Compile & Install Nginx for Raspberry Pi 2ΒΆ

Download nginx stable version, 1.8.0 at the time of writing, from the official website:

$ wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.8.0.tar.gz

Compile Nginx with the following configuration:

$ sudo apt-get install libpcre3-dev zlib1g-dev libssl-dev


$ ./configure \
--user=nginx                          \
--group=nginx                         \
--prefix=/etc/nginx                   \
--sbin-path=/usr/sbin/nginx           \
--conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf     \
--pid-path=/var/run/nginx.pid         \
--lock-path=/var/run/nginx.lock       \
--error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log \
--http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log \
--with-http_gzip_static_module        \
--with-http_stub_status_module        \
--with-http_ssl_module                \
--with-pcre                           \
--with-file-aio                       \
--with-http_realip_module


$ make
$ sudo checkinstall

After executing checkinstall you will find a deb file, nginx_1.8.0-1_armhf.deb, ready to be reinstalled whenever you want.

The configuration files will be located in /etc/nginx.

If it doens’t exist create a script in /etc/init.d folder to manage the nginx daemon:

#!/bin/sh

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          nginx
# Required-Start:    $local_fs $remote_fs $network $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $local_fs $remote_fs $network $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: starts the nginx web server
# Description:       starts nginx using start-stop-daemon
### END INIT INFO

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
DAEMON=/usr/sbin/nginx
NAME=nginx
DESC=nginx

# Include nginx defaults if available
if [ -f /etc/default/nginx ]; then
        . /etc/default/nginx
fi

test -x $DAEMON || exit 0

set -e

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

test_nginx_config() {
        if $DAEMON -t $DAEMON_OPTS >/dev/null 2>&1; then
                return 0
        else
                $DAEMON -t $DAEMON_OPTS
                return $?
        fi
}

case "$1" in
        start)
                echo -n "Starting $DESC: "
                test_nginx_config
                # Check if the ULIMIT is set in /etc/default/nginx
                if [ -n "$ULIMIT" ]; then
                        # Set the ulimits
                        ulimit $ULIMIT
                fi
                start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile /var/run/$NAME.pid \
                        --exec $DAEMON -- $DAEMON_OPTS || true
                echo "$NAME."
                ;;

        stop)
                echo -n "Stopping $DESC: "
                start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile /var/run/$NAME.pid \
                        --exec $DAEMON || true
                echo "$NAME."
                ;;

        restart|force-reload)
                echo -n "Restarting $DESC: "
                start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile \
                        /var/run/$NAME.pid --exec $DAEMON || true
                sleep 1
                test_nginx_config
                # Check if the ULIMIT is set in /etc/default/nginx
                if [ -n "$ULIMIT" ]; then
                        # Set the ulimits
                        ulimit $ULIMIT
                fi
                start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile \
                        /var/run/$NAME.pid --exec $DAEMON -- $DAEMON_OPTS || true
                echo "$NAME."
                ;;

        reload)
                echo -n "Reloading $DESC configuration: "
                test_nginx_config
                start-stop-daemon --stop --signal HUP --quiet --pidfile /var/run/$NAME.pid \
                        --exec $DAEMON || true
                echo "$NAME."
                ;;

        configtest|testconfig)
                echo -n "Testing $DESC configuration: "
                if test_nginx_config; then
                        echo "$NAME."
                else
                        exit $?
                fi
                ;;

        status)
                status_of_proc -p /var/run/$NAME.pid "$DAEMON" nginx && exit 0 || exit $?
                ;;
        *)
                echo "Usage: $NAME {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload|status|configtest}" >&2
                exit 1
                ;;
esac

exit 0

See also