First-time packager - nginx.conf *only* works after editing and un-editing once

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Hi all,

I’m packaging “My Idlers”, a MIT-licensed app to keep track of your VPS and other (hosted) services.

The app is built on Laravel/Composer.

Upstream distributes the app with Artisan, I need some help with nginx.

I have trouble getting consistent usable results with my nginx.conf; notably: after installing, I need to comment out a line, restart nginx, uncomment the line, restart once more, to make the app usable.

nginx.conf, as installed at /etc/nginx/conf.d/my_idlers.domain.tld.d/my_idlers.conf 
# try redirecting stuff to index.php
rewrite ^(.*)$ /index.php$1 last;
root /var/www/my_idlers/public/;

location / {
  alias /var/www/my_idlers/public/;

  index index.php;
  client_max_body_size 256M;

  #Laravel: append $query_string
  try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;

  location ~ [^/]\.php(/|$) {
    fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
    #fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm-my_idlers.sock;
    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
   
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    include fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_pass_header Authorization;
  }

  # Include SSOWAT user panel.
  include conf.d/yunohost_panel.conf.inc;
}
# not tested; it may have trouble redirecting
location /api/ {
  try_files $uri $uri/ /api/index.php?$query_string;
}

The first line (rewrite) in the nginx.conf above is a workaround to get index.php found at all, but it breaks access to non-php files (CSS, for example)

After I comment out the rewrite, restart nginx, put back the rewrite and restart nginx once more, the app and access to static files work.

Of course, there is a mistake in the config, but I have tried many permutations without reliable result.

Things I think I know, but seem to be unable to do without:

  • rewrite ^(.*)$ /index.php$1 last; drops every request as a parameter into index.php. Usually try_files has the same result, but not here
  • try_files - the directive is supposed to find the requested resource either as a file, as a directory or, if not found, use it as a parameter to index.php. Without the above rewrite rule, it has at least the first, sometimes both of these effects:
    • $path and index.php get concatenated without a / in between, resulting in 404 for /var/www/my_idlers/publicindex.php
    • In some permutations of testing there must have been a relative path I was unable to find, as the 404 mentioned /usr/share/nginx/htmlindex.php ; aigain, notice the missing /.
  • I suppose having both a root directive and a alias directive is superfluous. Should adding the alias for each (nested) location have the same result? I imagine at least location /api/ would need the alias, but the (nested) php location was helped by the root directive.

I should mention that there may be interference from upper level of (generic YNH) nginx conf files. I was able to get the app running via nginx on a non-Yunohost server. The config used then was the starting point for my YNH package.

I’ll be looking forward to any input. In the mean time I’ll be testing some more.

2

Eeeeh i didn’t read the whole thing but i’m a bit uncomfortable with the first two lines being in global scope

I would ditch the root one that seems unecessary (cf the “alias” 3 lines below that already achieves the thing)

and move the “rewrite” one to inside the location block ?

1 Like
3

Ha, thanks :slight_smile:

That works, wohoo!

4

Un-be-lievable, it does not work after all. I must have messed up testing afterwards.

Upon cleaning the repo and testing everything on a new server… The behaviour returs:

  • Upon install, the app works but without CSS (as symptom of unability to serve static files)
  • Comment out the rewrite rule, restart nginx. Now CSS / static files work but PHP files do not.The app breaks.
  • Uncomment the rewrite rule, restart nginx. Now PHP works again, and static files keep working

The rewrite in question is the 4th line in the config below,

  rewrite ^(.*)$ /index.php$1 last;
my_idlers.conf as installed 
location / {
  alias /var/www/my_idlers/public/;
  # try redirecting stuff to index.php
  rewrite ^(.*)$ /index.php$1 last;

  index index.php;
  client_max_body_size 256M;

  #Laravel: append $query_string
  try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;

  location ~ [^/]\.php(/|$) {
    fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
    #fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm-my_idlers.sock;
    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
   
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    include fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_pass_header Authorization;
  }

  # Include SSOWAT user panel.
  include conf.d/yunohost_panel.conf.inc;
}
# not tested; it may have trouble redirecting
location /api/ {
  alias /var/www/my_idlers/public/;
  try_files $uri $uri/ /api/index.php?$query_string;
}
5

Weeeell… One way or another, in utter dispair, I turned to Laravel docs. Lo and behold, there is a nginx conf that, slightly edited to get rid of the server directive, just works.

After all the trouble I went through, the finally working conf file seems deceptively simple:

location / {
    root __INSTALL_DIR__/public;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    index index.html index.htm index.php;
}


location ~ \.php$ {
    root __INSTALL_DIR__/public;
    index index.html index.htm index.php;
    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php__PHP_VERSION__-fpm.sock;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    include fastcgi_params;
}

location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
    deny all;
}

If one of you got a solution to make it even simpler, please let me know! For now I’m happy the app is working :slight_smile: