145

What is the easiest way to enable PHP on nginx on Ubuntu 12.04?

Best solution is the one that request minimal work, ideally just a package installation :)

Jorge Castro
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sorin
  • 10,135

3 Answers3

147

The following method will get you started fast on Ubuntu 12.04:

Install the dependences:

sudo apt-get install php5-common php5-cli php5-fpm

Install nginx:

sudo apt-get install nginx

Start nginx:

sudo service nginx start

Test that it's working (should see "Welcome to nginx!")

sudo service nginx stop

In your nginx site configuration (/etc/nginx/sites-available/default), modify the line in the server {} section

index index.html index.htm to index index.php index.html index.htm.

Uncomment the lines in the server {} section starting with

listen for ipv4 / ipv6 both.

Scroll down to where it says location ~ \.php { and uncomment lines so it looks like this:

location ~ \.php$ {
  fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
  fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
  fastcgi_index index.php;
  include fastcgi_params;
}

sudo service php5-fpm restart sudo service nginx restart

Your default web root is located at /usr/share/nginx/www (per the config file). (See root /usr/share/nginx/www;

(Note: For Ubuntu 12.10 or newer, you will need to replace the fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000; line with this to make it work: fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;)

Eliah Kagan
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papashou
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50

EDIT: As pointed out by Matt Browne you may be interested by this more recent post:
How To Install Linux, Nginx, MySQL, PHP (LEMP stack) in Ubuntu 16.04

The papashou's answer is correct on old Ubuntu 12.04. Since Ubuntu 12.10, the configuration is a bit different. Here is what I did:

Install

sudo apt-get install nginx php5-fpm

Enable PHP

Uncomment the following lines in configuration file /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

location ~ \.php$ {
    fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
    # NOTE: You should have "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0;" in php.ini

#   # With php5-cgi alone:
#   fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
    # With php5-fpm:
    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    include fastcgi_params;
}

Start (or restart)

sudo service php5-fpm restart
sudo service nginx restart

Test nginx

Opening this link http://localhost should display "Welcome to nginx!"

Test php

Create a php file:

  • The target path is the output of

    awk -F' |;' '/^[^#]*root/ {print $2}' /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

    e.g. /usr/share/nginx/www

  • Write a info.php file with:

    echo '<?php phpinfo(); ?>' | \
    sudo tee /usr/share/nginx/www/info.php

    or as one-liner

    echo '<?php phpinfo(); ?>' | \
    sudo tee "$(awk -F' |;' '/^[^#]*root/ {print $2}' /etc/nginx/sites-available/default)/info.php"

Opening http://localhost/info.php should display the PHP information page.

Community
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oHo
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2
sudo apt install nginx php-fpm

Note the fpm version, or check php -v. 7.3.11-0ubuntu0.19.10.3 (cli) in my case.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

  1. Set the correct root folder.

  2. Add index.php to the index directive.

  3. Uncomment the location handler for php, but leave the "php-cgi" line commented if you use php-fpm. Also ensure the correct fpm version lest you get "502 Bad Gateway" on localhost: fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.3-fpm.sock;

sudo service nginx restart

That works on:

$ nginx -v
nginx version: nginx/1.16.1 (Ubuntu)
$ uname -a
Linux cees-XPS-13-9380 4.15.0-1067-oem #77-Ubuntu SMP Mon Jan 20 09:23:07 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Cees Timmerman
  • 631