LAMP setup on a development machine: follow LAMP_setup_localhost.sh as the top-level file. Needed it for php work with WordPress. Last performed on Ubuntu 12.04 laptop. NOTE: Jekyll and Django have their own lightweight development servers.

0_LAMP_setup_localhost.sh

## apache 2
sudo apt-get install apache2
## apache2: Could not determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.0.1
## setting that up as described in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP
echo "ServerName localhost" | sudo tee /etc/apache2/conf.d/fqdn
sudo service apache2 restart
## check http://localhost/


## add php5 module
sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5
## enable the module - may already be enabled
sudo a2enmod php5
sudo service apache2 restart

## add necessary php modules
sudo apt-get install curl libcurl3 libcurl3-dev php5-curl
sudo service apache2 restart

## prevent php being desabled in user dirs;
##  NOTE: may not be an issue if different dir from "public_html" was used as above
gksudo gedit /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/php5.conf
## comment-out <IfModule mod_userdir.c>-block
##  (see http://blag.borap.net/2010/05/04/re-enabling-php-in-user-directories-in-ubuntu-10-04/)
sudo service apache2 restart

## now configure wwwuser-dir and test php as in site_in_user_dir.sh

## change php.ini to development settings: see
##  https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/master/php.ini-development
sudo cp /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini.bak-prod
## edit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini in e.g. Meld diff-viewer based on development-one
## also: increase memory_limit
sudo cp /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini.bak-dev
sudo service apache2 restart
## check http://localhost/testphp.php:
##   e.g. display_errors should be On now, new memory_limit


## MySQL (once all above is error-free and tested): follow phpmyadmin screens
sudo apt-get install mysql-server libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql phpmyadmin
sudo service apache2 restart
## test http://localhost/phpmyadmin and created login-passw

## now complete apache config edits as in apache2-conf-edits.sh

10_site_in_user_dir.sh

## change apache2-default /var/www/ to /home/user/www-apache/
sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/default /etc/apache2/sites-available/wwwuser
gksudo gedit /etc/apache2/sites-available/wwwuser
# 1. edit DocumentRoot, Directory directives
# 2. edit ErrorLog and CustomLog
# 3. change AllowOverride to "All" in at least 2 places: allows htaccess
##  htaccess note: need also to run "a2enmod rewrite", see apache2-conf-edits.sh
sudo a2dissite default && sudo a2ensite wwwuser
sudo service apache2 restart

## limit log-file growth in the new location
#sudo gedit /etc/logrotate.d/apache2
## more practical by hand after development sessions:
##  run logclear.sh (sudo) regularly from inside /home/user/www-apache/

sudo service apache2 restart

## test with some html
echo '<h1>Hi user (Apache2)</h1>' > /home/user/www-apache/index.html
## check http://localhost/

## test php5 apache2-module from this new location
echo '<?php phpinfo(); ?>' > /home/user/www-apache/testphp.php

## test htaccess
## e.g. DirectoryIndex some.html

20_logclear.sh

#!/bin/bash
## clear local apache log-files: run with sudo
service apache2 stop

mv access.log access.log.old
mv error.log error.log.old

touch access.log
touch error.log

service apache2 start

30_apache2_conf_edits.sh

## change run-user in apache
gksudo gedit /etc/apache2/envvars
##  change "APACHE_RUN_USER" and "APACHE_RUN_GROUP" from www-data
##   to user as in /home/user/www-apache/ of site_in_user_dir.sh

## then chown of /var/lock/apache2 to user and restart 
sudo service apache2 restart

## enable rewrites with htaccess
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo service apache2 restart
## verify rewrite module is in the list
sudo apache2ctl -M

## keep track of error log
tail -f  /home/user/www-apache/error.log