NGINX Unit
v. 1.32.1

Joomla§

To run the Joomla content management system using Unit:

  1. Install Unit with a PHP language module.

  2. Install and configure Joomla’s prerequisites.

  3. Install Joomla’s core files. Here, we install it at /path/to/app/; use a real path in your configuration.

  4. Run the following command so Unit can access the application directory:

    # chown -R unit:unit /path/to/app/
    

    Note

    The unit:unit user-group pair is available only with official packages, Docker images, and some third-party repos. Otherwise, account names may differ; run the ps aux | grep unitd command to be sure.

    For further details, including permissions, see the security checklist.

  5. Next, prepare the Joomla configuration for Unit (use real values for share and root):

    {
        "listeners": {
            "*:80": {
                "pass": "routes"
            }
        },
    
        "routes": [
            {
                "match": {
                    "uri": [
                        "*.php",
                        "*.php/*",
                        "/administrator/"
                    ]
                },
    
                "action": {
                    "pass": "applications/joomla/direct"
                }
            },
            {
                "action": {
                    "share": "/path/to/app$uri",
                    "fallback": {
                        "pass": "applications/joomla/index"
                    }
                }
            }
        ],
    
        "applications": {
            "joomla": {
                "type": "php",
                "targets": {
                    "direct": {
                        "root": "/path/to/app/"
                    },
    
                    "index": {
                        "root": "/path/to/app/",
                        "script": "index.php"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    

    The first route step handles the admin section and all URLs that specify a PHP script; the direct target doesn’t set the script option to be used by default, so Unit looks for the respective .php file.

    The next step serves static files via a share. Its fallback enables rewrite mechanics for search-friendly URLs. All requests go to the index target that runs the index.php script at Joomla’s directory root.

  6. Upload the updated configuration. Assuming the JSON above was added to config.json:

    # curl -X PUT --data-binary @config.json --unix-socket \
           /path/to/control.unit.sock http://localhost/config/
    

    Note

    The control socket path may vary; run unitd -h or see Startup and Shutdown for details.

    After a successful update, Joomla should be available on the listener’s IP and port to finish the setup:

Joomla on Unit - Setup Screen