How to install symfony2 app in a subdirectory in nginx - symfony

Question

I need to install multiple symfony2 applications on the same host but on different subdirectories (or location blocks).
With this config nginx throws a "file not found" or redirect loop message when trying to access any url.
Example:
/login -> /base/login
/app1 -> /base/app1
/app2 -> /base/app2
Current Config:
root /base/default; #Points to an empty directory
# Login Application
location ^~ /login {
alias /base/login/web;
try_files $uri app_dev.php;
}
# Anything else
location ~ ^/([\w\-]+) {
alias /base/$1/web;
try_files $uri app_dev.php;
}
location / {
# Redirect to the login
rewrite ^ /login redirect;
}
# Handle PHP
location ~ \.php$ {
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
fastcgi_param PATH_TRANSLATED $document_root$fastcgi_path_info;
fastcgi_param HTTPS off;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
}

Answer 1

After hours spended to find this (sf2 doc doesn't explain how cgi parameters are needed and interpreted, you need to go through Request.php to understand), so I share this.
This is a config which seems ok with sf2 in a directory {subdir} (and web access to others files than {subdir}/web/* prohibited).
It works for me with php-fpm (socket).
Of course, replace "{subdir}" by your /path/from/docroot/to/symfony_root/
dev environnement can be choosen by adding "dev" to "{subdir}" (since app_dev.php in the url no longer works with this conf)
server {
# general directives
location ~ ^/{subdir}(/.*)$ {
try_files /{subdir}/web$1 #sf2;
}
location ~ ^/{subdir}dev(/.*)$ {
expires off;
try_files /{subdir}/web$1 #sf2dev;
}
location #sf2 {
expires off;
fastcgi_pass {your backend};
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root/{subdir}/web/app.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME /{subdir}/app.php;
fastcgi_param REQUEST_URI /{subdir}$1;
}
location #sf2dev {
expires off;
fastcgi_pass {your backend};
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root/{subdir}/web/app_dev.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME /{subdir}dev/app_dev.php;
fastcgi_param REQUEST_URI /{subdir}dev$1;
}
# other location directives
# if some others apps needs php, put your usual location to cactch php here
}
I Hope it helps (and there isn't any misconfiguration), given without any guarantee...
Of course you can pick out prod/dev conf if you don't need. And you can use var and only one #sf2 location instead :
set $sf2_root /{subdir};
location ~ ^/{subdir}(/.*)$ {
set $sf2_prefix /{subdir};
set $sf2_ctrl app.php;
try_files $sf2_root/web$1 #sf2;
}
location ~ ^/{subdir}dev(/.*)$ {
set $sf2_prefix /{subdir}dev;
set $sf2_ctrl app_dev.php;
expires off;
try_files $sf2_root/web$1 #sf2;
}
location #sf2 {
expires off;
fastcgi_pass {your backend};
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$sf2_root/web/$sf2_ctrl;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME $sf2_prefix/$sf2_ctrl;
fastcgi_param REQUEST_URI $sf2_prefix$1;
}

Answer 2

Here is a simpler configuration for symfony2 on the "/front/" subdirectory.
Route generation and assets work fine.
The configuration
set $frontRoot /your/project/path/web;
set $sfApp app_dev.php; # Change to app.php for prod
location /front/ { # Static files
root $frontRoot;
rewrite ^/front/(.*)$ /$1 break;
try_files $uri #sfFront;
}
location #sfFront { # Symfony
fastcgi_pass phpfcgi;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $frontRoot/$sfApp;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME /front/$sfApp;
fastcgi_param REQUEST_URI /front$uri?$args;
fastcgi_param HTTPS off;
}
Some explanation
The trick is to make symfony believe app.php script is in /front/, so it generates routes and assets with this path.
I looked at what apache was giving to MOD-PHP to use the same values.
SCRIPT_FILENAME: The absolute path to the PHP file. Here, it is always /your/project/path/app_dev.php
REQUEST_URI: The URI the user entered. Here, we have to manually re-add /front at the begining of the path as it was removed by the file serving location (via rewrite ^/front/(.*)$ /$1 break;)
SCRIPT_NAME: The value is /front/app_dev.php. This is the most important part. Symfony will cut app_dev.php and prepend /front to all its routes.

Answer 3

Based on dcaillibaud's answer, here's a more generic configuration,
allowing to support multiple Symfony (version 2 or 3) projects under the root web path, using some regular expression magic:
server {
# other specific directives...
root /var/www;
location ~ ^/([^/]+)/dev(/.*)$ {
location ~ \.php { deny all; }
set $sf2_root /$1;
set $sf2_prefix /$1/dev;
set $sf2_ctrl app_dev.php;
expires off;
try_files $sf2_root/web$2 #sf2;
}
location ~ ^/([^/]+)(/.*)$ {
location ~ \.php { deny all; }
set $sf2_root /$1;
set $sf2_prefix /$1;
set $sf2_ctrl app.php;
try_files $sf2_root/web$2 #sf2;
}
location #sf2 {
expires off;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$sf2_root/web/$sf2_ctrl;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME $sf2_prefix/$sf2_ctrl;
fastcgi_param REQUEST_URI $sf2_prefix$2;
}
}
So basically, you'll have:
www.domain.com/project pointing to your PROD environment
and
www.domain.com/project/dev pointing to your DEV environment
Please replace the line:
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
with your appropriate backend
This can also be easily adapted for newer Symfony projects using index.php script instead of app(_dev).php, changing the web/public path, and setting some ENV variables.
I think this approach, answers better the original question.