There are three approaches to installing MySQL, Apache, and PHP:
Install a distribution of Linux that includes the software as precompiled packages. This is the easiest approach, but is prone to the problem of the software being out-of-date.
Obtain an installation package or packages. Again, the software is often out of date.
Obtain and build the software from source code. This is the most difficult approach, but it has the advantage that the latest software is installed and the configuration layout and options are controlled in the process.
This section focuses on the third approach.