Warning
This is a temporary workaround to use at your own risk. It will install "homebrew", a non-Apple official package manager, the only option since Apple decided to stop installing PHP by default on their OS.
The Caldera web server is not installed when there is no PHP and this is an issue with macOS Monterey and newer as Apple no longer installs PHP as part of the macOS installation.
This article explains how to install Homebrew, and PHP, and configure the Apache web server to use PHP 7.0 and the Caldera-specific folders. The instructions vary depending on the processor of your Mac: Intel processor or M1/M2.
The following items are required and installed using this article:
- Xcode
- Homebrew
- Homebrew tests (to ensure proper installation)
- Monterey-specific libraries (OpenSSL)
- Disabling MacOS built-in Apache web server
- Brew PHP
Select the tab corresponding to your processor to get the related information and download the correct httpd.conf file.
Commands are to be entered using Terminal, which can be opened from the Finder pulldown menu: /Applications/Utilities/Terminal
You can directly copy/paste the commands indicated in this article (in bold format).
1. Installing Xcode
- Installing Xcode command line tools (be patient as the download can be slow): xcode-select --install
2. Installing Homebrew
- Use the following command line: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"
Follow any additional recommended instructions at the end of the Homebrew installation which are visible at the end of the installation.
3. Test the Homebrew installation
- To test the Homebrew installation and check the version more than likely 3.3.x or newer:
eval"$(/usr/local/bin/brew shellenv)"
brew --version
brew doctor
4. Installating Monterey required libraries
brew install openssl
5. macOS built-in Apache web server
- Disable the Apache web server:
sudo apachectl stop
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist 2>/dev/null
- Install the Homebrew Apache server:
brew install httpd
- Upon completion of the installation, it should show something like this (subject to change as it is specific to the homebrew version): 🍺 /usr/local/Cellar/httpd/2.4.51: 1,660 files, 32.0MB
- Auto-start the Homebrew Apache server: brew services start httpd
- Test the server. To do that, enter in a web browser: http://localhost:8080. It should show a web page with "It works!".
- To check if the server is up: ps -aef | grep httpd
- To restart the Apache server: brew services restart httpd
- To check the error log of the Apache server, for clues on why it doesn't work: tail -f /usr/local/var/log/httpd/error_log
- Useful commands:
- Stop Apache: brew services stop httpd
- Start Apache: brew services start httpd
- Restart Apache: brew services restart httpd
- Once the Homebrew web server is operational, it can be configured. Copy the attached httpd.conf (Intel specific) to: /usr/local/etc/httpd/
6. Installing PHP version 7.0 (used by Caldera)
brew tap shivammathur/php
brew install shivammathur/php/php@7.0
- (optional) In case of date and time zone issues: open -e /opt/homebrew/etc/php/7.0/php.ini
- Now close all instances of Terminal because we need to start a brand new Terminal session. Using an existing session could cause issues related to the path.
7. Use Homebrew with PHP version 7.0
With a newly opened Terminal, copy the following commands:
- Force brew to use php version 7.0: brew unlink php & brew link --overwrite --force php@7.0
- To check if version 7.0 is now being used: php -v
Add the zshrcfile in the user directory. To do that:
- Use the command: touch .zshrc
- Edit using nano: nano .zshrc
- And add: export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/Cellar/php@7.0/7.0.33_3/bin
- Press ctrl+x to save.
- Now close Terminal and after reopening try again: php -v
8. Checking
- Check if all works correctly:
brew services stop httpd
brew services start httpd
- You can check if the Caldera web server works by entering the following information into the web browser: http://localhost. It should show:
It would require the installation of the Caldera web server. CalderaRIP V15.0 or later doesn't install the web server when it doesn't see PHP being installed:
- Mount the CalderaRIP disk image.
- Download the attached patched: patch-WebServer.diff
- In Terminal and have CalderaRIP V15.0 mounted (make sure to change the mount path accordingly as commands assume version 15.0 is being mounted)
$ mkdir /tmp/DISTRIB_TOOLS
$ cp -vr /Volumes/CALDERA_150/DISTRIB/TOOLS /tmp/DISTRIB_TOOLS
$ (cd /tmp/DISTRIB_TOOLS/TOOLS/DarwinUpdate/SCRIPTS/ && patch < _path_to_patch.diff)
$ sudo /tmp/DISTRIB_TOOLS/TOOLS/DarwinUpdate/SCRIPTS/Start18WebServer
Commands are to be entered using Terminal, which can be opened from the Finder pulldown menu: /Applications/Utilities/Terminal
You can directly copy/paste the commands indicated in this article (in bold format).
1. Installing Xcode
- Installing Xcode command line tools (be patient as the download can be slow): xcode-select --install
2. Installing Homebrew
- Use the following command line: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"
Follow any additional recommended instructions at the end of the Homebrew installation which are visible at the end of the installation.
3. Test the Homebrew installation
- To test the Homebrew installation and check the version more than likely 3.3.x or newer:
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
brew --version
brew doctor
4. Installing Monterey required libraries
brew install openssl
5. macOS built-in Apache web server
- Disable the Apache web server:
sudo apachectl stop
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.httpd.plist 2>/dev/null
- Install the Homebrew Apache server:
brew install httpd
- Upon completion of the installation, it should show something like this (subject to change as it is specific to the homebrew version): 🍺 /opt/homebrew/Cellar/httpd/2.4.51: 1,660 files, 32.0MB
- Auto-start the Homebrew Apache server: brew services start httpd
- Test the server. To do that, enter in a web browser: http://localhost:8080. It should show a web page with "It works!".
- To check if the server is up: ps -aef | grep httpd
- To restart the Apache server: brew services restart httpd
- To check the error log of the Apache server, for clues on why it doesn't work: tail -f /opt/homebrew/var/log/httpd/error_log
- Useful commands:
- Stop Apache: brew services stop httpd
- Start Apache: brew services start httpd
- Restart Apache: brew services restart httpd
- Once the Homebrew web server is operational, it can be configured. Copy the attached httpd.conf (M1/M2 specific) to: /usr/local/etc/httpd/
6. Installing PHP version 7.0 (used by Caldera)
brew tap shivammathur/php
brew install shivammathur/php/php@7.0
- (optional) In case of date and time zone issues: open -e /opt/homebrew/etc/php/7.0/php.ini
- Now close all instances of Terminal because we need to start a brand new Terminal session. Using an existing session could cause issues related to the path.
7. Use Homebrew with PHP version 7.0
With a newly opened Terminal, copy the following commands:
- Force brew to use PHP version 7.0: brew unlink php & brew link --overwrite --force php@7.0
- To check if version 7.0 is now being used: php -v
Add the zshrcfile in the user directory. To do that:
- Use the command: touch .zshrc
- Edit using nano: nano .zshrc
- And add: export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/Cellar/php@7.0/7.0.33_3/bin
- Press ctrl+x to save.
- Now close Terminal and after reopening try again: php -v
8. Checking
- Check if all works correctly:
brew services stop httpd
brew services start httpd
- You can check if the Caldera web server works by entering the following information into the web browser: http://localhost. It should show:
It would require the installation of the Caldera web server. CalderaRIP V15.0 or later doesn't install the web server when it doesn't see PHP being installed:
- Mount the CalderaRIP disk image.
- Download the attached patched: patch-WebServer.diff
- In Terminal and have CalderaRIP V15.0 mounted (make sure to change the mount path accordingly as commands assume version 15.0 is being mounted)
$ mkdir /tmp/DISTRIB_TOOLS
$ cp -vr /Volumes/CALDERA_150/DISTRIB/TOOLS /tmp/DISTRIB_TOOLS
$ (cd /tmp/DISTRIB_TOOLS/TOOLS/DarwinUpdate/SCRIPTS/ && patch < _path_to_patch.diff)
$ sudo /tmp/DISTRIB_TOOLS/TOOLS/DarwinUpdate/SCRIPTS/Start18WebServer