Setting up any web stack is a pain in the ass and probably just as long of a tutorial. For example, write out a tutorial which goes from base Ubuntu install to "hello world" on Rails, I bet it's just as long or longer. I suppose it depends on how much detail you want to include. There are just more "one click" install options for other stacks.
How about: apt-get install php5 apache echo " Hello World " > /var/www/index.php The end.
apt-get install php5
echo "Hello World" > /var/www/index.php
php -S 127.0.0.1:8080 /var/www/