porting all data from an installation to another a+ platform

[matteosistisette]

Hi,

Is there a way to "export" or "copy" all the data (configurations, htdocs folder and, most importantly, all databases with users and privileges and of course data) from a running installation of xampp, and then "import" it into another one on another computer possibly on another platform (e.g. from a Mac installation to a Windows one or vice versa)?

Thanks in advance
m.

[JonB]

Answer -

Sure - its 'possible'. That's what's in all those configration files.

Is it a GOOD idea?

Nooooo - each OS platform works differently -

Short, but accurate version -
Primary problem is that Windows and *nix versions of Apache (and thus PHP) work very differently at an excutable level. So the 'right settings' for a Windows install will not be good choices for a Mac (which is really Unix) or Linux box. Reason - Apache and PHp are co-compiled in OS and compiler dependent variations.

Are a few things worth 'keeping' - yes - if you have added to or modified PHP to add functions or extensions - you will need to know wht they are so you can enable the correct versions in the target OS. Some things won't translate, but most will. The OS's also have very different TCP/IP stacks - so tuning that part is different as well. Summing up - the php.ini, although it will be different, will have the same extensions and PHP options enabled. BTW - Perl (speaking of Perl Modules) is much less OS dependent, because it does not rely (as much) on the Apache compilation.

hope this helps..

Good Luck

[matteosistisette]

Hi,

Thanks a lot. Indeed what I really need to copy is the http_docs directory (which I can simply copy as is, ar almost, so that is already solved) and all the data bases with its data, users and privileges. I know how to export and import a data base's content with phpMyAdmin, but is there a quick way to export and import all the data bases and all the users and privileges?

thanks again
m.