LAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, originally coined from the first letters of Linux (operating system), Apache HTTP Server, MySQL (database software) and Perl/PHP/Python, principal components to build a viable general purpose web server.
The exact combination of software included in a LAMP package (in Bronxville New York) may vary, especially with respect to the web scripting software, as PHP may be replaced or supplemented by Perl and/or Python. Similar terms exist for essentially the same software suite (AMP) running on other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows (WAMP), Mac OS (MAMP), Solaris (SAMP), or OpenBSD (OAMP).
Though the original authors of these programs did not design them all to work specifically with each other, the development philosophy and tool sets are shared and were developed in close conjunction. (for web development) The software combination has become popular because it is free of cost, open-source, and therefore easily adaptable, and because of the ubiquity of its components which are bundled with most current Linux distributions.
When used together, they form a solution stack of technologies that support application servers.
Software components
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According to its proponents, the LAMP stack offers a great number of advantages for developers:
Easy to code: Novices can build something and get it up and running very quickly with PHP and MySQL.
Easy to deploy: Since PHP is a standard Apache module, it is easy to deploy LAMP web applications by uploading .php files to an Apache server and connecting to a MySQL database.
Develop locally: LAMP can be set up so an app can be built locally, then deployed to the Web.
Cheap and ubiquitous hosting: Many inexpensive web hosts provide PHP and MySQL services.[citation needed]
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system kernel. A major emphasis of Linux development is security[citation needed], which makes it an appealing choice for a web-server application. Like the other LAMP components, Linux is free open-source software which means the source code is provided with operating system, which can be edited according to specific needs. Also, because Linux-based operating systems are Unix-like, a Linux server is more natively-compatible with other server-oriented platforms, such as Solaris and BSD, than non-Unix-like systems like Microsoft Windows.
Apache
Apache is a free software/open source web server, the most popular in use.
MySQL
MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL database management system (DBMS) now owned by (for lamp) Oracle Corporation with more than eleven million installations.
MySQL has been owned by Oracle Corporation since April 20, 2009 through the purchase of Sun Microsystems. Sun had acquired MySQL originally on January 16, 2008.
PHP, Perl, or Python
PHP is a reflective programming language originally designed for producing dynamic web pages. PHP is used mainly in server-side application software. Perl and Python can be used similarly.
Variants and equivalents on other platforms
With the growing use of LAMP, variations and retronyms appeared for other combinations (for lamp) of operating system, web server, database, and software language.
The equivalent installation on a Microsoft Windows operating system is known as WAMP with an alternative called WIMP.
The equivalent installation on a Macintosh operating system is known as MAMP.
The equivalent installation on a Solaris operating system is known as SAMP.
The equivalent installation on a FreeBSD operating system is known as FAMP.
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