Thanks. This is a great ressource. There were other issues at hand here and I will post the solutions for the benefit of others.
I’m on Mac OS X and all of ModX required stuff were pre-installed by Apple, except for MySQl and ImageMagick. However, php must be enabled first. To enable php, see:
http://foundationphp.com/tutorials/php_leopard.php
You can use MAMP or XAMPP. I decided to go the hard way and do it manually.
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Overview:
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1- Apple installs a lot of server tools, but doesn’t activate them by default.
2- You have to enable php (fairly easy).
3- You must activate your Apache server manually (easy).
4- Don’t forget to activate your MySql server.
5- Set your timezone in php (fairly easy)
6- Give php write access to your modx folder (easy, but beware of the security risk).
7- Proceed with the Modx install instructions. Read the advanced install instruction even if you only plan on doing the standard install.
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Detailed instructions:
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1- Activate your Web server by going in the Advanced options of the Firewall tab in the security preference catagory of the System Preferences.
2- Uncheck the "Block all incoming connections" checkmark. This will activate your Apache server. Don’t forget to lock your System preference pane when done by clicking on the lock.
3- Activate the MySQL server using the MySQL preference pane tool.
4- Unzip the Modx zip in /Library/WebServer/Documents
This is not the ideal location, but it works. See the advanced installation instructions for more details on how to make a more secure installation for a computer actually connected to the internet (I’m just playing with Modx).
I unziped Modx in a folder called "modx". See the advanced installation instructions on how to choose a better name.
5- In your browser, go to: http://localhost/modx/setup/
6- If you get this error message:
"[...]To use PHP 5.3.0+, you must set the date.timezone setting in your php.ini. Please do set it to a proper timezone before proceeding.[...]"
Do this to set your PHP timezone:
6.1- Refer to this web site to get your timezone:
http://us.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php
6.2- Create a file in TextWrangler, call it setTZ.php
6.3- Supposing that your time zone is "America/New_York", copy-paste this php script in the file and save it in: /Library/WebServer/Documents
<?php
date_default_timezone_set(’America/New_York’);
$script_tz = date_default_timezone_get();
if (strcmp($script_tz, ini_get(’date.timezone’))){
echo ’Script timezone differs from ini-set timezone.’;
} else {
echo ’Script timezone and ini-set timezone match.’;
}
echo date_default_timezone_get();
?>
6.4- Copy-paste this URL in your browser to execute the script:
/Library/WebServer/Documents/setTZ.php
7- In your browser, go to: http://localhost/modx/setup/
8- If you get an error about access rights, the access rights to the folders located on your server might be too restrictive. With admin access, allow everyone to read/write on the following folder (the folder where you unzipped modx): /Library/WebServer/Documents/modx
8.1- View the folder’s info in Finder.
8.2- Allow everyone to read/write this folder
8.3- From the toll menu below (a gear icon), select "Apply to enclosed items"
Beware that this OPENS A SECURITY RISK on your computer, but it is the best I can do because I don’t know how to set these rights specificaly for the php engine. To be on the safe side, I actually revert these access rights to "read only" when done playing with modx and before connecting to the internet. This is not appropriate if you want to actually run a modx-backed website on your computer. You should research the topic, but the advanced installation instructions provide a way to install Modx in a folder outside of your webroot which may solve this problem.
9- Then, continue with the standard instructions found on:
http://codingpad.maryspad.com/2010/08/23/modx-revolution-for-beginners-part-2-installation/
