Forum: NGINX Random order of configuration file reading

Hello,

we have a bunch of servers which are configured 100% equal expect of 
host
specific settings like ip address in the listener using chef/puppet. 
Nginx
seems to read include / config files not in the same order on each 
server.

For example we haven't defined a default vhost on each server... so 
nginx
uses the first loaded file which is exampleA.com on server 1 and
exampleB.com on server 2.

Furhtermore we use the upstream check status module, the status page is
randomly ordered at each server...

Is it possible to configure nginx to read config in the alphabeticial
order?

For example

vhosts/exampleA.com (1.)
vhosts/exampleB.com (2.)

...

Posted at Nginx Forum: 
http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,233269,233269#msg-233269

Hi,

On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 10:07 PM, philipp <nginx-forum@nginx.us> wrote:

> Furhtermore we use the upstream check status module, the status page is
> randomly ordered at each server...
>
> Is it possible to configure nginx to read config in the alphabeticial
> order?
>
> For example
>
> vhosts/exampleA.com (1.)
> vhosts/exampleB.com (2.)
>

This is a known issue. It has been fixed in our own
Tengine<http://tengine.taobao.org>
 distribution:
https://github.com/taobao/tengine/blob/master/src/...

If you want to use official nginx only, you can apply the patch below:

@Maxim:
Would you please consider to apply this patch to the trunk? Thanks in
advance.


Index: src/os/unix/ngx_files.c
===================================================================
--- src/os/unix/ngx_files.c     (revision 4942)
+++ src/os/unix/ngx_files.c     (working copy)
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@
 {
     int  n;

-    n = glob((char *) gl->pattern, GLOB_NOSORT, NULL, &gl->pglob);
+    n = glob((char *) gl->pattern, 0, NULL, &gl->pglob);

     if (n == 0) {
         return NGX_OK;


Regards,

Hello!

On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 07:48:27PM +0800, Joshua Zhu wrote:

> > For example we haven't defined a default vhost on each server... so nginx
> >
>
> @Maxim:
> Would you please consider to apply this patch to the trunk? Thanks in
> advance.

I've already proposed removing GLOB_NOSORT to Igor a while ago.
His position on this is to keep this in sync with Windows version
where there is no sort guaranties.

[...]

--
Maxim Dounin
http://nginx.com/support.html

> Hello!

> I've already proposed removing GLOB_NOSORT to Igor a while ago.
> His position on this is to keep this in sync with Windows version
> where there is no sort guaranties.
>
> [...]

Can't we just pass that as a config option so that the configure script
detects the build environment and if were on *NIX the sorting is 
enabled?

Thanks,
--appa

>> Hello!
>
>> I've already proposed removing GLOB_NOSORT to Igor a while ago.
>> His position on this is to keep this in sync with Windows version
>> where there is no sort guaranties.
>>
>> [...]
>
> Can't we just pass that as a config option so that the configure script
> detects the build environment and if were on *NIX the sorting is enabled?

s/were/we're/

--appa

On 28.11.2012 14:23, Maxim Dounin wrote:

>
> I've already proposed removing GLOB_NOSORT to Igor a while ago.
> His position on this is to keep this in sync with Windows version
> where there is no sort guaranties.

this just can be described in documentation as drawback
of windows version of nginx, as many other "Known issues"
and limitations at http://nginx.org/en/docs/windows.html

because the UNIX version of nginx is the major and main stream.
so the best possible capabilities must be present in UNIX version,
not in windows one. and windows version must be compatible with
UNIX version, if this is possible.

now - capabilities of mainstream UNIX version artificially limited
to be "compatible" with even not-production-ready windows version.

this is very strange and unexpected and confusing
for users of mainstream UNIX/Linux version of nginx
(and this is more than 99% of all use cases of nginx)

for example, windows 7 not support cache module
and many other modules - but this is not reason
for remove this feature from UNIX version of nginx.

P.S.

similar example: method java.io.File.renameTo
(function "rename")works differently on Windows and UNIX,
this is "Known issues" and can't be avoided in any case.

btw, similar "rename bugs" and incompatibilities also
must be presented also in windows/unix version of nginx

http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4017593
java.io.File.renameTo has different semantics on Solaris and Win32

http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/fun...
rename

--
Best regards,
  Gena

Hello!

On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 01:27:04PM +0100, Antonio P.P. Almeida wrote:

> > Hello!
>
> > I've already proposed removing GLOB_NOSORT to Igor a while ago.
> > His position on this is to keep this in sync with Windows version
> > where there is no sort guaranties.
> >
> > [...]
>
> Can't we just pass that as a config option so that the configure script
> detects the build environment and if were on *NIX the sorting is enabled?

The codepath in question is unix-only, the question is about user
experience which will be different on unix and win32 with
GLOB_NOSORT removed on unix.

Right now one can't rely on wildcard include ordering, and this is
consistent for all platforms supported.  And "listen ... default"
should be used to mark default server if one uses wildcard include
to include multiple server blocks listening on the same some
ip:port.  With the GLOB_NOSORT removed the behaviour will be
different on unix (included files will be sorted) and win32
(included files are not guaranteed to be sorted), which is
considered bad.

(I personally think that GLOB_NOSORT should be removed anyway.
I'll talk to Igor again about this.)

--
Maxim Dounin
http://nginx.com/support.html

Hello!

On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 06:15:50PM +0400, Maxim Dounin wrote:

> > > [...]
> should be used to mark default server if one uses wildcard include
> to include multiple server blocks listening on the same some
> ip:port.  With the GLOB_NOSORT removed the behaviour will be
> different on unix (included files will be sorted) and win32
> (included files are not guaranteed to be sorted), which is
> considered bad.
>
> (I personally think that GLOB_NOSORT should be removed anyway.
> I'll talk to Igor again about this.)

I've discussed this with Igor, and this time he finnally approved
removing GLOB_NOSORT.  Committed,

http://trac.nginx.org/nginx/changeset/4944/nginx

Thanks to all for prodding this.

--
Maxim Dounin
http://nginx.com/support.html

Hi,

On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 7:25 AM, Maxim Dounin <mdounin@mdounin.ru> 
wrote:

> Hello!


[...]

>
> I've discussed this with Igor, and this time he finnally approved
> removing GLOB_NOSORT.  Committed,
>

Cool! Thanks :)

Regards,