How do I start apache in OSX Mountain Lion / Mavericks?

Question

OSX Mountain Lion removed the GUI for web sharing, but apache is still installed.

How do I start and stop the service? How do I get the service to automatically launch on startup?

Its starts automatically, at least for me. Just type 0.0.0.0 it should be there. — Wojciech Bednarski, Aug 02 '12 at 21:51

score 77 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 01 '12 at 06:30

77

The LaunchDaemon for Apache is still there as well, so all you have to do it load it:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist

The -w makes it permanent, i.e. it'll be reloaded when you reboot.

answered Aug 01 '12 at 06:30

Gordon Davisson

34,084
5
66
70

How do you turn this off once it's started this way? – James McMahon Sep 05 '12 at 14:13
9

@JamesMcMahon: `sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist` – Gordon Davisson Sep 05 '12 at 14:14
Hmm, something is still running on localhost, I had assumed it was Apache, maybe I have something else running. – James McMahon Sep 05 '12 at 14:19
@JamesMcMahon: You can use e.g. `sudo lsof -i:80` to see what process is listening on a given port. From there, [this previous answer](http://serverfault.com/questions/285078/how-can-i-prevent-a-process-from-running-under-mac-osx-10-6/285088#285088) might help you track it down... – Gordon Davisson Sep 05 '12 at 14:58

slifty · Answer 2 · 2012-08-05T22:38:55.360

35

Terminal Commands

Starting: "sudo apachectl start"

Stopping: "sudo apachectl stop"

Restarting: "sudo apachectl restart"

Launching on Startup

(See the marked answer in this thread)

edited Aug 05 '12 at 22:38

answered Jul 30 '12 at 19:46

slifty

1,569
1
13
18

Is there an equivalent ShutdownItems dir? Don't have OSX in front of me at the moment... – Rich Homolka Jul 30 '12 at 20:33
There used to be /etc/rc.shutdown.local -- not sure if that is still around... – slifty Jul 30 '12 at 20:37

Lri · Answer 3 · 2012-10-14T02:02:47.510

12

sudo apachectl start also enables the launchd daemon. It overrides the Disabled key in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist by modifying /private/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist, just like launchctl load -w.

For http://localhost/~username/ to work, you have to create /etc/apache2/users/username.conf and add a <Directory> directive like this:

<Directory "/Users/username/Sites/">
Options Indexes MultiViews
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

edited Oct 14 '12 at 02:02

answered Aug 11 '12 at 08:56

Lri

40,894
7
119
157

1

I found a really great writeup of this, here. Also covers php module enablation. http://coolestguyplanettech.com/downtown/install-and-configure-apache-mysql-php-and-phpmyadmin-osx-108-mountain-lion – Peter Ehrlich Oct 13 '12 at 19:35

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 26 '12 at 23:46

Slifty and Lauri hint at an important concept without clearly saying it.

"sudo apachectl start" will not only start apache but will also modify /private/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist so that apache will automatically restart each time the system is rebooted.

Similarly, "sudo apachectl stop" will stop apache and modify the above file so that apache won't start when the system is rebooted.

This seems to be the simplest way to control whether the service starts automatically.

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 05 '12 at 14:32

3

For those in search of a GUI, Click On Tyler has developed a control panel app, http://clickontyler.com/blog/2012/02/web-sharing-mountain-lion/

GUI sample

answered Sep 05 '12 at 14:32

James McMahon

3,438
9
36
36

Nice widget.. however in my system something went wrong and apache is not starting..:( – Dilip Rajkumar Oct 14 '12 at 05:20
Same here. Seems to be a little bit sloppy coded - good old confusion about the .pid-file I guess ...zzz – conny Nov 02 '12 at 12:14
This is cool.. But outdated, doesn't work on Yosemite. How do we remove this from our settings pane? – emotality Feb 21 '15 at 23:37
To Delete: `~/Library/PreferencePanes` – emotality Feb 21 '15 at 23:38
Sorry, this is no longer available, or became part of a commercial product that you can only download complete - not just the preference panel. Any alternatives? – Motti Shneor Nov 16 '16 at 08:48
Honestly better to use `ngnix` at this point. – James McMahon Nov 20 '16 at 01:57

Danny Swarzman · Answer 6 · 2013-01-02T21:37:35.560

1

This preference pane has the links for computer site folder and to open a browser : http://stowlake.com/WebServer

edited Jan 02 '13 at 21:37

answered Dec 26 '12 at 21:54

Danny Swarzman

19
2

This rather ugly UI's preference panel crashes immediately as you try to start the web-server on both OS-X 10.11 and 10.12. Crash-logs available at your request ;) – Motti Shneor Nov 16 '16 at 08:53

How do I start apache in OSX Mountain Lion / Mavericks?

6 Answers6

Linked