There are three main ways to build a PHP development environment on your Mac: use Homebrew to install PHP, configure Apache or Nginx to run PHP, or use integrated tools such as MAMP and Laragon. First, use Homebrew to execute brew install php or the specified version to install it. If it is a non-main version, you need to manually link it; secondly, you can enable the system's own Apache and modify the configuration file to support PHP modules, or configure Nginx to handle requests in combination with php-fpm, pay attention to checking permissions and path issues; finally, MAMP and Laragon provide a one-click integrated environment for graphical interfaces, suitable for beginners, eliminating the steps of manually configuring dependencies. You can complete the construction by choosing the right method according to your technical capabilities and needs.

It is actually not difficult to build a PHP development environment on your Mac. You can choose from a variety of ways to complete it, such as using Homebrew to build it, or directly using integrated environment tools. Here are some practical methods and precautions.

Install PHP with Homebrew is the most convenient

Homebrew is the most commonly used package management tool on Mac, and installing PHP is very easy. First make sure you have installed Homebrew. If not, you can check the installation commands on the official website.

The steps to install PHP are as follows:

• Run brew install php to install the latest version of PHP
• If you need a specific version (such as PHP 8.1), you can use brew install php@8.1
• After the installation is completed, execute php -v to see if the installation is successful

It should be noted that different versions of PHP may not automatically link to the system path. If the installation is a non-main version (such as php@8.1), you need to manually execute brew link --force --overwrite php@8.1 .

Configure Apache or Nginx to run PHP

By default, macOS comes with Apache, but PHP support is not enabled. You can configure it in the following ways:

• Start Apache: sudo apachectl start
• Modify the Apache configuration file /etc/apache2/httpd.conf , remove the comments before LoadModule php_module , or add module loading statements
• Restart Apache: sudo apachectl restart

If you are using Nginx, you need to configure php-fpm . This service will usually be brought with you after PHP is installed. The way to start it is:

• sudo brew services start php
• Then configure Nginx to forward the request to the socket or port of php-fpm

The error-prone parts of this step are permission issues and path errors. It is recommended to check the log file /var/log/apache2/error_log or Nginx log.

Using MAMP or Laragon is easier

If you don't want to mess with the command line, MAMP is a graphical tool that integrates Apache, MySQL and PHP, and starts with one click. Suitable for new friends.

Laragon is another lightweight tool. Although native to Windows, it also has an experimental version of macOS. Its advantages are fast speed, flexible configuration, and support for multi-project management.

The advantage of these tools is that they do not need to manually configure the dependencies between various services, and upgrades are also more convenient.

Basically these methods. You can choose the right method according to your technical level and needs. Using Homebrew is more free but also more "technical", and using tools like MAMP is faster. What is not complicated but easy to ignore is the path setting and service startup sequence. Be careful not to miss these details.

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