As a web developer, I usually don't have to configure the server and concentrate on programming, so coming back to Linux after a while is always a strange experience.
I tried to configure Apache and mySQL on a standard Debian etch installation and then gave up when I heard about XAMPP which ran quite well out of the box. Did it again today on a fresh Debian 5.0. When /opt/lampp is installed and running, you can of course then get rid of other Apache, FTP, SQL versions.
I was wondering what else is there to do to optimize Debian for maximum xampp performance, like
- uninstalling unneeded packages and services
- configuring startup in text mode only
- any settings in xampp components?
- maybe some settings of "nice" to give xampp higher priority?
- anything else?
As I understand it, XAMPP is an integrated packaged webserver plus various other components with the intention to satisfy minimum requirements to get a web-based content management system up and running (CMS/forums/blog/etc) for developers to practise CMS frameworks (drupal/joomla) or just to test out their PHP coding and the like.
What you seen to be aiming at is now more optimising the setup specific to your individual requirements. Whilst I'm not going to discourage you from doing that, you may be better off in the long run learning a bit about the individual components that make up XAMPP and see about tweaking them specifically to tune a setup to what you want, rather than take a pre-packaged pre-configured setup and try to tweak this further.
Although this may involve more work, it will lead to less frustration in the long term.
Note that this isn't *really* the activities associated with a web developer - more a web administrator - so don't feel that you're expected to go through this effort as a web developer. You're only expected to attempt that route if you want to clue yourself up with skills required of a different role, in order to perform an effective function of that role.
If you DO decide this route, there are plenty of forums posts here that can help (as well as others around).