Building nginx on Windows (x86 and x64) with additional modules (VS 2022)

These sources were used in compiling this doc:

Intro
Prerequisites
Source packages
Setup
Target choice
cl.exe version
nginx makefile changes
- x86 and x64
- x64
MSYS2 configuration
Adding Modules
RTMP module notes:
Compiling
Running
RTMP nginx config

Intro

Why do this? If all you want is a stock build of nginx, you can download one from the site: https://nginx.org/en/download.html

If however, you want to add a custom module into nginx, you'll need to roll your own build. If you want to pay for a commercial version with rtmp support, it looks like these folks will help you out: http://nginx-win.ecsds.eu/ (I am in no way affiliated or endorse this product, this is just an FYI)

Prerequisites

Install Visual Studio 2022, ensure that you have native C/C++ build environments included in the install selection (x86 and x64)
Download and install StrawberryPerl: https://strawberryperl.com/
Download and install MSYS2: https://www.msys2.org/
Download and install sed for windows: http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/sed.htm
Optional: download and install NASM: https://www.nasm.us/

Source packages

Download the following source packages:

nginx source: https://nginx.org/en/download.html
- e.g. https://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.23.1.tar.gz
Zlib: https://zlib.net/
- e.g. https://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.12.tar.gz
OpenSSL: Make sure this is the v1 version of OpenSSL, not the v3 version: https://github.com/openssl/openssl/tags
- e.g. https://github.com/openssl/openssl/archive/refs/tags/OpenSSL_1_1_1q.zip
PCRE: make sure this is the original version of PCRE not the v2 version: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pcre/files/pcre/
- e.g. https://sourceforge.net/projects/pcre/files/latest/download

Setup

Extract nginx to a folder of your choice e.g. C:\temp
Create an objs folder in the nginx folder e.g. C:\temp\nginx-1.23.1\objs
Create a lib folder under the objs folder e.g. C:\temp\nginx-1.23.1\objs\lib
Extract zlib, OpenSSL and PCRE in to the lib folder
RENAME the extracted folders to remove version information e.g.
- zlib-1.2.12 to zlib
- OpenSSL_1_1_1q to openssl
- pcre-8.45 to pcre

Target choice

It's now time to decide if you want to build for an x86 or x64 target.

This will have implications on editing configuration further down the line.

x86:

use the x86 Native Tools Command Prompt for Visual Studio 2022

x64:

use the x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for Visual Studio 2022

cl.exe version

Open the relevant Native Tools Command Prompt for Visual Studio 2022
Type:

cl.exe

You should get something like this:

Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 19.33.31629 for x64

Copy the version number and save it somewhere for later e.g. 19.33.31629
Leave this window open for later

nginx makefile changes

x86 and x64

Edit the nginx msvc file e.g. C:\temp\nginx-1.23.1\auto\cc\msvc

Find the line that has:

echo " + cl version: $NGX_MSVC_VER"

Remember the cl.exe version we stored earlier? We'll need this now.
Insert a line above the echo like this:

NGX_MSVC_VER='19.33.31629'
echo " + cl version: $NGX_MSVC_VER"

Find the line that has:

# stop on warning
CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -WX"

comment the stop on warnings option:

# stop on warning
# CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -WX"

x64

Edit the openssl makefile.msvc file e.g. C:\temp\nginx-1.23.1\auto\lib\openssl\makefile.msvc

You will need to change 3 lines, replace the bold text with the alternative as shown below:

Replace this	With this
perl Configure VC-WIN32 no-shared	perl Configure VC-WIN64A no-shared
ms\do_ms.bat	ms\do_win64a.bat
ms\do_ms	ms\do_win64a

MSYS2 configuration

Open MSYS2
Navigate to the nginx folder e.g.

  cd /C/temp/nginx-1.23.1

Read the Adding Modules section before proceeding if you wish to add e.g. RTMP or other nginx modules to the build
Run the following command:

./configure \
--with-cc=cl \
--builddir=objs \
--with-debug \
--prefix= \
--conf-path=conf/nginx.conf \
--pid-path=logs/nginx.pid \
--http-log-path=logs/access.log \
--error-log-path=logs/error.log \
--sbin-path=nginx.exe \
--http-client-body-temp-path=temp/client_body_temp \
--http-proxy-temp-path=temp/proxy_temp \
--http-fastcgi-temp-path=temp/fastcgi_temp \
--http-scgi-temp-path=temp/scgi_temp \
--http-uwsgi-temp-path=temp/uwsgi_temp \
--with-cc-opt=-DFD_SETSIZE=1024 \
--with-pcre=objs/lib/pcre \
--with-zlib=objs/lib/zlib \
--with-select_module \
--with-http_v2_module \
--with-http_realip_module \
--with-http_addition_module \
--with-http_sub_module \
--with-http_dav_module \
--with-http_stub_status_module \
--with-http_flv_module \
--with-http_mp4_module \
--with-http_gunzip_module \
--with-http_gzip_static_module \
--with-http_auth_request_module \
--with-http_random_index_module \
--with-http_secure_link_module \
--with-http_slice_module \
--with-mail \
--with-stream \
--with-openssl=objs/lib/openssl \
--with-http_ssl_module \
--with-mail_ssl_module \
--with-stream_ssl_module \
--with-openssl-opt=no-asm

Building with NASM seems broken at the moment, further research is required. The instuctions below are retained for interest.

If you installed NASM then remove the --with-openssl-opt=no-asm option and the trailing slash on the previous line, the last line should look like this:

--with-stream_ssl_module

Once this completes successfully you are now ready to compile nginx!

Adding Modules

To add a module to the build you will have to:

obtain the module source
extract it to the objs/lib folder
add it to the configure flags

As an example to add RTMP support to nginx:

Download the latest RTMP module: https://github.com/sergey-dryabzhinsky/nginx-rtmp-module/releases
- e.g. https://github.com/sergey-dryabzhinsky/nginx-rtmp-module/archive/refs/tags/v1.2.2-r1.zip
Extract it to the objs/lib folder and remove the version information
- e.g. objs/libs/nginx-rtmp-module
add a line to the configure command to include this module:

   --with-stream_ssl_module \
   --add-module=objs/lib/nginx-rtmp-module

Run configure command

RTMP module notes:

This module failed to compile due to an auto generated file that was missing some includes:

\objs\lib\nginx-rtmp-module\hls\ngx_rtmp_mpegts_crc.c

needs to have the nginx includes added e.g. the include section should look something like this:

#include <ngx_config.h>
#include <ngx_core.h>
#include "ngx_rtmp_mpegts_crc.h"     /* include the header file generated with pycrc */
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdint.h>

Compiling

Switch back to or open the relevant Native Tools Command Prompt for Visual Studio 2022
Add the path to sed:

SET PATH=%PATH%;"c:\Program Files (x86)\GnuWin32\bin"

Building with NASM seems broken at the moment, further research is required. The instuctions below are retained for interest.

If you installed NASM and did not set --with-openssl-opt=no-asm, you will need to add NASM to the path:

SET PATH=%PATH%;"c:\Program Files\NASM\"

You can run nmake to build:

nmake /f objs\Makefile

Go and have a cup of tea, hopefully if all goes well when you are finished drinking it, nginx should have compiled.

Running

I suggest you download a pre-built package from nginx and just replace the binary which should be in the objs/ directory after a successful compile

RTMP nginx config

To set up rtmp add this block to your nginx.conf file:

rtmp {
        server {
                listen 1935;
                chunk_size 4096;

                application live {
                        live on;
                        record off;
                }
        }
}

To stream to your server, start nginx and then for e.g. OBS, set up a new profile and change the broadcast settings to:

Streaming Service: Custom
Server: rtmp://<your server ip>/live
Play Path/Stream Key: test

To view the stream, use e.g. VLC and point to rtmp://localhost/live/test

sweetlilmre/Build-nginx-with-modules-windows.md