Some instructions found under – How To: Create a local environment using MAMP do not function correctly

moving

This person appears to have been trying to ask for support in the support forums, and filed an issue instead. In any case, the questions are related to this page in the Handbook: http://drupal.org/node/66187 ...

So maybe this page should be reviewed for accuracy? I am not sure if there is a problem... anyway, putting into the Doc issue queue.

with the disclaimer that i'm not a pro in local server set-up, i do run MAMP and from reading through that, i would suspect that something went wrong with his MAMP config/install that made his root user not have proper access... (?)

this does seem more of a support request to me - and though i'm not sure about the instructions in section "d" they look like last resort type instructions...

should we try and get someone more server-admin-y to review this page?

I dont' think it would hurt to have someone review the issue and see if the instructions are wrong or incomplete.

hmmm...ok, fair nough. *thinks of who might be good for such a thing*

(a) - changing the root password

There is indeed a mistake in the handbook's instructions on how to change the MySQL root password from the command line. The provided command:

/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/mysqladmin -u root -p password

should actually read:

/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/mysqladmin -u root -p password <NEWPASSWORD>

...where <NEWPASSWORD> is what you want to change the root password to. (This matches the instructions in the MAMP FAQ, btw.) The handbook page should clearly explain here that you have to enter that command, hit "enter", and then enter the old root password (which is "root" at this point) at the "Enter password:" prompt.

(a) - "In fact, the terminal cursor did not move when I typed in the password."

No problem here. It's normal for the terminal cursor not to move while you're typing at a password prompt. I think this is to hide the length of the password from prying eyes watching over your shoulder. Spies everywhere, etc.

(b) - "'You can also use a GUI such as CocoaMySQL, just remember to use this as your Socket:
/Applications/MAMP/tmp/mysql/mysql.sock' ... The above is inoperable."

CocoaMySQL itself may indeed be inoperable, since, according to its website, the project has been abandoned. Its source code has apparently been used to created Sequel Pro. I downloaded and installed Sequel Pro. The first time I ran it, it popped up a config form at me; I entered "/Applications/MAMP/tmp/mysql/mysql.sock" in the Socket field, as the handbook decreed, and Sequel Pro connected to my Drupal database without a hitch and worked perfectly. So the handbook's OK here, though it ought to refer to Sequel Pro instead of the defunct Cocoa.

(c)

I want to know what happened to (c).

(d) I'm not certain if (d) instructions should be followed.

What the handbook says here is true - if you change the MySQL root password at the command line, some of the helper pages linked off the MAMP start page become inaccessible. Following the handbook's instructions and changing the root password in these three files fixes that. So as far as I can see, (d) should indeed be followed.

You know what I want to know? Whether Sandar ever got the help he needed.

Addendum: I have a couple of edits to suggest, in places Sandar didn't mention:

(e) Download Drupal

The file management command provided here is awkward - you need to create the target directory before you can issue the mv command, and that isn't mentioned. How about if we change the instructions to this noob-friendly flow:

1. Put the Drupal tarball directly into MAMP's htdocs dir...
mv drupal-x.x.tar.gz /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/

2. ...cd into htdocs...
cd /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/

3. ...un-tar the tarball from there...
tar -xzf drupal-x.x.tar.gz

4. ...and change the name of the folder to what you want.
mv drupal-x.x yourdrupaldir

(f) Start configuring Drupal

Now that we live in the enlightened age of Drupal 6, creating the first account is taken care of during the Drupal installation - there's no need to "go to http://localhost:8888/yourdrupaldir/ and create" it. We can lose this line.

The "if you changed your MySQL username and password, you have to update settings.php" line is unnecessary and confusing. People could easily think this line is talking about the root MySQL account, because we were just talking about that. Suggest deleting the line too. Yes, let's annihilate the whole Start Configuring Drupal section.

Zoen: Do you want to go ahead and make the edits on the page?

@zoen you are full of win, as always! @jhodgdon - zoe doesn't have the appropriate perms to edit the page, but if someone can review and give a thumbs up, i can make the edits (and get her to help if needs be) and get the page updated.

i would guess sandar didn't get the help via drupal.org at that point, but hopefully did find help somehow, being that the post is from march! with any luck, he's still watching his issue queue and will catch all this.

I too am having a similar problem.
I'm following the instructions on this page: http://drupal.org/node/66187

I managed to get this to work: "Open the terminal and type the following:
/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/mysqladmin -u root -p password" after discovering that the new password had to be appended to the end of that command.

But, the next three files where I'm supposed to change the password present numerous problems:

in the case of the first one, i drilled down into the directory, found config.inc.php, attempted to change the password and got this:
-bash: config.inc.php: command not found

in the case of the last file: "/Applications/MAMP/bin/stopMysql.sh (if you don't change this one you can have zombie mysqld's running after you thought you stopped the server)" - in terminal I get this after attempting to change the password:

"/Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
error: 'Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)' "

subsequent attempts to locate the files and modify the password for them results in:
"-bash: config.inc.php: command not found"

so, I'm with Sander, wondering if (d) can even happen?

Help?!

adding tags - need a review of zoe's docs, then can update handbook pages

I'm with ZoeN that the section "go to http://localhost:8888/yourdrupaldir/ and create" should be tossed. In fact, I'm in favor of rewriting the sections: 'Connect Drupal' & 'Start Configuring Drupal'. I may be splitting hairs here but they are one in the same. How about something like this:

Start Configuring Drupal!!
Navigate to http://localhost:8888/yourdrupaldir/install.php and fill in the installation fields using the information provided on the MAMP start page and the name you used for the database you created in step 4 as well as the username you specified in step 10.
Continue filling out the remaining fields during the installation. Refer to the INSTALL.txt for additional help.

If you changed your MySQL username and password, at any time post-installation, you will need to modify that in your local Drupal settings.php file as well.

zoe or repoman - are either of you interested in updating this if i were to give you some docs admin role?

Hey Arianek, sure that would be great. We met at DC11 a couple weeks ago. You helped me get started.

repoman - just added docs admin role for you, thanks for working on this!

ariank - Thanks for the role update. I updated the doc. Issue changed to 'fixed'

awesome - thanks!