local web server on catalina

dingoe wrote:

Did a SymLink to an external drive (usb-stick) work for you? On it just a bunch of html-files. No Wordpress database.

symlinks to local folders work fine with me and I can open the html-files on the usb-stick also with Safari as file:// when 'Disable local file restrictions' is checked.

Not at first. I had to give the /usr/sbin/httpd executable Full Disk Access in System Preferences > Security > Privacy. I don’t know what the security implications of this are. I doubt it is any worse that it was in Mojave. The Mac is being turned into a true consumer-only device. You can still use it for web development if you know right where to beat it with the rubber hose. But macOS hasn’t been appropriate as a true server for several years. It’s just a different world now.

Probably the Apache version and its attendent files may have replaced your Mojave settings, or how they are interpreted now.

You will probably need to set it up again. Here are my instructions: Setting up a local web server on macOS 10… - Apple Community

I’ll look into that.

Sorry, but symlinks seem to work fine. If you have a Wordpress blog and SSL, there is probably a lot more going on there.