PHP execution on nginx - files being downloaded instead

Question

Hi,

I am attempting to execute PHP pages within my Nginx root directory, however despite many attempts to fix the issue they continue to be downloaded instead of executing. My nginx/sites-available/default file is:



server {
        listen 80 default_server;
        listen [::]:80 default_server;

         index index.php index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

         server_name _;

         # Serve up static content directly via nginx

         # Note: /var/www is a symlink to ~/qewd/www

         location / {
                  root /var/www;
                  try_files $uri $uri/ @qewd;

                  expires max;
                  access_log off;
          }

          location ~ \.php$ {
                  try_files $uri $uri/ ;
                  fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
                  fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
                  fastcgi_index index.php;
                  fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
                  include fastcgi_params;
                  access_log /var/www/php-access.log;
          }

No events are written to the php-access.log and on each occasion I attempt to access a php page in the root directory it is downloaded still. Nginx is correctly routing php to the location block as I have successfully tested 404 messages within the location block. The php7.2-fpm.sock file is within /var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock and the php7.2-fpm service is active.

I have tried changing the nginx.conf file for default_type from application/octet-stream to text/html and text/plain but this does not seem to have made a difference also

It seems as though nginx is not passing the php page to fpm but I’m not sure as to why or if I have missed something silly. My nginx user is www-data, which is also the owner of my php7.2-fpm.sock file.

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

KFSys · Answer

Heya all,

The Nginx configuration looks correct. However, there are a few possibilities why PHP files might be downloading instead of being executed:

Incorrect FastCGI params: The FastCGI parameters specified in your fastcgi_param directive might not be correct, resulting in the PHP files not being passed correctly to PHP-FPM.
Incorrect file permissions or ownership: Ensure the Nginx user (www-data or nginx typically) has the correct permissions to access the php7.2-fpm.sock file and the PHP files in your web directory.
The PHP-FPM service isn’t running: Verify that the PHP-FPM service is running correctly. You can do this by running systemctl status php7.2-fpm or service php7.2-fpm status, depending on your system.
Incorrect MIME type for PHP files: Ensure that Nginx is serving PHP files with the correct MIME type. This is typically text/html.
Try_files directive issue: In your location ~ \.php$ block, try_files $uri $uri/ ; might be causing problems. This could be causing Nginx to try and serve a directory instead of passing the request to PHP-FPM. Change it to try_files $uri =404;.
Mismatch in PHP versions: Make sure that the PHP version that your PHP-FPM is running is the same as the one Nginx is configured to use.

After making changes, always remember to restart the Nginx and PHP-FPM services for the changes to take effect. You can do this with systemctl restart nginx and systemctl restart php7.2-fpm or service nginx restart and service php7.2-fpm restart depending on your system.

If anyone else stumbles upon this and it’s encountering problems, checking the Nginx and PHP-FPM error logs might provide more insight into what’s going wrong.

Frank Jernigan · Answer

I’m not sure what is wrong with yours, but this worked for me when I was having that problem:

server {

   server_name my-domain.com;
   root /usr/share/nginx/html;
   location = favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
   index  index.php;
   location / {
       try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
   }
   location ~ \.php$ {
       fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/www.sock;
       fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
       include fastcgi_params;
   }

NOTE: I left out the listen statements in this example since mine is using port 443 (for HTTPS). This is the relevant part for what you are trying to solve.