I've not dodwnloaded or used Moodle before. A downloaded XAMPP (should I have downloaded MAMP? - couldn't see any advice on this), opened it in Applications, clicked XAMMP, was invited to start Apache, MySqL and FTP. But for "Start Apache" I get an error message "XAMPP's Apache cannot start while another webserver is using port 80. Please turn it off and try again". I have no idea what this means / how to "turn it off" etc. have searched the forum but can't find any help on this; any help would be very welcome.
Hi Joan O'Hagan
Please go to Activity monitor application in your mac and you will see a long list of all your application which are running under process name columm first quit the process with name httpd and user besides is root after that quit all httpd process which has user nobody. After quiting all process you can restart your apache it will work.
Hi Sakshi, thanks for very quick reply. Went to Activity Monitor and ProcessNameColumn but can't see any process with name httpd. . . .I think I may be misunderstanding what you're saying about the httpd thing. . . .
Hi Joan
This happens several times with me too. Here is the screenshot which i am talking about.
Thanks for this screenshot; but I must still be misunderstanding; I don't see a screen like this when I follow your instructions. I don't see any screen with httpd. . . . .
Hi Joan,
As you are working on a Mac, make sure you download your package from here:
Thanks Guillermo, this is where I downloaded from. But I couldn't see any advice about whether to download the XAMPP or the MAMP versions. They're presumably different packages but I didn't see any information on the differences. . . .? I chose the XAMPP, and this is the one I've having trouble with.
Hi Joan,
Basically both work fine:
XAMPP = linuX Apache Mysql Php Perl
MAMP = Mac Apache Mysql Php
Apache is a Web Server, it receives page requests, processes and delivers them. So when you go to moodle.org for example, the web server receives your request, prepares the page and sends it back to your browser. As http requests are usually done through port 80, Web servers are then configured to "listen" to that port.
MySQL is a Data Server; it receives data requests, processes and delivers them. So if you go to a flight travel site and ask to see what flights are available for a particular day, the data server would then receive your request, search through the database (a collection of tables) and then deliver back the set of records found, if any.
PHP is a scripting language used, mainly for web development.
Perl is another scripting language.
The problem is not in the package you dowloaded and installed. The problem is that you have another application (another webserver) already "listening" to port 80. This is because OSX already includes an Apache server and it is already running.
To stop it: sudo apachectl stop
To disable it: sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist
Once you have done that, then you can start XAMPP.
By the way, I wouldn't see necessary for you to start the XAMPP FTP service.
To learn more: Install Packages for Mac OS X.
--- reference
http://www.apachefriends.org/f/viewtopic.php?p=194138&sid=87d07e8d72a9b195568bf9e3a3ba7fc0#p194138
Mac's come with apache pre-loaded. Uses apache version 1.3.x for it's 'web sharing'. While good to know one can use command line to kill it and set it so it doesn't launch on startup/bootup, easier way is to use System Preferences. Sharing. Un-check 'web sharing'. Save. Turning off should also shut down the process, but, if it doesn't, one can use the Activity Monitor to select the process and 'Force Quit'.
'spirit of sharing', Ken