Enable Write Permissions for the Native Built-In Apache in Mac OS X Lion

When using the native built in version of Apache in Lion OS X you won't have write permissions unless you change the User and Group settings in apache's httpd.conf file. Here are some quick instructions on how to achieve that.

Open Terminal and Enter

sudo nano /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf

Find and change http.conf code from

User _www
Group _www

To

User your_mac_username
Group staff
# With earlier versions such as Leopard, capitalise staff to Staff

Restart apache by going to System Preferences > Sharing and un-tick then tick Web Sharing.

PHP to check write permissions are enabled

echo (is_writable('.')) ? "writable" : "not writable";