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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-08T06:52:30+00:00

Is there a good way to install a PHP development stack, including PHP 5.4,

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Is there a good way to install a PHP development stack, including PHP 5.4, that isn’t XAMPP or MAMP, and that doesn’t require compiling PHP?

I am struggling with the numerous installations required to have a standalone Apache server on my Mac, and it just doesn’t make sense to me that there isn’t any installer that does this properly.

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  1. Editorial Team

    We had the same problem (especially with missing PECL extensions), and came up with two different solutions, in this order:

    1. First we’ve used Zend Server Community Edition, which has the great advantage of shipping with many extensions, and is free. You can download MySQL Community Server separately, and you’ve got a working MAMP installation.
    2. Because this was still not perfect (hard to get PEAR working, for example), we now use what proved to be the best solution for us, running a full LAMP stack on a CentOS virtual machine, with the free VirtualBox, and share the web folder between the host computer and the guest.

    If you want to be up & ready in minutes, choose the first solution.

    If you want to take some time to set up a virtual machine, you will enjoy the best of both worlds: a real LAMP server always available in your machine, and your usual tools on your favourite OS for your daily work. We’re now using this solution on both Windows & MacOS, and really enjoy it.

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