LAMP: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

LAMP is an acronym for a set of free software programs commonly used together to run dynamic Web sites:

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

Though these programs were not designed specifically to work with each other, the combination is popular because of its low cost and the ubiquity of its components (which are bundled with most current Linux distributions).

The term was coined by M. Kunze in an article for the German computing magazine c't in 1998. The article's intent was 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 some sort of marketing measure to popularize the use of free software.

Amongst English speakers the term was popularized by O'Reilly & Associates and MySQL AB. Variants include LAPP (substituting PostgreSQL for MySQL), WAMP (substituting Microsoft Windows for Linux), and simply AMP (omitting the operating system; this variant is propagated by Apple Computer).

The software that currently runs Wikipedia could be characterized as a LAMP application. Wikipedia's MediaWiki software is developed primarily under Linux, using the Apache HTTP Server, with its content being stored in a MySQL database, and the program logic being implemented in PHP.

LAMP is also the name of an (apparently obsolete) movie player for Linux, the Linux Animation and Movie Player.