[UPDATE 2023] How to Install and Compile ngx_pagespeed with Nginx with VestaCP/myVesta on Linux

First, I would like to thank Mysterydata for their article on this subject. The thing is they did provide a downloadable library ngx_pagespeed.so but this file is compiled for the Nginx 1.18.0 version. And now VestaCP provide another Nginx version and their library is not compatible anymore.

Some of my websites really need Pagespeed, so I found the way to compile it myself. I will also provide the downloadable library here for the last version.

Downloadable ngx_pagespeed (easy method)

ngx_pagespeed Downloads

Get the module

cd /etc/nginx/modules
sudo rm -rf ngx_http_brotli*
sudo wget --no-cache https://metrodyn.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ngx_pagespeed-1.22.1.zip
sudo unzip ngx_pagespeed-1.22.1.zip
sudo rm -rf ngx_pagespeed-1.22.1.zip

Load ngx_pagespeed in Nginx

sudo mkdir -p /var/ngx_pagespeed_cache
sudo chown -R nginx:root /var/ngx_pagespeed_cache

In /etc/nginx/nginx.conf, add on the first line

load_module "modules/ngx_pagespeed.so";

Enable ngx_pagespeed on domain vhost

Vhost config files are located on a specific folder with VestaCP :

For each domain, modify both the non-ssl and the ssl config files

nano /home/admin/conf/web/domain.com.nginx.conf
nano /home/admin/conf/web/domain.com.nginx.ssl.conf

Add under server { block add the foloowing  code

#Pagespeed config
pagespeed on;
pagespeed FileCachePath /var/ngx_pagespeed_cache;
location ~ "\.pagespeed\.([a-z]\.)?[a-z]{2}\.[^.]{10}\.[^.]+" { add_header "" ""; }
location ~ "^/ngx_pagespeed_static/" { }
location ~ "^/ngx_pagespeed_beacon" { }

Restart Nginx

Check the configs

nginx -t

If the output show OK, proceed with restart

service nginx restart

Testing Pagespeed

Test nginx pagespeed is working or not via this Online checker : https://ismodpagespeedworking.com/

Or via cURL

curl -I -p https://www.domain.tld/

You will see a line like this: X-Page-Speed: 1.13.35.2-0

Compile ngx_pagespeed for any Nginx version

Simply follow the guide from Google itself, at the chapter Build instructions: https://www.modpagespeed.com/doc/build_ngx_pagespeed_from_source

Note the results of the line

sudo nginx -V

And change the version of Nginx on the line

NGINX_VERSION=1.22.1

And add the content of configure arguments: to the end of the line

./configure --add-module=$HOME/$nps_dir ${PS_NGX_EXTRA_FLAGS}

Example

On my Nginx with VestCP installation, I use the command sudo nginx -V and I have the output

nginx version: nginx/1.22.1
built by gcc 7.4.0 (Ubuntu 7.4.0-1ubuntu1~18.04.1)
built with OpenSSL 1.1.1  11 Sep 2018
TLS SNI support enabled
configure arguments: --prefix=/etc/nginx --sbin-path=/usr/sbin/nginx --modules-p ath=/usr/lib/nginx/modules --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --error-log-path=/v ar/log/nginx/error.log --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log --pid-path=/var /run/nginx.pid --lock-path=/var/run/nginx.lock --http-client-body-temp-path=/var /cache/nginx/client_temp --http-proxy-temp-path=/var/cache/nginx/proxy_temp --ht tp-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/cache/nginx/fastcgi_temp --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/c ache/nginx/uwsgi_temp --http-scgi-temp-path=/var/cache/nginx/scgi_temp --user=ng inx --group=nginx --with-compat --with-file-aio --with-threads --with-http_addit ion_module --with-http_auth_request_module --with-http_dav_module --with-http_fl v_module --with-http_gunzip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_mp 4_module --with-http_random_index_module --with-http_realip_module --with-http_s ecure_link_module --with-http_slice_module --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_st ub_status_module --with-http_sub_module --with-http_v2_module --with-mail --with -mail_ssl_module --with-stream --with-stream_realip_module --with-stream_ssl_mod ule --with-stream_ssl_preread_module --with-cc-opt='-g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/d ata/builder/debuild/nginx-1.19.0/debian/debuild-base/nginx-1.19.0=. -fstack-prot ector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fPIC' --w ith-ld-opt='-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -pi e'

So I will us the ./configure command below

./configure --add-dynamic-module=$HOME/$nps_dir ${PS_NGX_EXTRA_FLAGS} --prefix=/etc/nginx --sbin-path=/usr/sbin/nginx --modules-p ath=/usr/lib/nginx/modules --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --error-log-path=/v ar/log/nginx/error.log --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log --pid-path=/var /run/nginx.pid --lock-path=/var/run/nginx.lock --http-client-body-temp-path=/var /cache/nginx/client_temp --http-proxy-temp-path=/var/cache/nginx/proxy_temp --ht tp-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/cache/nginx/fastcgi_temp --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/c ache/nginx/uwsgi_temp --http-scgi-temp-path=/var/cache/nginx/scgi_temp --user=ng inx --group=nginx --with-compat --with-file-aio --with-threads --with-http_addit ion_module --with-http_auth_request_module --with-http_dav_module --with-http_fl v_module --with-http_gunzip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_mp 4_module --with-http_random_index_module --with-http_realip_module --with-http_s ecure_link_module --with-http_slice_module --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_st ub_status_module --with-http_sub_module --with-http_v2_module --with-mail --with -mail_ssl_module --with-stream --with-stream_realip_module --with-stream_ssl_mod ule --with-stream_ssl_preread_module --with-cc-opt='-g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/d ata/builder/debuild/nginx-1.19.0/debian/debuild-base/nginx-1.19.0=. -fstack-prot ector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fPIC' --w ith-ld-opt='-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -pi e'

More generally the compilation command will be

#[check nginx's site for the latest version]
NGINX_VERSION=1.22.1
cd
wget -O- http://nginx.org/download/nginx-${NGINX_VERSION}.tar.gz | tar -xz
cd nginx-${NGINX_VERSION}/
./configure --add-module=$HOME/$nps_dir ${PS_NGX_EXTRA_FLAGS} --add-module=$HOME/$nps_dir ${PS_NGX_EXTRA_FLAGS} --prefix=/etc/nginx --sbin-path=/usr/sbin/nginx --modules-p ath=/usr/lib/nginx/modules --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --error-log-path=/v ar/log/nginx/error.log --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log --pid-path=/var /run/nginx.pid --lock-path=/var/run/nginx.lock --http-client-body-temp-path=/var /cache/nginx/client_temp --http-proxy-temp-path=/var/cache/nginx/proxy_temp --ht tp-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/cache/nginx/fastcgi_temp --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/c ache/nginx/uwsgi_temp --http-scgi-temp-path=/var/cache/nginx/scgi_temp --user=ng inx --group=nginx --with-compat --with-file-aio --with-threads --with-http_addit ion_module --with-http_auth_request_module --with-http_dav_module --with-http_fl v_module --with-http_gunzip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_mp 4_module --with-http_random_index_module --with-http_realip_module --with-http_s ecure_link_module --with-http_slice_module --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_st ub_status_module --with-http_sub_module --with-http_v2_module --with-mail --with -mail_ssl_module --with-stream --with-stream_realip_module --with-stream_ssl_mod ule --with-stream_ssl_preread_module --with-cc-opt='-g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/d ata/builder/debuild/nginx-1.19.0/debian/debuild-base/nginx-1.19.0=. -fstack-prot ector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fPIC' --w ith-ld-opt='-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -pi e'
make
sudo make install

La commande –add-dynamic-module permet de récupérer le fichier /usr/lib/nginx/modules/ngx_pagespeed.so. Si vous préfèrez recompiler nginx pour intégrer la librairie, il faut utiliser la commande –add-module.

Problems with the building

./configure: error: SSL modules require the OpenSSL library.

You will need to install libssl-dev:

sudo apt-get install libssl-dev

free(): double free detected in tcache 2

If you have this error, you will first need to clean your repository:

make clean

And then, use –add-dynamic-module= instead of –add-module= on the ./configure step:

./configure ---add-dynamic-module=$HOME/$nps_dir ${PS_NGX_EXTRA_FLAGS}

What about the performances?

When I use gtmetrix.com, I could pass from a score of C to a score of B.