Thread: Installing MySQL on Mac?

I just bought a PHP book from Sitepoint which I plan to use to delve into the wonderful world of PHP. I have a MacBook laptop, and as OS X automatically has PHP installed, the book suggests I install MySQL as well.

Are there any advantages/disadvantages to doing this. Would this mean I can test my sites/work locally on my laptop without having to upload everything to my web host each time to test it?

Originally Posted by ButtermilkJack

Would this mean I can test my sites/work locally on my laptop without having to upload everything to my web host each time to test it?

You hit the nail on the head, that's exactly it. It really speeds up your testing


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Excellent, thanks. I'll give it bash so.

Well yes and no, it's irrelevant if you aren't going to be using databases obviously.

But that's primarily the use of Php and as such I recommend you do as the book suggests. I develop in php/mysql and use the same setup, saves so much time.

The one thing you will need to be aware of, however, is the versions of MySQL and the php extensions.

In your local environment you will have 100% control, but on a shared (or even dedicated server) you will not have the same level of control all the time.

For example, if you were using RedHat Enterprise (or a clone, such as Centos) you may find that the cutting edge versions of MySQL 4.* aren't readily / available / supported, so you may need to compromise

Excellent Point ...

Sometimes problems pop up when you backup a database using phpmyadmin that was hosted on a windows server and restore it on a linux server using a different version of phpmyadmin.

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We've had all sorts of oddities with encodings as well.. No idea what was going on - I just hear my technical support team sobbing