Setting up Apache2 – local server | MacOS Monterrey *

Requirements:

1. Basic understanding of Terminal.app and how to run command-line programs.
2. Basic understanding of web servers.
3. Basic usage of vi. You can substitute nano if you want.

Lines in bold are what you will have to type in. Replace with your short user name.

Here goes… Enjoy!

To get started, edit the Apache configuration file as root:

sudo vi /etc/apache2/httpd.conf

Sorry, but PHP is NOT included in Monterey. Apple even includes the following note at line 187 of this file:

#PHP was deprecated in macOS 11 and removed from macOS 12

All the hip web developers are using various Javascript frameworks these days anyway. But Apple still includes Perl. 😄 Supposedly, the PHP acronym stood for “People Hate Perl”. Oh well. PHP may be deprecated but Perl will soon be activated.

If you want to run Perl scripts, you will need to do the following:

Enable Perl by uncommenting line 188 changing:

#LoadModule perl_module libexec/apache2/mod_perl.so

to

LoadModule perl_module libexec/apache2/mod_perl.so

Enable personal websites by uncommenting the following at line 184:

#LoadModule userdir_module libexec/apache2/mod_userdir.so

to

LoadModule userdir_module libexec/apache2/mod_userdir.so

(See below for an important new ACL change that will be required in Monterey for personal websites.)

and do the same at line 521:

#Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

to

Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

Now save and quit.

Open the file you just enabled above with:

sudo vi /etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

and uncomment the following at line 16:

#Include /private/etc/apache2/users/*.conf

to

Include /private/etc/apache2/users/*.conf

Save and exit.

Lion and later versions no longer create personal web sites by default. If you already had a Sites folder, it should still be there. To create one manually, enter the following:

mkdir ~/Sites

echo "
My site works
" > ~/Sites/index.html.en

While you are in /etc/apache2, double-check to make sure you have a user config file. It should exist at the path: /etc/apache2/users/.conf.

That file may not exist and if you upgrade from an older version, you may still not have it. It does appear to be created when you create a new user. If that file doesn't exist, you will need to create it with:

sudo vi /etc/apache2/users/.conf

Even if the file does exist, double check the content. Use the following as the content:

<Directory "/Users//Sites/">t

AddLanguage en .en

AddHandler perl-script .pl

PerlHandler ModPerl::Registry

Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks ExecCGI

AllowOverride None

Require host localhoste

You may need to make changes to this configuration to enable things such as additional languages, access from devices other than localhost, and .htaccess file overrides.

There are new security defaults in macOS 12 “Monterey”. By default, other users have no access to another user's home directory. This includes the special “_www” user that is running the Apache web server. Run the following command to give the Apache web server access to the Sites folder in your home directory.

chmod +a "_www allow execute" ~

This will add an ACL permission to your home directory that will allow the Apache web server access to all subdirectories inside your home directory. The permissions on those subdirectories may allow, or deny, access to other users such as the _www user. If you wanted to be extra paranoid, you could change the permissions on all subdirectories (except for the “Sites” folder, obviously) to disallow any access from other users. But this User Tip is a minimal setup guide, so we will just do the minimum here.

Now you are ready to turn on Apache itself. But first, do a sanity check. Sometimes copying and pasting from an internet forum can insert invisible, invalid characters into config files. Check your configuration by running the following command in the Terminal:

apachectl configtest

If this command returns "Syntax OK" then you are ready to go. It may also print a warning saying "httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name". You could fix this by setting the ServerName directive in /etc/apache2/httpd.conf and adding a matching entry into /etc/hosts. But for a development server, you don't need to do anything. You can just ignore that warning. You can safely ignore other warnings too.

Turn on the Apache httpd service by running the following command in the Terminal:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

This command could fail with an error: “Load failed: 37: Operation already in progress”. If so, that means your web server is already running from a previous operating system version. However, you will still need to bump Apache to reload with the configuration changes you’ve just made. Use the following command:

sudo apachectl graceful

In Safari, navigate to your web site by entering the following into Safari's address bar:

http://localhost/

It should say:

It works!

Now try your user home directory by entering the following into Safari's address bar:

http://localhost/~

It should say:

My site works

Forbidden on localhost/~shortusername

inside: /etc/apache2/httpd.conf | sudo vim /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf

Looks like you need to uncomment the following:

#LoadModule userdir_module libexec/apache2/mod_userdir.so

#Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-userdir.conf

#Include /private/etc/apache2/users/*.conf

sudo vi /etc/apache2/users/spiffy.conf

Explain (Denigma)<Directory "/Users/kevin/Sites/">
  Options Indexes MultiViews
  AllowOverride None
  Require all granted
</Directory>

sudo apachectl restart

echo "print $ENV{MOD_PERL} . qq{\\n};" > ~/Sites/info.pl

http://localhost/~/info.pl

sudo apachectl graceful