Installing a LAMP server stack instantly using tasksel

When beginning a web development in Ubuntu, a LAMP server setup with

  • Linux: an operating system,
  • Apache: a web server program,
  • MySQL: a database program,
  • PHP: a web development language.

is usually a must. To install all the relevant packages, I used to search the corresponding package names first, and use sudo apt-get install (package names) to install them. However, I have found that this forum is introducing a much simpler way of doing this. In your terminal, simply issuing the following command will do the job:

$ sudo tasksel install lamp-server

Appendix

You may check what kind of packages are actually installed per task. In case of the lamp-server task, do as follows:

$ tasksel --task-packages lamp-server
libwrap0
apache2
libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3
tcpd
libapache2-mod-php5
apache2.2-common
apache2-utils
php5-common
libaprutil1
libaprutil1-ldap
php5-mysql
mysql-server-core-5.1
libdbi-perl
libplrpc-perl
mysql-server
apache2.2-bin
libdbd-mysql-perl
libhtml-template-perl
libnet-daemon-perl
libapr1
mysql-server-5.1
libmysqlclient16
ssl-cert
apache2-mpm-prefork
mysql-common
mysql-client-5.1

To list the all possible tasks with the installation status, do as follows:

$ tasksel --list-tasks
u server        Basic Ubuntu server
u eucalyptus-simple-cluster     Cloud computing cluster
u eucalyptus-node       Cloud computing node
u dns-server    DNS server
u edubuntu-server       Edubuntu server
i lamp-server   LAMP server
i mail-server   Mail server
i openssh-server        OpenSSH server
u postgresql-server     PostgreSQL database
i print-server  Print server
u samba-server  Samba file server
u tomcat-server Tomcat Java server
u uec   Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (instance)
u virt-host     Virtual Machine host
u ubuntustudio-graphics 2D/3D creation and editing suite
u ubuntustudio-audio    Audio creation and editing suite
u edubuntu-desktop-kde  Edubuntu KDE desktop
u edubuntu-desktop-gnome        Edubuntu desktop
u kubuntu-desktop       Kubuntu desktop
u kubuntu-netbook       Kubuntu netbook
u ubuntustudio-audio-plugins    LADSPA and DSSI audio plugins
u ubuntustudio-font-meta        Large selection of font packages
u mythbuntu-desktop     Mythbuntu additional roles
u mythbuntu-frontend    Mythbuntu frontend
u mythbuntu-backend-master      Mythbuntu master backend
u mythbuntu-backend-slave       Mythbuntu slave backend
u mobile-mid    Ubuntu MID edition
u ubuntu-netbook-remix  Ubuntu Netbook Remix
i ubuntu-desktop        Ubuntu desktop
u ubuntustudio-video    Video creation and editing suite
u xubuntu-desktop       Xubuntu desktop
u edubuntu-dvd-live     Edubuntu live DVD
u kubuntu-netbook-live  Kubuntu Netbook Edition live CD
u kubuntu-live  Kubuntu live CD
u kubuntu-dvd-live      Kubuntu live DVD
u mythbuntu-live        Mythbuntu live CD
i mobile-live   Ubuntu MID live environment
i unr-live      Ubuntu Netbook Remix live environment
i ubuntu-live   Ubuntu live CD
u ubuntu-dvd-live       Ubuntu live DVD
i xubuntu-live  Xubuntu live CD
u manual        Manual package selection