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Installing a MAMP on Mac OS X

At the time of writing, probably the best MAMP solution is called simply MAMP. You can download it from http://mamp.info/en/download.html. The program comes in two flavors: regular and pro. The pro version is a commercial product that you might want to look at in the future, especially as it comes bundled with the regular version.

If you have trouble accessing the http://mamp.info website, you may wish to download the installer from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=121134. The latest version (currently 1.7.2) will show by default, but for previous ones (such as 1.4.1), just click on the link entitled “mamp” under the “Package” Heading to see them all.

If you have OS X 10.4 or greater, you can download the latest version of MAMP, which will be 1.7.2 or higher. For Mac OS X 10.3, you’ll need to download the correct version for that OS, which is likely to be 1.4.1 or similar (see Figure 2-7).

Figure 2-7. Select the correct MAMP version and download it

The downloaded file will have a filename such as MAMP_1.7.2.dmg.zip for version 1.7.2 or MAMP_1.4.1_universal.dmg.zip for the universal installer, and so on. You need to unzip the file using StuffIt Expander (or a similar product) to create a disk image with a name similar to MAMP_1.7.2.dmg or MAMP_1.4.1_universal.dmg, and double-click that image to mount it as a drive on your desktop.

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