Comments on: gzip/deflate – a (fairly) quick how-to for XAMPP

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 03:53:33 +0000

@Alex

Make sure you are editing the correct httpd.conf file. If you have multiple installations, or are using more than one windows apache server (WAMP and XAMPP for example) you may be in the wrong file.

I’ve currently tested xampp up to version 1.7.2 and the file should be location in your xamppInstallDir/conf folder.

My config file for local development is found at C:\xampp\conf\httpd.conf

Open that file in a notepad program (I highly recommend Notepad++) and then do a find (ctrl-f) for “deflate”. It should pull up a line between 89-100 with that line commented out. Remove the commend (pound symbol) and then restart your apache server (using either the batch file or the XAMPP Control Panel).

If you still cannot find that line, then look for “LoadModule”. Once you have found that section just insert “LoadModule deflate_module modules/mod_deflate.so” and save your file. Then restart your apache server.

If you followed Jason’s advice above when your server restarts you should be golden. If you did not, you’ll need to make those .htaccess files and place them where you want compression to work.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:03:48 +0000

my httpd.conf (xampp) donsen’t have that line (“LoadModule deflate_module modules/mod_deflate.so”) and i think i dosen’t have the file neither, what i can do?

thanks

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:31:07 +0000

@thofik Sorry for the delay in replying, to test if your gzip is working I recommend using the "web developer" addon for Firefox. You can find thathere. There are other tools you can test with, both Chrome and Safari have developer tools that will show you what is being downloaded, the time it takes, and the file size. Another option you may want to look at is PageSpeed (by google), or Yahoo's YSlow. Hope that helps.

By: thofik

thofik — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:47:59 +0000

what tools to test the gzip

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:04:14 +0000

@Keith Davis You may need to change some settings, it's been a while since I've used the built-in mail server of XAMPP (Mercury Mail). Problems with email are usually a beast to chase down (as I'm sure you are fully aware), they can range from a php configuration error, to unrecognized MX records when you try to send. First thing I would check is that I had my mail server installed and running. Mercury Mail comes bundled with XAMPP, but is not enabled by default. See here for a blog post about setting it up (and testing with Thunderbird). Check this post for another set up list (with some edits to your php.ini file, don't give up, xmapp has about four of them). If you follow those and still run into issues, it may have to do with the cforms plugin, or another server bouncing your email as spam (lack of legit mx records). Hope it helps, Phil

By: Keith Davis

Keith Davis — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:34:24 +0000

Good to find a site with info on XAMPP local server setup.
I’m using XAMPP to set up a WordPress site before going live.
I’m getting to know the cforms plugin but can’t get it to send an email… do I have to change some of the XAMPP settings?
Hope you don’t mind me asking a question not related to the post.

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:34:27 +0000

@Jason Thanks for the tip, it's nice to have compression on auto so you don't have to pack around .htaccess files from project to project.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:20:40 +0000

I found that instead of putting “SetOutputFilter DEFLATE” in a .htaccess file you can instead put at the bottom of “/xampp/apache/conf/httpd.conf” file to auto-load during start-up.