Step-by-Step Guide to Building and Deploying Nginx from Source on Linux

First, change to the /opt directory and download the Nginx 1.18.0 source archive:

cd /opt
wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.18.0.tar.gz

Extract the archive: tar xf nginx-1.18.0.tar.gz Create the installation directory and compile Nginx:

cd nginx-1.18.0
./configure --prefix=/apps/nginx
make && make install

After compilation, create a symbolic link to the binary if needed and copy any additional configuration files.

Next, create a systemd service unit file (e.g., /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service) with the following content:

[Unit]
Description=The nginx HTTP and reverse proxy server

[Service]
PIDFile=/apps/nginx/logs/nginx.pid
ExecStart=/apps/nginx/sbin/nginx
ExecStop=/usr/bin/kill -s TERM $MAINPID
ExecReload=/apps/nginx/sbin/nginx -s reload

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload systemd to recognize the new unit, then start and enable Nginx:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl start nginx
systemctl enable nginx
systemctl status nginx

These commands verify that Nginx is running correctly and will start automatically on boot.