XAMPP

Generating new certificate in XAMPP for Windows

Posted on by hb

Since I had an older version of XAMPP for Windows installed, it was still using openssl 1.0.1e in which the heartbleed vulnerability was not yet fixed. So I installed the latest version and since the certificate in there was from 2013 I was not really sure whether it was safe or not so I decided to generate a new one. Here’s a short description how to do it.

Open a DOS prompt and navigate to the apache\bin directory in your XAMPP for Windows installation:

cd /D D:\Software\xampp\apache\bin

We’ll first define a couple of environment variables so that we do not need to provide them every time as parameter to openssl:

set OPENSSL_CONF=D:\Software\xampp\apache\conf\openssl.cnf
set RANDFILE=C:\Temp\.rnd

Now we’re ready to start. Generating a certificate involves 3 steps:

  1. Generating an RSA private key
  2. Generating a certificate sign request
  3. Generating a certificate

Note that since we are generating a self sign certificate, we can combine these 3 steps into 1 as described here.

Once the certificate is generated you can install it as shown here.

Generating an RSA private key

You can generate the key by executing the following:

D:\Software\xampp\apache\bin>openssl genrsa -out server.key 1024
Loading 'screen' into random state - done
Generating RSA private key, 1024 bit long modulus
............++++++
...........++++++
e is 65537 (0x10001)

This will create a file called server.key with a content similar to:

—–BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY—–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—–END RSA PRIVATE KEY—–

Note you can find instructions saying to use the -des3 option. Do not this will cause your key to contain a pass phrase:

D:\Software\xampp\apache\bin>openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024
Loading 'screen' into random state - done
Generating RSA private key, 1024 bit long modulus
......++++++
.........................++++++
e is 65537 (0x10001)
Enter pass phrase for server.key:
Verifying - Enter pass phrase for server.key:

Which will lead to such an error loading the key from XAMPP:

[Wed May 07 14:32:03.746107 2014] [ssl:emerg] [pid 4564:tid 252] AH02577: Init: SSLPassPhraseDialog builtin is not supported on Win32 (key file D:/Software/xampp/apache/conf/ssl.key/server.key)
[Wed May 07 14:32:03.746107 2014] [ssl:emerg] [pid 4564:tid 252] AH02311: Fatal error initialising mod_ssl, exiting. See D:/Software/xampp/apache/logs/error.log for more information
[Wed May 07 14:32:03.746107 2014] [ssl:emerg] [pid 4564:tid 252] AH02564: Failed to configure encrypted (?) private key localhost:8443:0, check D:/Software/xampp/apache/conf/ssl.key/server.key
[Wed May 07 14:32:03.746107 2014] [ssl:emerg] [pid 4564:tid 252] SSL Library Error: error:0D0680A8:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_CHECK_TLEN:wrong tag
[Wed May 07 14:32:03.746107 2014] [ssl:emerg] [pid 4564:tid 252] SSL Library Error: error:0D08303A:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_TEMPLATE_NOEXP_D2I:nested asn1 error
[Wed May 07 14:32:03.746107 2014] [ssl:emerg] [pid 4564:tid 252] SSL Library Error: error:0D0680A8:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_CHECK_TLEN:wrong tag
[Wed May 07 14:32:03.746107 2014] [ssl:emerg] [pid 4564:tid 252] SSL Library Error: error:0D07803A:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_ITEM_EX_D2I:nested asn1 error (Type=RSA)
[Wed May 07 14:32:03.746107 2014] [ssl:emerg] [pid 4564:tid 252] SSL Library Error: error:04093004:rsa routines:OLD_RSA_PRIV_DECODE:RSA lib
[Wed May 07 14:32:03.746107 2014] [ssl:emerg] [pid 4564:tid 252] SSL Library Error: error:0D0680A8:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_CHECK_TLEN:wrong tag
[Wed May 07 14:32:03.746107 2014] [ssl:emerg] [pid 4564:tid 252] SSL Library Error: error:0D07803A:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_ITEM_EX_D2I:nested asn1 error (Type=PKCS8_PRIV_KEY_INFO)
AH00016: Configuration Failed

Generating a certificate sign request

You can then use the key to generate a certificate sign request using the following command:

D:\Software\xampp\apache\bin>openssl req -nodes -new -key server.key -out server.csr
Loading 'screen' into random state - done
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:.
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
Locality Name (eg, city) []:.
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:localhost
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:.
Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR name) []:localhost
Email Address []:.

Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
to be sent with your certificate request
A challenge password []:mypassword
An optional company name []:.

You should of course use the appropriate data instead of localhost and dot (which means empty field). Also choose a different challenge password than mypassword.

This will create a file called server.csr containing something like:

—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST—–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—–END CERTIFICATE REQUEST—–

You probably do not need the -nodes option since it only applies when using openssl to generate a key using the req command. But I’d rather use it here although I do not need it than forget it when generating both the key and the certificate in a single step using the req command.

Generating a certificate

Now we need to generate the certificate using the following:

D:\Software\xampp\apache\bin>openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt
Loading 'screen' into random state - done
Signature ok
subject=/O=localhost/CN=localhost
Getting Private key

If you get such an error:

unable to write 'random state'

it means you forgot to set the second environment variables as shown in the beginning of this post.

Generating a self-signed certificate in one step

When generating a self-signed certificate you can combine this all to one step using only the req command:

D:\Software\xampp\apache\bin>openssl req -nodes -new -x509 -keyout server.key -out server.crt
Loading 'screen' into random state - done
Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
............++++++
............++++++
writing new private key to 'server.key'
-----
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:.
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
Locality Name (eg, city) []:.
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:localhost
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:.
Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR name) []:localhost
Email Address []:.

You should of course use the appropriate data instead of localhost and dot (which means empty field).

Installing the certificate

Now we just need to copy the key and the certificate to the apache installation:

D:\Software\xampp\apache\bin>copy /Y server.crt d:\Software\xampp\apache\conf\ssl.crt
        1 file(s) copied.

D:\Software\xampp\apache\bin>copy /Y server.key d:\Software\xampp\apache\conf\ssl.key
        1 file(s) copied.

After a restart of the Apache web server, your new certificate will be available.

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PHP: Errors installing composer in XAMPP on Windows

Posted on by hb

I have a XAMPP installation on a Windows machine and wanted to install Composer. After downloading it from getcomposer.org I started the installer. After the step where you have to point it to php.exe, I got many error messages along the lines:

Unable to load dynamic library '\software\xampp-portable\php\ext\php_bz2.dll'

I probably got around 20 error popups. The first thing I did was to check whether the library was in there. And it was. Only then did I notice that the path shown didn’t include the drive name. Since I had just shown the installer where php was installed, I thought that it was probably reading the path from the associated php.ini and maybe the path wasn’t complete there. And I was right:

; Directory in which the loadable extensions (modules) reside.
; http://php.net/extension-dir
; extension_dir = "./"
; On windows:
extension_dir = "\software\xampp-portable\php\ext"

After modifying it to:

extension_dir = "d:\software\xampp-portable\php\ext"

And the errors were gone !

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XAMPP vs. MAMP

Posted on by hb

I wrote some time ago a post about how to install WordPress on Mac OS X.  I used XAMPP as a basis. But currently I’m using MAMP to host wordpress. 


XAMPP and MAMP are both quite similar. Both of them are self contained so neither touches the default OS X Apache/PHP installation. Both are extremely easy to install. Neither require any command line commands to setup. So both they can safely be tested and removed. You may even install both but you may only run one of them at a time (unless you edit the httpd.conf file for either XAMPP or MAMP and change the port it listens to).


Lately, MAMP seems to get updated more regularly, looks a little more mac-like, has a Dashboard Widget and works without administrator privileges.


On the other hand, XAMPP has many extensions built-in. Also XAMPP components can be started from a GUI or from the command line. MAMP requires the use of the GUI to start/stop it but its GUI does provide a configuration UI (e.g. where the ports can be set).


Conclusion: I’d say MAMP is still the better choice for web designers or PHP programmers who just want to run WordPress or Joomla and make settings using a graphical user interface. If  extensive configuration options is a must, you should consider giving XAMPP a try.

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Install WordPress on Mac OS X

Posted on by hb

In this post, I’ll explain how to install WordPress locally on a Mac OS X machine.

First you’ll need to download the following:

XAMPP is an Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. It makes it much easier to install them. The Mac OS X package can be downloaded from here.

After downloading it, open the dmg archive and just drag the XAMPP folder to the Application folder to install it.

XAMPP will host our web folder and using the XAMPP console, we’ll be able to start/stop Apache HTTPd and MySQL.

First let’s start Apache HTTPd and MySQL:

Go to the Application folder, open the XAMPP folder and start “XAMPP Control”:

Now start both Apache and MySQL.
When starting Apache, you might be asked to authenticate. This will be required everytime you start or stop Apache.
If starting Apache fails, you’ll need to open the system preferences (Apple-Menu / System Preferences…) and choose Sharing (in Internet & Wireless) and disable Web sharing:

 
You should then be able to start the Apache web server.
If you get a message stating it wasn’t possible to start MySQL because it’s already running, you will need to either uninstall existing installations of MySQL or not have them start automatically. Here’s what I did on my system in order to do it:

ps -Af | grep sql | grep -v grep | awk '{ print $2; }' | xargs sudo kill -9

This will kill all running instances of MySQL.
Then I’ve edited /etc/hostconfig and removed the line MYSQLCOM=-YES-
Then the following:

sudo rm /usr/local/mysql
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/mysql*
sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/My*
sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/mysql*
sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/MySQL*

After that I was able to start MySQL from the XAMPP console.

WordPress

Open phpMyAdmin which is part of XAMPP: http://localhost/phpmyadmin
 

There you need to create a database in MySQL for WordPress using the following settings:

After clicking Create, the database you need for wordpress will be created.

Now you need to deploy WordPress in XAMPP:
Download WordPress from http://wordpress.org/latest.zip
Extract the file (double-click) and copy the wordpress directory to /Applications/XAMPP/htdocs:

Now you need to update the configuration of WordPress to connect to our MySQL database. Open /Applications/XAMPP/htdocs/wordpress/wp-config.php and make the following changes:

Now you just need to open the installation of WordPress by going to the following URL: http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php

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