Comments on: Sync Web Dev with MAMP and Dropbox

By: Tyler Y

Tyler Y — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:50:33 +0000

Alright, it turns out that I needed to restart Dropbox before it would properly sync my db folder. Now the db folder contains the proper subfolders (/mysql and /sqlite). However, changes to the databases don’t seem to show up properly.

For example, I created a new database (test_db) and created a new table within that database (test_table). When I switched to my other computer the database (test_db) showed up and it said that it had one table, but the table (test_table) didn’t appear. So I created a second table (tbl_2) and refreshed the database. Now the database showed that it had 2 tables, but only tbl_2 was showing up on the second computer, and test_table was still showing up on the first computer (but no tbl_2).

However, stopping and restarting the MAMP servers on both machines seemed to fix the issue (now test_table and tbl_2 both show on both computers). Is this normal behavior? It would be better if I didn’t have to remember to restart my MAMP servers every time I switch machines. That’s just another step to accidentally forget.

Thanks in advance!

By: Tyler Y

Tyler Y — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:08:57 +0000

I haven’t tried using terminal to create the symlink because I’m not familiar with terminal. I tried following the terminal code that was shown on hocuspokus but I wasn’t exactly clear on what I needed to change to make the code work for MAMP (since the code is written to create a symlink for a Things database).

By: Tyler Y

Tyler Y — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:02:56 +0000

I’ve got the MAMP htdocs folder syncing with Dropbox, and now I can create PHP pages on my iMac, and see them instantly on my Macbook Air (once they’re saved). So that’s awesome!

However, I can’t seem to get the database symlink to work. I’ve shut down MAMP, copied my MAMP/db folder to Dropbox, and right-clicked on that db folder to create a symbolic link. However, that linked folder doesn’t have any contents (the mysql and sqlite folders are missing). So when I move the symlinked db folder to my MAMP/* directory it remains empty and my MAMP MySQL server shows a red light (instead of green).

Any ideas why the symlinked db folder is empty?

By: #4 Setting up MAMP + Dropbox | Jay George

#4 Setting up MAMP + Dropbox | Jay George — Thu, 12 May 2011 19:56:28 +0000

[...] to figure out a way to synchronise my local WordPress databases with across multiple computers with StuckTogetherWithTape on how to do this and I’ll walk you through this method in the video. Even if you don’t [...]

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:54:10 +0000

I’ve been experimenting with this setup (using Mamp-Pro) for about a year. Problem is that if you’re connected to the internet, via say… dyndns, you need to be using www/mysql (user) in Mamp pro. This is a problem as it does not allow you to use Dropbox/htdocs… I’ve suffered long!

By: Phil D

Phil D — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:48:01 +0000

I’m not interested in write permissions
for anything other than OSX

Would this at all be possible with osx as the
main db editor & testing via Parallels virtual installs of
XP-iE6, XP-IE7, Win7-IE8 … etc?

By: Adriano

Adriano — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 01:08:35 +0000

There is a problem with all this syncing db with dropbox.

the folder stock syncing because mamp close permissions automatic. and you need to give the folder permissions everytime you update.

By: MAMP, Dropbox & Symbolic Links - this is a studio blog

MAMP, Dropbox & Symbolic Links - this is a studio blog — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 02:20:08 +0000

[...] and make a symbolic link. Move the link back to the MAMP folder and dunzo! An excellent tutorial HERE (also where I got the pic [...]

By: Tyler

Tyler — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:31:32 +0000

Interesting. I’ll have to play around with this. I don’t know how well this will work if you are using some really slow wireless at a bar or something, but it seems like a cool idea.

By: elundmark

elundmark — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:37:06 +0000

If your second system is Linux, here’s a trick to make sure your unix-paths are the same on both machines:

Make a symbolic link (not an alias) on your Mac, in the root folder (/), pointing to your htdocs folder.
Using the same method and name of the symbolic link on your Linux machine, pointing to It’s htdocs folder, simply share that folder over Dropbox, and your good for sharing.

$ ln -s /Users/me/htdocs /htdocslink

If set up corr. you now have the unixpath you can use, ex. on both computers Thusly, you can wirror your work hassle-free

Sadly, it seems pretty much impossible to share a mysql database the same way, since mysql on linux is barely read-only.