.3

.. MySQL 5.6.11

.. phpMyAdmin 4.0.4

.. and others

 

For MySQL administration I use a free utility called HeidiSQL. It has a database export and import capability and that is what I used. I also used it set the MySQL GRANTs, though Apache provided the facility to set the initial root password.

 

Apache and MySQL both run as Windows services, so the uninstall procedure for the 'lite' involved first stopping both Apache and MySQL and then de-selecting them as services. The reverse was then required with XAMPP.

 

All in all not too painful though it took me a little while to figure out how to run the new phpinfo. Regarding php.ini, I changed the timezone to my local values but do I also need to change the latitude and longitude values?

 

Now I can turn to the new book :-)

 

Thanks again for the advice.

 

Best wishes, Necuima.

[Larry]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad you've got it up and running. As for the php.ini, I've never changed my latitude and longitude values in it. Not even sure what that does!