Resolved Recompiling nginx 1.13.6 for Plesk Onyx on CentOS 6.9

[UnS3eN]

A few months ago I compiled 1.13.6 for our Plesk server using a guide I found somewhere here (can't find it right now).
It all worked fine until I needed to run an internal site on node.js. Turns out, the guide I used didn't include the 'passenger' module and now I'm trying to recompile it with the said module. 4 hours of banging my head against the wall with pagespeed compilation issues, I'm now staring at

adding module in /usr/share/passenger/ngx_http_passenger_module
./configure: error: no /usr/share/passenger/ngx_http_passenger_module/config was found

because I only have the old 1.11.10 .so in that location - no config, no source - that no longer works with 1.13.6.

Any ideas on where I can get my hands on the proper version module source?

 

[Brujo]

well i belive the guide you are looking for was Input - Bash script to compile Nginx from source with additional modules on Plesk Onyx

 

[UnS3eN]

It's not. I didn't follow that specific guide, but this one is pretty much the same and doesn't include the passenger module either:

   --add-module=/usr/local/src/ngx_cache_purge \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/headers-more-nginx-module \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/memc-nginx-module \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/ngx_devel_kit \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/echo-nginx-module \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/ngx_http_substitutions_filter_module \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/redis2-nginx-module \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/srcache-nginx-module \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/set-misc-nginx-module \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/ngx_http_redis \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/ngx_brotli \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/ngx_http_auth_pam_module \
   --add-module=/usr/local/src/nginx-module-vts \

I've no need for a slightly newer version of nginx that has no support for the module when sw-nginx does in the default plesk build.

 

[UnS3eN]

There might be more posts after this.

Yeah, only by people with the same issue. To which the answer given by IgorG is "If you're not using it, delete the config." Don't think I haven't gone through the forums before posting.

Great! What if I AM using it?

 

[IgorG]

nginx recompiling is a non-standard and experimental procedure which is necessary only for those who know for what it is necessary and who has enough expertise. Non-trivial tasks may occur there and we glad to hear and share solutions in our community
Perhaps you are the first who uses passenger module and wants to re-compile nginx with passenger support

 

[UnS3eN]

nginx recompiling is a non-standard and experimental procedure which is necessary only for those who know for what it is necessary and who has enough expertise. Non-trivial tasks may occur there and we glad to hear and share solutions in our community
Perhaps you are the first who uses passenger module and wants to re-compile nginx with passenger support

Interesting.
Plesk's own 1.11.10 sw-nginx comes with passenger support, but it's suddenly a "non-trivial" issue when people want a newer version of nginx that supports ALPN for HTTP2.

 

[IgorG]

Interesting.
Plesk's own 1.11.10 sw-nginx comes with passenger support, but it's suddenly a "non-trivial" issue when people want a newer version of nginx that supports ALPN for HTTP2.

Actually, we do not support custom components compilations and do not recommend to use custom compilations of nginx and you should use nginx out of the box.
This is only your own initiative and we take no responsibility for the fact that something does not work for you.
And if I did something for this on this forum, it was only on my own initiative, as an ordinary Plesk user, but not as an employee of Plesk company.

 

[UnS3eN]

Actually, we do not support custom components compilations and do not recommend to use custom compilations of nginx and you should use nginx out of the box.

I understand that part. However, there seem to be a lot of people having to do just that because Plesk still haven't implemented a feature that's been out for years.

 

[trialotto]

I understand that part. However, there seem to be a lot of people having to do just that because Plesk still haven't implemented a feature that's been out for years.

@UnS3eN

To be honest, I am not a big fan of the current Nginx binary, as shipped by default with Plesk........

......... but still I have to support @IgorG and the choices made by Plesk Team.

In essence, Plesk Team opts for a stable and bare minimum compilation of Nginx and that is a good thing.

For many reasons, custom compilations of Nginx can be dangerous, in the sense that they are error prone (read: potentially buggy).

First of all, Nginx (open source variant) is best compiled from the mainline branches, not from the stable branches..........this is pointed out by Nginx themselves, by simply stating that they are more likely to fix bugs faster in the mainline branches.

As a result, it often is the case that a latest stable release of Nginx is not that stable, at least in comparison to older releases.

Secondly, many modules for Nginx are not maintained or created by Nginx, implying that adding "exotic" modules is not adding to the stability of the Nginx binary.

A good example of that is the PageSpeed module, as such the reason for many Plesk users to want a custom compilation, which PageSpeed module still is in beta!!!!

In conclusion, I do agree that Plesk Team could add some additional (valuable) modules, but not at the price of stability.

Kind regards......

PS It is not that difficult to replace the default Plesk binary by a different binary: after all, it is also possible to nick a Nginx binary from other OS distributions (at least, that worked in the past for me, when noticing that some Debian/Ubuntu binaries are fully loaded) OR to use instructions on this forum or on other websites to compile Nginx.