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PART I: Downloading and Installing XAMPP

1. Downloading XAMPP for Linux:

This tutorial is for Linux users (screen shots are from Ubuntu 10.04.) who are new to Linux and Joomla! If you are a Windows user, please refer to this other tutorial.

There are several things you need to get ready first. If you want to install it locally (what is also referred to as localhost) on your PC or portable, you need to make sure you have the right packages already installed and updated so your Linux box can work properly as a web server.

You can either make sure you have the latest versions of MySQL, PHP and Apache (using the synaptic package manager in Ubuntu), or you can just go ahead and download the latest version of XAMPP for Linux (it used to be called LAMPP by the way.) That is what we are going to do! First because it is much easier, and second because it bundles up, in a tidy way, the latest versions and patches of all the packages you need... and more!

The latest version of XAMPP for Linux can be downloaded here. As we write this, the latest version is 1.7.3a. Download the file to your Desktop so you won't have problems finding it.

2. Installing XAMPP for Linux:

When you download the file it will look like this on your desktop:

Linux xampp installer

Now, go to a shell or terminal by clicking on Applications → Accessories → Terminal and type:

cd Desktop

Press Enter and then type:

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

and press Enter, it will ask for the root password, type it in and press Enter and it will unpack and install XAMPP.

XAMPP for Linux unpacked

Notice that you do not need to use the Package Manager or anything else, just run the command. If you had any version of XAMPP previously installed, this installation will overwrite it: make sure you do not lose anything!

XAMPP is now installed below the /opt/lampp directory. To start XAMPP just type:

sudo /opt/lampp/lampp start

Starting XAMPP for Linux

Everything you need should be running just fine!

3. XAMPP for Linux basic troubleshooting:

If you get an error message about "Apache already running" or "MySQL already running", this means that another instance (a copy if you will) of Apache or MysQL was already running when you installed XAMPP. Probably because you installed and updated those packages and they are automatically starting as services when your Linux box boots. You need to stop those instances so XAMPP can start properly.

If you did not get an error and still Apache or MySQL are not starting, you might need to look into the error logs, you can do that by typing the command:

tail -2 /opt/lampp/logs/error_log

That might give you an idea of what the problem is. Feel free to check XAMPP for Linux faqs here.

You can also go and look in the forums to see if your issue has already been solved.