Make Nginx follow symlinks

Question

Nginx does not follow symbolic links. I get a 404 error. In my directory, I have this link:

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root    48 Sep 23 08:52 modules -> /path/to/dir/

but the files stored in /path/to/dir aren't found.

Have a look at http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#disable_symlinks — Andy, Sep 23 '14 at 09:54
Please either type your solution as an answer and accept it (it's fair behaviour here) or elsewhere delete your question. — leonbloy, Sep 23 '14 at 11:19
Any other ideas? I'm having this problem, I tried putting disable_symlinks off; in my conf (even though that is actually the default anyways) and nothing is working. — , May 01 '15 at 00:43
@Jason make sure the path to the symlinked file is readable and executable, e.g. run chmod +rx on all the preceding folders, and the file itself. — Shou, Sep 02 '15 at 00:50

score 69 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 07 '15 at 15:34

69

I insert disable_symlinks off; in my nginx.conf and i resolved, works fine!

http {
    disable_symlinks off;
}

edited Nov 07 '15 at 15:34

Nakilon

answered Sep 23 '14 at 17:05

stecog

I got `nginx: [emerg] unknown directive "disable_symlinks" in /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:22` after doing this. I was using `nginx/1.8.0` on Mac OS X. – frozen-flame Dec 10 '15 at 09:17
2

@frozen-flame `disable_symlinks` was added in version 1.1.15 ([see docs](http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#disable_symlinks)), so it should have worked. Are you sure you were on 1.8.0, and that it was in the allowed context (http, server, or location)? – Ville May 07 '16 at 01:47
4

Context to use `disable_symlinks`: `http, server, location` – Thiago Pereira Apr 04 '19 at 16:56

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 18 '16 at 13:34

4

Use 'bind' option by mounting folders =)

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Type:

/path/where/my/big/files_dir /var/www/myhost/media_dir bind defaults,bind 0 0

(no symlinks & don't forget restart vds/cpu)

edited Mar 18 '16 at 13:34

Anthon

answered Mar 18 '16 at 13:20

phpWebStudio

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 24 '15 at 04:39

2

I found the solution on this post.

More specifically, these lines:

fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param DOCUMENT_ROOT $realpath_root;

edited Nov 24 '15 at 04:39

muru

answered Nov 24 '15 at 04:06

Jonathan Martins

3 Answers3