XAMPP 7.2.4 Virtual Host

[VikingRigger]

I'm uninstalling XAMPP in favor of a competing package for three main reasons (this is not merely an "unless you can help me", it's a "you devs will fix this before I come back to XAMPP, ever"). I'm so sick of struggling with it, that I'm just done. But if nobody ever says anything, you won't know what to fix. It's not that I wish anything bad on XAMPP, it's just that if devs are going to modify the way the server works, they ALSO have to modify the documentation that goes with it, or they're being bad and lazy devs (and not lazy in the good, efficient way).

• Lack of documentation on how to set up a virtual host correctly. It's not in the actual Apache docs, it's not in the local (modified) docs, and the information provided is outdated.
• Lack of capability to simply set up a development machine with a locally-accessible virtual host (how I keep my projects working so that they easily transfer to a live web server when it's time).
• Lack of any automated "here, click this and put in some information" kinds of things that MOST competing products now have, with regard to virtual hosts.

I made a new account this morning, just to post this, because there's no direct email to just send to the devs. I struggled less with setting up MY OWN STACK and got a virtual host running on that without any issue, in about 3 hours. But I don't like that, because if I screw up settings, I have to reinstall multiple packages instead of just one.

Way to make it secure! It's now so secure it's unusable.

[Altrea]

Bye bye forever. Your wish list will never be possible.

Lack of documentation on how to set up a virtual host correctly. It's not in the actual Apache docs, it's not in the local (modified) docs, and the information provided is outdated.

There is no single way to achieve this. Do you need a namebase vhost? an ip based? an port based?
Are all DocumentrRots inside the htdocs folder? or some? or none? So do you need access rues?
Do you want to set own log files for each vhost? or some? or none?
Do you need authentification? LDAP? SSL?

The (english) Apache Manual is pretty much well written giving examples, etc, pp. This is the resource no 1.

Personally i only use namebased vhosts with DocumentRoots outside of the htdocs, own log files and a static folder structure so i can also place files above its own DocumentRoot.
The following templace is a good base for this:

Code: Select all

# localhost vhost
<VirtualHost *:80>
    Servername localhost
    DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs"
    ErrorLog "logs/localhost-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/localhost-access.log" common
    <Directory "C:/xampp/htdocs">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes ExecCGI
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

# temp1.dev vhost
<VirtualHost *:80>
    Servername temp1.dev
    DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/vhosts/temp1.dev/htdocs"
    ErrorLog "logs/temp1.dev-error.log"
    CustomLog "logs/temp1.dev-access.log" common
    <Directory "C:/xampp/vhosts/temp1.dev/htdocs">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes ExecCGI
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Lack of capability to simply set up a development machine with a locally-accessible virtual host (how I keep my projects working so that they easily transfer to a live web server when it's time).

Easy transfer needs one very important base: The XAMPP package needs to be as close to the live host as possible. Most important the PHP version, following by the database and last but not least the Apache version.
If your host uses a Linux environment, you should use one too.

virtual hosts are another topic. It is not transparent to the user if XAMPP would be able to semi automatically set a virtual host for a present domain name. You will no longer reach the live domain if such a virtual host is created on your local system. XAMPP is meant for beginners learning the first steps with webserver software, setting up their first wordpress, writing their first PHP scripts, or whatever. It is not meant to be a full compatible environment relating to any live available server. This is impossible and needs much much more knowledge.

Lack of any automated "here, click this and put in some information" kinds of things that MOST competing products now have, with regard to virtual hosts.

I even don't know what you mean. Bitnami is providing installer apckages helping users to set up famous PHP scripts with minimal information giving. I think this is the wrong direction because each webapplication is different and needs an amount of knowledge to be able to administrate.

If you are unhappy with XAMPP, thats okay. It is not meant to be a solution for everyone. There are ways out of this. You can do it better and create the ultimate webserver stack. Or you can participate. Write your own "automation", virtualhost manager or whatever you are missing, provide it under open source, allow XAMPP to use that code and i will see if i contact the devs to include it in one of the future versions of XAMPP. Would not be the first component written by the community.

best wishes,
Altrea

[Nobbie]

I see only one reason: lack of knowledge.