> Here’s what I know now: running WordPress locally is a nightmare. Successfully figuring it out was way harder than it should have been.
I tried XAMPP recently after a long, long time (this is on Mac). After the initial steps of creating a database (not a problem for me), the database users and modifying wp-config.php, I faced all the errors the author writes about and more, and had to search online for solutions. Updating WordPress core fails due to permission issues. Cannot install plugins or themes from the dashboard because of permission issues. Heck, even uploading media files, like photos for example, for a WordPress post requires permissions to be handled. Even the location where the site is stored has to be mounted first if you’d like to explore, modify files, etc. Don’t even get me started on the black box that is ProFTPD to configure FTP access to the site (neither the ProFTPD site nor the StackExchange Q&A sites were very helpful)!
All this would be forgivable if the documentation was adequate. But I found the XAMPP site’s documentation to be really thin and sparse. One would think that the most popular blogging engine (WordPress) would be included in the documentation. But no, they just wash their hands of by pointing to Bitnami for installing apps, and that didn’t work for me either.
I can understand the XAMPP team focusing only on the basics, but the project has been around for a very long time and should cater to what most users may be using it for.
I recall that XAMPP (and the Bitnami stack) used to be easier to work with. Or maybe my memory of it isn’t good enough.
I also tried MAMP and gave up within minutes (forget about the free trial of MAMP Pro and upgrading to it).
All in all, XAMPP was a total disappointment and a very frustrating experience. I can only deeply empathize with the author who doesn’t seem to have as much exposure to dealing with systems at a lower level as I’ve had.
Right now, I would discourage anyone from trying XAMPP and MAMP (both on Mac; I don’t know if they’re vastly better on Windows or Linux). Just go with an online host with a good control panel and stop wasting your time.