Unit 1.33.0 Released§
We are pleased to announce the release of NGINX Unit 1.33.0. This release includes a number of new features and changes:
New configuration options§
This release introduces three new configuration options:
listen_threads
This option can be set under /settings/listen_threads and controls the number of threads the router process creates to handle client connections. By default, Unit creates the same number of threads as there are CPUs available.
backlog
This option can be set under /listeners/backlog. This is a per-listener option that sets the the backlog parameter as passed to the listen(2) system-call, which defines the maximum length for the queue of pending connections for the socket.
This is analogous to the backlog parameter of the listen directive in NGINX.
factory
This option can be set under ‘/applications/<app>/factory’ and is specific to Python applications. This allows you to enable the Application factories feature of Python.
This option is a boolean value. If set to ‘true’, Unit treats ‘callable’ as a factory.
The default value is ‘false’.
NOTE: Unit does not support passing arguments to factories.
unitctl CLI tool§
unitctl is a Rust-based CLI tool that allows you to deploy, manage, and configure Unit in your environment.
Note
This is a “Technical Preview” release of unitctl. We welcome feedback and suggestions for this early access version. It is provided to test its features and should not be used in production environments.
Chunked request body support§
Unit can now accept chunked requests rather than returning 411 Length Required. This feature is experimental (not documented and subject to change), and can be enabled setting the /settings/chunked_transform configuration option to true.
Changes in behavior and other updates§
On Linux, we now default to a listen(2) backlog of -1, which means we use the OS’s default: 4096 for Linux 5.4 and later; 128 for older versions.
The previous default for Unit was 511.
Under systemd, Unit once again runs in forking mode. This allows the per-application logging feature to work out the box.
The Python language module now supports Application Factories (thanks to Gourav).
Changes for developers§
We have made some changes to the build system:
Prettified make output by default with GNU make§
Instead of getting the normal compiler command for each target being built you now get a simplified line like:
CC build/src/nxt_cgroup.o
You can use the V=1 option to get the old verbose output, for example:
make V=1
Make variables§
You can now control some aspects of the build process by passing variables to make (like the above). The currently supported variables are:
| Option | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| D=1 | Enables debug builds (-O0) | 0 |
| E=0 | Disables -Werror | 1 |
| V=1 | Enables verbose output | 0 |
| EXTRA_CFLAGS= | Add extra compiler options |
GCC & Clang§
We removed support for several lesser-known compilers. GCC and Clang are now the only supported compilers for building Unit.
-std=gnu11§
We now build with -std=gnu11 (C11 with GNU extensions). While previously we didn’t explicitly set the -std= option, as we were supporting CentOS 7 (which is now EOL), we were effectively limited to -std=gnu89/90.
Wall of fame§
Special Thanks to all external contributors helping us making Unit better! With 1.33.0 we would like to send a shout out to:
- Alejandro Colomar
- Costas Drongos
- Gourav
- Remi Collet
- Robbie McKinstry
Special thanks to Arjun for his fuzzing work.
Full Changelog§
Changes with Unit 1.33.0 18 Sep 2024
*) Feature: show list of loaded language modules in the /status
endpoint.
*) Feature: make the number of router threads configurable.
*) Feature: make the listen(2) backlog configurable.
*) Feature: add fuzzing via oss-fuzz.
*) Feature: add Python application factory support.
*) Feature: add chunked request body support.
*) Feature: add "if" option to the "match" object.
*) Feature: Unit ships with a new Rust based CLI application "unitctl".
*) Feature: the wasm-wasi-component language module now inherits the
processes environment.
*) Change: under systemd unit runs in forking mode (once again).
*) Change: if building with njs, version 0.8.3 or later is now required.
*) Change: Unit now builds with -std=gnu11 (C11 with GNU extensions).
*) Change: Unit now creates the full directory path for the PID file and
control socket.
*) Change: build system improvements, including pretty printing the make
output and enabling various make variables to influence the build
process (see: make help).
*) Change: better detection of available runnable CPUs on Linux.
*) Change: default listen(2) backlog on Linux now defaults to Kernel
default.
*) Bugfix: fix a crash when interrupting a download via a proxy.
*) Bugfix: don't create the $runstatedir directory which triggered an
Alpine packaging error.
*) Bugfix: wasm-wasi-component application process hangs after receiving
restart signal from the control endpoint.
*) Bugfix: njs variables accessed with a JS template literal should not
be cacheable.
*) Bugfix: don't modify REQUEST_URI.
*) Bugfix: properly handle deleting arrays of certificates.