Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat: How to Quickly Install Apache, MySQL and PHP

If you are a web developer, then installing the Apache, MySQL and PHP stack is of paramount importance, something that becomes apparent when you look around and see how many customised LAMP and WAMP installers there are out and about at the moment.

Ubuntu comes with its own tool to make installing these three as simple as a snap of the fingers, this time in the form of its uber useful Tasksel tool, which itself is actually in integral part of the Debian installer. Basically Tasksel groups software packages by tasks and offers an easy way to install all packages needed for that particular task. In other words, basically it does the same as a conventional meta-package.

Unfortunately, since 10.04 Tasksel has been dropped from the default Ubuntu install, meaning that if you want to make use of it, you’ll first need to install it with the following command:

sudo apt-get install tasksel

Once installed, you can run the application like so:

sudo tasksel

From there it is a matter of scrolling through the menu to locate the LAMP server option, press space to select it (an asterisk will appear next to the menu option) and then a final click on OK to begin the installation process. Answer the prompts accordingly and once done, you should have a nice and shiny new installation of Apache, MySQL and PHP at your fingertips, verified by the standard “It Works!” message returned when hitting http://localhost

Nifty.