The acronym LAMP (or L.A.M.P.) refers to a set of free software programs commonly used together to run dynamic Web sites or servers: Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as NATO and XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for. ... This article is about Free Software as defined by the sociopolitical Free Software movement; for information on software distributed without charge, see freeware. ... A website, Web site or WWW site (often shortened to just site) is a collection of webpages, that is, HTML/XHTML documents accessible via HTTP on the Internet; all publicly accessible websites in existence comprise the World Wide Web. ... In information technology, a server is a computer system that provides services to other computing systems—called clients—over a network. ...

• Linux, the operating system;
• Apache, the Web server;
• MySQL, the database management system (or database server);
• Perl, PHP, Python, and/or Primate (mod mono), scripting/programming languages.

The acronym has three major uses: Linux (also known as GNU/Linux) is a computer operating system. ... An operating system (OS) is a software program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... Apache HTTP Server is a free software/open source HTTP web server for Unix-like systems (BSD, Linux, and UNIX systems), Microsoft Windows, Novell NetWare and other platforms. ... The term Web server can mean one of two things: A computer that is responsible for accepting HTTP requests from clients, which are known as Web browsers, and serving them Web pages, which are usually HTML documents and linked objects (images, etc. ... MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL Database Management System (DBMS) with more than six million installations. ... A database management system (DBMS) is a computer program (or more typically, a suite of them) designed to manage a database, a large set of structured data, and run operations on the data requested by numerous users. ... Perl, also Practical Extraction and Report Language (a backronym, see below) is a dynamic procedural programming language designed by Larry Wall and first released in 1987. ... For other uses, see PHP (disambiguation). ... Python is an interpreted programming language created by Guido van Rossum in 1990. ... Mono is a project led by Novell, Inc. ... Mono is a project led by Novell, Inc. ... Scripting languages (commonly called scripting programming languages or script languages) are computer programming languages initially used only for simple, repeated actions. ...

1. Define a web server infrastructure
2. Define a programming paradigm of developing software
3. Define a software distribution package

To be precise, it is an open source Web platform. The term Web server can mean one of two things: A computer that is responsible for accepting HTTP requests from clients, which are known as Web browsers, and serving them Web pages, which are usually HTML documents and linked objects (images, etc. ... A programming paradigm is a paradigmatic style of programming (compare with a methodology, which is a paradigmatic style of doing software engineering). ... A software distribution is a installer of a specific software (or a collection of multiple, even an entire operating system) , already compiled and configured. ... The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is a global, read-write information space. ... In computing, a platform describes some sort of framework, either in hardware or software, which allows software to run. ...

Though the originators of these open source programs did not design them all to work specifically with each other, the combination has become popular because of its low acquisition cost and because of the ubiquity of its components (which come bundled with most current Linux distributions particularly as deployed by ISPs). When used in combination they represent a solution stack of technologies that support application servers. Other such stacks include unified application development environments such as Apple Computer's WebObjects, Java/Java EE, Grails, and Microsoft's .NET architecture. Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... A Linux distribution is a Unix-like operating system comprising the Linux kernel and other assorted free software/open-source software, and possibly proprietary software. ... In computing, a solution stack is a set of software subsystems or components needed to deliver a fully functional application environment. ... An application server is a server computer in a computer network dedicated to running certain software applications. ... Apple Computer, Inc. ... WebObjects is a Java Web application server by Apple Computer which is available, at no additional cost, as part of the companys Mac OS X platform. ... Java is an object-oriented programming language developed by James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s. ... Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition or Java EE (formerly also J2EE) is a programming platform — part of the Java platform — for developing and running distributed multi-tier architecture applications, based largely on modular components running on an application server. ... Grails is an open source web application framework for high productivity. ... Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is an international computer technology corporation with 2005 global annual sales of US$42. ... Microsoft . ...

The scripting component of the LAMP stack has its origins in the CGI web interfaces that became popular in the early 1990s. This technology allows the user of a web browser to execute a program on the web server, and to thereby receive dynamic as well as static content. Programmers used scripting languages with these programs because of their ability to manipulate text streams easily and efficiently, even when they originate from disparate sources. For this reason system designers often referred to such scripting systems as glue languages. The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a standard protocol for interfacing external application software with an information server, commonly a web server. ... Icons for Web browser shortcuts on an Apple computer (Safari, Internet Explorer, and Firefox). ... Icons for Web browser shortcuts on an Apple computer (Safari, Internet Explorer, and Firefox). ... Scripting programming languages (commonly called scripting languages or script languages) are computer programming languages designed for scripting the operation of a computer. ... A glue language is a programming language used for connecting software components together. ...

Michael Kunze coined the acronym LAMP in an article for the German computing magazine c't in 1998 (12/98, page 230). The article aimed to show that a bundle of free software could provide a viable alternative to commercial packages. Knowing about the IT-world's love of acronyms, Kunze came up with LAMP as a marketing-like term to popularize the use of free software. O'Reilly and MySQL AB have popularized the term among English-speakers. Indeed, MySQL AB has since based some of its marketing efforts on the popularity of the LAMP stack. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... ct (short for Computertechnik, originally for computing today) is a German biweekly computer magazine, published by the Heise Verlag publishing house. ... Programming Perl is a classic OReilly book. ... MySQL AB (founded 1995) is dual headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden and Cupertino, California, USA. The company is the creator and owner of MySQL, a relational database management system. ...

Variants

Some developers prefer to use the M to mean mod perl or mod python and the P to mean PostgreSQL. mod_perl is an optional module for the Apache web server. ... mod_python is an Apache HTTP Server module that integrates the Python programming language into the Apache server. ... PostgreSQL is a free object-relational database server (database management system), released under a flexible BSD-style license. ...

Other variants of the term include:

• Instead of Linux:
  • AMP, omitting the operating system.
  • AMPS, AMP with SSL or Solaris.
  • BAMP, using BSD.
  • MAMP, using Macintosh. [1]
  • NAMP, using Novell NetWare.
  • WAMP, using Microsoft Windows.
• Instead of MySQL:
  • FLAP, using Firebird.
  • LAIP, using Informix.
  • LAPP, using PostgreSQL.
  • BAPP, using BSD and PostgreSQL.
  • LAPS, using PostgreSQL servlets.
  • OPAL, using Oracle
• Instead of Python/Perl/PHP:
  • GLAM, using Groovy.
  • LAMJ, using JSP servlets.
• Others or Some Combination of the Above
  • AMPLE, with the E for Eclipse.
  • LAMPS, with the S for SSL.
  • "A Brighter LAMP", with the last two letters meaning Middleware and PostgreSQL; this allows selection of languages that do not start with the letter P such as Tcl and Ruby.
  • WIMP, for Microsoft Windows, Microsoft IIS, MySQL, and PHP.
  • WIMSA, for Microsoft Windows, Microsoft IIS, Microsoft SQL Server, and ASP.
  • MARS, for MySQL, Apache, Ruby, and Solaris [2]
  • FWIP, for Firebird, Windows, IIS, and PHP.
  • FWAP, for Firebird, Windows, Apache, and PHP.
  • WAPP, for Windows, Apache, PostgreSQL, and PHP.

Some employ the term LAMP generically to describe such alternative systems rather than make a new acronym, using it to denote the contrast between such systems and a unified web application development environment. SSL can mean more than one thing: Secure Sockets Layer, a communications protocol. ... Solaris is a computer operating system developed by Sun Microsystems. ... BSD redirects here; for other uses see BSD (disambiguation). ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. ... Novell, Inc. ... NetWare is a network operating system and the set of network protocols it uses to talk to client machines on the network. ... ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Firebird (sometimes called FirebirdSQL) is a relational database management system offering many ANSI SQL-99 and SQL-2003 features. ... Informix is a family of relational database management system products from IBM, acquired in 2001 from a company (also called Informix or Informix Software) which dates its origins back to 1980. ... oracle, see Oracle (disambiguation) An Oracle database, strictly speaking, consists of a collection of data managed by an Oracle database management system or DBMS. The term Oracle database sometimes refers — imprecisely — to the DBMS software itself. ... Look up groovy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... JavaServer Pages (JSP) is a Java technology that allows software developers to dynamically generate HTML, XML or other types of documents in response to a Web client request. ... Eclipse is an open source platform-independent software framework for delivering what the project calls rich-client applications (as opposed to thin clients, this means the clients perform heavy-duty work on the host running the application). ... Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS), its successor, are cryptographic protocols which provide secure communications on the Internet. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... // Tcl (originally from Tool Command Language, but nonetheless conventionally rendered as Tcl rather than TCL; and pronounced like tickle) is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. ... Ruby is a reflective, object-oriented programming language. ... IIS (Microsoft Internet Information Services or Server) is a set of Internet based services for Windows machines. ... Ruby on Rails, often called RoR, or just Rails, is an open source web application framework written in Ruby that closely follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. ... Solaris is a computer operating system developed by Sun Microsystems. ...

As an example, Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, runs software in what one could characterize as a LAMP environment. Wikipedia uses MediaWiki software, developed primarily under Linux, with content served with Apache HTTPD server, content stored in a MySQL database, and program logic implemented in PHP. Wikipedia (IPA: , or ) is an international Web-based free-content encyclopedia. ... MediaWiki is a Wiki software package licensed under the GNU General Public License. ... Httpd can mean several things: The Apache HTTP Server. ...

See also

Free software Portal

• List of AMP Packages Combined installers for Apache, MySQL and PHP.

Image File history File links Portal. ... This is a list of AMP packages for all platforms. ... Apache HTTP Server is a free software/open source HTTP web server for Unix-like systems (BSD, Linux, and UNIX systems), Microsoft Windows, Novell NetWare and other platforms. ... MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL Database Management System (DBMS) with more than six million installations. ... For other uses, see PHP (disambiguation). ...

External links

• ONLamp, from O'Reilly & Associates
• unofficial LAMP logo
• LAMP community site