Install NGiNX module from source on Mac OSX

1. Install NGiNX with Homebrew:

If you already have your NGiNX installation, just skip this step.

brew install nginx

2. Create and enter a temporary folder to compile NGiNX and modules from source:

mkdir ~/tmp-dir && cd ~/tmp-dir

3. Download and unpack source code of NGiNX. It MUST be the same version as we got from the following command:

nginx -v

curl -OL https://nginx.org/download/nginx-X.XX.X.tar.gz

tar xvzf nginx-X.XX.X.tar.gz && rm nginx-X.XX.X.tar.gz

4. Download and unpack source code of module you want to add. For example ngx_http_js_module (NJS):

curl -OL http://hg.nginx.org/njs/archive/tip.tar.gz

tar xvzf tip.tar.gz && rm tip.tar.gz

5. Find current NGiNX compile flags we will use for (re)compiling:

nginx -V

6. Copy-paste these flags and if are present, remove all --add-dynamic-module flags. These flags are used for adding additional modules. Because these modules are already compiled, we don't need to recompile them.

7. Use updated flags and add to them new flag --add-dynamic-module that will point to our module. Finally (re)compile NGiNX with updated flags. It should look like this:

cd nginx-X.XX.X

sudo ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/nginx/X.XX.X --sbin-path=/usr/local/Cellar/nginx/X.XX.X/bin/nginx --with-cc-opt='-I/usr/local/opt/pcre/include -I/usr/local/opt/openssl/include' --with-ld-opt='-L/usr/local/opt/pcre/lib -L/usr/local/opt/openssl/lib' --conf-path=/usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --pid-path=/usr/local/var/run/nginx.pid --lock-path=/usr/local/var/run/nginx.lock --http-client-body-temp-path=/usr/local/var/run/nginx/client_body_temp --http-proxy-temp-path=/usr/local/var/run/nginx/proxy_temp --http-fastcgi-temp-path=/usr/local/var/run/nginx/fastcgi_temp --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/usr/local/var/run/nginx/uwsgi_temp --http-scgi-temp-path=/usr/local/var/run/nginx/scgi_temp --http-log-path=/usr/local/var/log/nginx/access.log --error-log-path=/usr/local/var/log/nginx/error.log --with-compat --with-debug --with-http_addition_module --with-http_auth_request_module --with-http_dav_module --with-http_degradation_module --with-http_flv_module --with-http_gunzip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_mp4_module --with-http_random_index_module --with-http_realip_module --with-http_secure_link_module --with-http_slice_module --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_sub_module --with-http_v2_module --with-ipv6 --with-mail --with-mail_ssl_module --with-pcre --with-pcre-jit --with-stream --with-stream_realip_module --with-stream_ssl_module --with-stream_ssl_preread_module --add-dynamic-module=../njs-XXXXXXXXXXXX

sudo make modules

8. Install compiled module:

mkdir /usr/local/Cellar/nginx/X.XX.X/modules

cp objs/ngx_*.so /usr/local/Cellar/nginx/X.XX.X/modules

9. Now you should be able to load new module by adding the following command to your nginx.conf file:

load_module modules/ngx_http_js_module.so;

File nginx.conf is located at /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf. Everytime you add/load new module reload NGiNX with brew services reload nginx.