LAMP on Ubuntu 19.04 should be a snap, and it is. If you install all the packages! I was missing libapache2-mod-php and php-mysql. Here’s the blog post that helped me out.
How To Install Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) stack on Ubuntu 16.04
Ubuntu 19.04 also provides a meta-package for this.sudo apt-get install lamp-server^ will install all dependencies, and give instructions for enabling PHP under Apache2. Mind the trailing caret (^)! This meta-package selects MySQL 5.7 over MariaDB 10.3. A brief search indicates this is the best choice.
Why am I doing this? In order to have a development environment for this WordPress 5 website. WordPress is widely used, but is not this developer’s cup of tea. However, it does have a strong community and it’s development is ongoing, so time to get on the bandwagon. Or at least use a staging methodology to push changes to www.metatooth.com.
My first website was of the LAMP variety. I guess 20 years is not that long for a platform’s life-cycle. What platform’s longevity surprises you? Tell me about it in the comments!