🚀 XAMPP Essentials for Web Frontend local dev & testing

🎯 Purpose

XAMPP is a cross-platform package bundling Apache, MariaDB/MySQL, PHP, and Perl, designed to quickly set up a web local development environment.

🌱 Origin

XAMPP was released on September 2002 by the non-profit project Apache Friends. The name is an acronym for it´s components: X (Cross-platform), A (Apache), M (MariaDB), P (PHP), and P (Perl).

🧠 Essentials

🛠 XAMPP Key Components

• Apache – Web server
  • Default Port: 80 (HTTP) / 443 (HTTPS)
  • Browser Access: http://localhost/project-name
• MariaDB/MySQL – Database
  • Default Port: 3306
  • Browser Access: http://localhost/phpmyadmin
• PHP & PhpMyAdmin – Server-side scripting & DB management UI
• Perl – Perl Interpreter

🔁 Workflow

• Install
• Start services
• Place files in htdocs
• Test in browser
• Manage DB in phpMyAdmin
• Adjust config if needed.

⚙️ Linux Installation

# Download linux installer "xampp-linux-x64-<version>-installer.run" from official website: https://www.apachefriends.org/download.html
sudo chmod +x xampp-linux-x64-<version>-installer.run
sudo ./xampp-linux-x64-<version>-installer.run

# Optional
# Avoid sudo for edits during development
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /opt/lampp/htdocs
# Firewall config to open HTTP/HTTPS for remote access
sudo ufw status verbose # check status
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp # Allow HTTP
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp # Allow HTTPS

▶️ Linux Basic Commands

sudo /opt/lampp/manager-linux-x64.run # Open XAMPP GUI
sudo /opt/lampp/lampp start           # Start all services
sudo /opt/lampp/lampp stop            # Stop all services
sudo /opt/lampp/lampp restart         # Restart all

📂 Linux Key Paths

• XAMPP root: /opt/lampp/
• htdocs (web root): /opt/lampp/htdocs/
• php.ini: /opt/lampp/etc/php.ini
• Apache config: /opt/lampp/etc/httpd.conf
• Virtual hosts config: /opt/lampp/etc/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
• MariaDB config: /opt/lampp/etc/my.cnf
• Error logs: /opt/lampp/logs/error_log

🧪 Quick Test

Create file info.php in /opt/lampp/htdocs/ with following content:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Visit: http://localhost/info.php

🛡 Common Tips

• Run XAMPP as non-root in dev environments only.
• Change default MySQL root password in phpMyAdmin for security.
• Use virtual hosts for multiple projects:
• Restart Apache after config changes.

🧰 Troubleshooting

• Port 80 in use? Change Apache port in httpd.conf.
• MySQL not starting? Check /opt/lampp/var/mysql/*.err.