Abhinav Sood Apache, CakePHP, MAMP

Fix HTTP 500 Internal Server Error on renaming CakePHP root directory

If you have to rename your CakePHP root folder for some reason, you might come across HTTP 500 Internal Server Error. This generally happens because of PHP opcode caching done by PHP accelerators for performance boosts.

The problem can usually be fixed by restarting your server. If not, you might have to clear the PHP opcode cache manually.

Clearing PHP opcode cache in XCache
Clearing PHP opcode cache in XCache

If you’re using MAMP (or MAMP Pro) on a Mac, which comes bundled with XCache, you can easily fix it by visiting XCache tab from server start page and using the clear button against the PHP cache. If you have a different PHP dev setup, check for other PHP accelerators like APC or eAccelerator.

This will fix your problem and your CakePHP app will continue to function normally after renaming the CakePHP root directory.

Abhinav Sood Apache, Mac OSX, MAMP

Getting Port 80 for Apache to work in MAMP or MAMP Pro

Setting Apache to use Port 80 in MAMP
Setting Apache to use Port 80 in MAMP

If you’re stuck with MAMP (or MAMP Pro) unable to use the default Apache and MySQL ports (Port 80 and Port 3306 respectively) when you change them in preferences, use the following steps to ensure that the changes you make are saved and work:

  1. Launch MAMP. Open Terminal by typing terminal into Spotlight (Command + Space).
  2. Open MAMP Preferences (Command + , ) and click on Reset MAMP Ports (Port 8888 and Port 8889 for Apache and MySQL respectively). Click on OK.
  3. Switch to the terminal. Type sudo apachectl stop to shutdown the system Apache.
  4. Restart MAMP.
  5. Open MAMP Preferences once again and click on Set to Default Apache and MySQL ports. This will set the Apache and MySQL ports to 80 and 3306 respectively.
  6. Switch to the terminal. Type sudo apachectl restart to restart Apache.
  7. Switch back to MAMP and click on Open Start Page (or go to http://localhost/MAMP/?language=English in your browser)

And you’re done.

By using Port 80 for Apache HTTP server, instead of having a URL like http://localhost:8888 you’ll have a clean URL like http://localhost

This is useful in certain cases, for example WordPress multi-site installation where you cannot create a network if “WordPress address (URL)” uses a port number other than ‘:80’, ‘:443’.

Setting preferences in MAMP usually works without a hassle but I encountered this problem, today morning. Only the default MAMP ports seemed to work, no matter what I set in the preferences. This led to a lot of wasted time and productivity. I hope this how-to guide saves you some hair and valuable time.