Local PHP setup

Well-travelled path. The built-in PHP webserver is exercised by the full test suite on every change, across PHP 8.2–8.5 (the ci workflow).

Make sure everything is installed:

# Install required system packages, for example on Debian Linux derivatives like Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install php8.4 php8.4-gettext php8.4-mbstring php8.4-sqlite3 php8.4-xml php8.4-mysql php8.4-gd composer
# PHP 8.2–8.5 are supported; replace 8.4 with your preferred version
# php8.4-mysql (pdo_mysql) is required by the database library even though Lamb uses SQLite
# php8.4-gd converts image uploads to WebP; without it originals are stored as-is

# install project packages
composer install

# Set your /login password - change `hackme` to something more secure.
# This writes the hashed password to .env.
php make-password.php hackme

# Run lamb - the dev server reads .env automatically.
composer serve

Uploaded images are stored under src/assets/, so if you are serving Lamb through PHP-FPM or another web server user, make sure that directory is writable at runtime.