I had to install a working Symfony environment on a MacBook Pro. Maybe this can help some of you using Mac OS X asking whether they can switch or not. The best tool I've found for symfony and Mac Intel is [http://www.macports.org/ MacPorts].

So first install MacPorts, follow the instructions carefully.  Note that the XCode tools distributed by Apple with OS X must be installed for MacPorts to work.

Then to install PHP5 with Apache2 and MySQL4 support:
{{{
sudo port install php5 +macosx +mysql4 +apache2
}}}
Now take a deeeep breath, go get a coffee, watch the news, it can take a long time :)...

If you get an error about "php/.lock" or "php/.xx files already installed",
{{{
sudo port remove php5
}}}

If it complains about multiple versions of php5, remove the old version:
{{{
sudo port remove php5 @..someversion..
}}}
Then try to install again.

Here we have the whole application compiled, now we do some setup:

 * Apache2 :
   1. You can add the apache2 support programs to your $PATH, just add ''/opt/local/apache2/bin" to the '~/'.profile'' file that is created when you setup DarwinPorts
   2. In ''/opt/local/apache2/conf'' rename the httpd.conf.sample to httpd.conf and change the conf you want
 
 * PHP5 :
   1. Go into {{{/opt/local/apache2/modules}}} and type {{{/opt/local/apache2/bin/apxs -a -e -n "php5" libphp5.so}}}
   2. Then it looks like a little bug hit darwinport, so to activate PHP5 in apache2, edit {{{/opt/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf}}} and add this
{{{
# php5 settings
Include conf/extras-conf/mod_php.conf
}}}
   3. Rename either {{{/opt/local/etc/php.ini-dist}}} or {{{/opt/local/etc/php.ini-recommended}}} to {{{/opt/local/etc/php.ini}}}
   4. Symphony needs {{{magic_quotes_gpc}}} ''off'', so be sure to check if it is off in {{{php.ini}}}:
{{{
; Magic quotes for incoming GET/POST/Cookie data.
magic_quotes_gpc = Off
}}}
   5. Currently PEAR is no longer included with PHP5 in DarwinPorts. So we use PEAR from OS X itself. So we need to enable that in {{{php.ini}}}. Search for {{{include_path}}} and edit the line so it reads as follows:
{{{
; UNIX: "/path1:/path2"
;include_path = ".:/php/includes
include_path = ".:/php/includes:bin/lib:/opt/local/lib/php:/usr/lib/php/"
}}}
   6. To really use PEAR with PHP5 from DarwinPorts you will need to add the following to your .profile:
{{{
export PHP_PEAR_PHP_BIN=/opt/local/bin/php
}}}
 * MySQL4
   1. Change ownership:
{{{
chown -R mysql:mysql /opt/local/var/db
chown -R mysql:mysql /opt/local/var/run/mysqld
chown -R mysql:mysql /opt/local/var/log/mysql
}}}
   2. Create the default database:
{{{
sudo -u /opt/local/bin/mysql_install_db --user=mysql
}}}

Et voila! It's done. Now you can run as root :
{{{
/opt/local/apache2/bin/apachectl start
/opt/local/bin/mysqld_safe &
}}}

You can change {{{/opt/local/apache2/conf/extra/httpd-vhost.conf}}} to add your Symfony virtual host.



== Symfony on Leopard ==

To install symfony on leopard using the PHP5 version included in the system, use these commands as PEAR-BASE in darwinports has bugs with leopard

{{{
sudo su -
curl http://pear.php.net/go-pear > go-pear.php
php -q go-pear.php

pear channel-discover pear.symfony-project.com
pear install symfony/symfony
}}}

You can change {{{/private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhost.conf}}} to add your Symfony virtual host like the following:
{{{
<VirtualHost *>
ServerName YourServerName
DocumentRoot "/Users/YourUserName/Sites/YourProjectFolder/web"
DirectoryIndex index.php
Alias /sf /usr/share/pear/data/symfony/web/sf
<Directory "/Users/YourUserName/Sites/YourProjectFolder/web">
AllowOverride All
Allow from All
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
}}}
Don't forget to uncomment the line

# Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

in {{{/private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf}}}


----
If DarwinPorts seems imposing; you can install the universal packages made by Marc Liyanage at [http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/welcome.html], if you don't need to compile PHP/MySQL.  His packages include many common PHP extensions (including PostgreSQL and GD).