How to list modules compiled into nginx?

Unlike apache webserver, in Nginx , modules are built  into nginx binary itself . It is not possible build these modules separately . Nginx announced availability of dynamic modules recently, but that feature is not matured.

If you are using the nginx binary packages come along with the OS distribution or other package manager repositories, you will never know what all modules are built into it.  Common modules that you might need, but may not be compiled in by default, are IPv6, GeoIp, Lua .

To list  modules in nginx and see flags enabled , use the following command

Nginx -V

Sample output is below

Nginx -V
nginx version: nginx/1.10.2
built by gcc 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-17) (GCC)
built with OpenSSL 1.0.1e-fips 11 Feb 2013
TLS SNI support enabled
configure arguments: –prefix=/usr/share/nginx –sbin-path=/usr/sbin/nginx –modules-path=/usr/lib64/nginx/modules –conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf –error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log –http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log –http-client-body-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/client_body –http-proxy-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/proxy –http-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/fastcgi –http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/uwsgi –http-scgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/scgi –pid-path=/var/run/nginx.pid –lock-path=/var/lock/subsys/nginx –user=nginx –group=nginx –with-file-aio –with-ipv6 –with-http_ssl_module –with-http_v2_module –with-http_realip_module –with-http_addition_module –with-http_xslt_module=dynamic –with-http_image_filter_module=dynamic –with-http_geoip_module=dynamic –with-http_sub_module –with-http_dav_module –with-http_flv_module –with-http_mp4_module –with-http_gunzip_module –with-http_gzip_static_module –with-http_random_index_module –with-http_secure_link_module –with-http_degradation_module –with-http_slice_module –with-http_stub_status_module –with-http_perl_module=dynamic –with-mail=dynamic –with-mail_ssl_module –with-pcre –with-pcre-jit –with-stream=dynamic –with-stream_ssl_module –with-debug –with-cc-opt=’-O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector –param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -m64 -mtune=generic’ –with-ld-opt=’ -Wl,-E’

You can see that modules ipv6, ssl, realip , gzip and many more are enabled .