XAMPP FOR LINUX INSTALLATION

After downloading simply type in the following commands:

1. Go to a Linux shell and login as the system administrator root: su
   
2. Extract the downloaded archive file to /opt: tar xvfz xampp-linux-1.7.4.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.
   

That's all. XAMPP is now installed below the /opt/lampp directory.

Step 3: Start

To start XAMPP simply call this command: /opt/lampp/lampp start
You should now see something like this on your screen:
Starting XAMPP 1.7.4...
LAMPP: Starting Apache...
LAMPP: Starting MySQL...
LAMPP started.

Ready. Apache and MySQL are running.
If you get any error messages please take a look at the 

Step 4: Test

OK, that was easy but how can you check that everything really works? Just type in the following URL at your favourite web browser:
http://localhost

A matter of security (A MUST READ!)

As mentioned before, XAMPP is not meant for production use but only for developers in a development environment. The way XAMPP is configured is to be open as possible and allowing the developer anything he/she wants. For development environments this is great but in a production environment it could be fatal.
Here a list of missing security in XAMPP:

1. The MySQL administrator (root) has no password.
2. The MySQL daemon is accessible via network.
3. ProFTPD uses the password "lampp" for user "nobody".
4. PhpMyAdmin is accessible via network.
5. Examples are accessible via network.
6. MySQL and Apache running under the same user (nobody).

To fix most of the security weaknesses simply call the following command:

/opt/lampp/lampp security

It starts a small security check and makes your XAMPP installation quite secure. For example this protects the XAMPP demo pages by a username ('lampp') and password combination.

START AND STOP PARAMITER

tart	Starts XAMPP.
stop	Stops XAMPP.
restart	Stops and starts XAMPP.
startapache	Starts only the Apache.
startssl	Starts the Apache SSL support. This command activates the SSL support permanently, e.g. if you restarts XAMPP in the future SSL will stay activated.
startmysql	Starts only the MySQL database.
startftp	Starts the ProFTPD server. Via FTP you can upload files for your web server (user "nobody", password "lampp"). This command activates the ProFTPD permanently, e.g. if you restarts XAMPP in the future FTP will stay activated.
stopapache	Stops the Apache.
stopssl	Stops the Apache SSL support. This command deactivates the SSL support permanently, e.g. if you restarts XAMPP in the future SSL will stay deactivated.
stopmysql	Stops the MySQL database.
stopftp	Stops the ProFTPD server. This command deactivates the ProFTPD permanently, e.g. if you restarts XAMPP in the future FTP will stay deactivated.
security	Starts a small security check programm.

Important file and folder

/opt/lampp/bin/	The XAMPP commands home. /opt/lampp/bin/mysql calls for example the MySQL monitor.
/opt/lampp/htdocs/	The Apache DocumentRoot directory.
/opt/lampp/etc/httpd.conf	The Apache configuration file.
/opt/lampp/etc/my.cnf	The MySQL configuration file.
/opt/lampp/etc/php.ini	The PHP configuration file.
/opt/lampp/etc/proftpd.conf	The ProFTPD configuration file. (since 0.9.5)
/opt/lampp/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php	The phpMyAdmin configuration file.

o stop XAMPP simply call this command:
/opt/lampp/lampp stop
You should now see:
Stopping LAMPP 1.7.4...
LAMPP: Stopping Apache...
LAMPP: Stopping MySQL...
LAMPP stopped.

And XAMPP for Linux is stopped.

Uninstall

To uninstall XAMPP just type in this command:
rm -rf /opt/lampp
The end.