Copy existing site to run on XAMPP

I recently installed XAMPP (Linux version of LAMPP) on my computer. I would like to have a working copy of my site running
on my computer for debug and development purposes . As I am still somewhat of a Newbie, I have some questions.

1. After I create a database with the appropriate name, on the
   local host, can I then use the EXPORT function from my live
   web site and then the IMPORT function at localhost? This
   would be using phpMYAdmin.

2. Do I really need to run the Zen Cart install and then copy files
   from my live site, or can I just copy the files from my live site
   and store them on the localhost? This assumes that the
   configuration files both point to the proper database name.

I really would prefer to not have to go through the Zen Cart install
process as I have several modifications to the database tables
and to the php code that I really don't want to have to duplicate.

If anybody has some help, or knows of a good tutorial, I would
appreciate the help. Thanks.

You really should run through the basic Zen Cart install on the localhost setup (before importing your data) so that it can build the configure.php files to suit your localhost setup.
Then test that it works correctly with the demo data before importing your live data.
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=100

However, if you're confident that you're an expert in hand-coding configure.php file settings and sorting out the issues you may encounter by changing where it's running, feel free to bypass the recommended steps.

Remember also that Zen Cart v1.3.8a and older are NOT compatible with PHP 5.3.0 or newer ... so choose your LAMP elements accordingly.

DrByte,

Thanks for the reply. I have been trying to run the
zc_install and have been having problems. Can't get past the
data base setup. It won't recognize password even though I
have verified the password several times. Maybe because of a
PHP incompatability problem? I think I have XAMPP set up for
PHP 5.1.3, but I will check. Perhaps I need to reinstall.

I thought I was capable of making the changes as required to the
configure.php files, both in Admin/ includes and in includes.
When I try to run the site I get a screen telling me I have to
run the zc_install. Must be a flag somewhere that forces this.

But, the bigger issue is that the setup will not recognize the
password. And if the setup does not recognize the user and
password then it doesn't matter what I put in the configure files.
Wonder where I am going wrong. Maybe I am not as clever as I
think I am. LOL!

I appreciate your answer and any guidance you

Zen Cart v1.3.8a requires PHP 4.3.2 - 5.2.x. It won't work with higher or lower versions of PHP.

But that won't affect database issues, let alone passwords.
Sounds like you need to research more about your XAMPP setup and make sure you're truly using the proper database name, username, and password. Maybe make new database, new user, with new password, and use those instead.

One of the whole reasons for installing clean on the "new" server is to check whether it can even run there. It helps narrow down causes of problems, esp when most often the problem is not the software at all, but rather the server config or the database setup, both which are outside the scope of Zen Cart.

DrByte,

Looks like the LAMPP version I downloaded is actually running
PHP 5.3.0, so that is at least one problem.

I did create a new database and still can not get the zc_install
to connect to the database. Must be some operator error.

I will also uninstall the LAMPP version that I have loaded and
install an older version. I loaded 1.7.2 and I think there is
a version for Debian that is 1.5.3 . Perhaps that older version
has the correct PHP version.

Thanks for your help.

DrByte,

I found an older vesion of XAMPP that is using PHP 5.1.3.
According to these instructions from Apache friends I can
overwrite the already installed version. Will that work when I am
overwriting a newer version with an older one? I know in Windows
that it gives warnings about such things. I am still learning
Linux. I would be replacing the name of the .tar.gz file with
the older file.

Extract the downloaded archive file to /opt:

tar xvfz xampp-linux-1.7.2.tar.gz -C /opt

Warning: Please use only this command to install XAMPP. DON'T use any Microsoft Windows tools to extract the archive, it won't work.

Warning 2: already installed XAMPP versions get overwritten by this command.

XAMPP 1.7.1 will work with Zen Cart v1.3.8a. Here's a link to download the linux tarball: http://www.apachefriends.org/download.php?xampp-linux-1.7.1.tar.gz

As for installing, I'll leave it up to you to decide how you want to deal with existing software already on your computer.

DrByte,

Thanks for the link. I donwloaded version 1.5.3a and can not connect
to http://localhost . Strange ! I will download the version that you have
in the link and see how that goes.

Regards

DrByte,

HELP ! I installed the version of LAMPP for which you sent the link.
Now I can not create a new database. It says I have no priviledges.
I am truly lost here. Can you help? I appreciate all your efforts.

John

Sorry, my primary expertise is not in setting up LAMPP or XAMPP or coaching people on creating or setting up or using webservers.
The link I sent is simply to a version of XAMPP that is compatible with Zen Cart v1.3.8a, since you were concerned about having obtained an incompatible version.

You might find help on setting up your own webserver over at https://www.webhostingtalk.com or another site whose sole focus is on setting up and running webservers specifically.

Well, I fixed the issue with not being able to create a data base. The problem is
that when I run /opt/lampp/lampp security, CREATE privileges are for some
reason turned off. So I reinstalled XAMPP and did not run the security
program. I know this is a bad idea, as XAMPP and MySql may now accessible
via the internet. I will figure out how to deal with that later.

Thanks for any help or suggestions you might have.

DrByte,

I thank you for all your help and I understand your response. I did manage
to get everything working. Again, thanks!

John