Running a local instance of apache without admin rights on Mac OS X

Question

I'd like to make a portable version of apache/php to develop locally.

But the problem is about binding a port. That process requires admin rights, which I don't have on my workstation.

I'd like to compile an apache/php version which I'd transfer on my workstation and run it without any rights requirements.

I read about privbind, but in the end, you still need those damn admin rights!

Any idea about maybe some kind of virtual port mapping or whatever-may-work-without-root?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You really need root privileges to bind any port below 1024, 80 is not an exclusion. Consider using a higher port, like 8080 (or something less common).

Answer 2

You don't need to compile it yourself, get it from here: http://bitnami.org/stack/mampstack

It uses higher than 1024 port numbers by default, so it should be fine without admin privileges. Includes Apache, PHP, MySQL and phpMyAdmin.