I had used X-Accel-Redirect with Python/Flask and nginx at work. I wanted to do the same with lua for a hobby project. So the title is what I Googled for when I wanted to serve files with nginx-lua.
I soon realized I was looking for the wrong thing. My search term was wrong. Hence the title is misleading too :D. You can’t actually use X-Accel-Redirect meaningfully with nginx-lua. X-Accel-Redirect is apparently only processed by modules like ngx_proxy, ngx_fastcgi etc.
Little bit about X-Accel-Redirect for the uninitiated
X-Accel-Redirect is how nginx implements the feature you might be familiar with as X-Sendfile. It’s used to implement controlled file serving. For example if you want to let only the authenticated users download files, X-Sendfile is your friend (You realize you can not reveal the direct url to the file even for authenticated users right? Never trust the user etc.)
Back to the topic..
So the best way to do this is to use ngx.exec. With ngx.exec you can do an internal redirect. If you read the x-accel documentation and utilize ngx.exec accordingly you can achieve the expected behavior. But you read enough documentation for nginx-lua stuff ;) so here goes.
That’s that.
I have been hacking with nginx-lua on and off and I seem to come back to it when I’m miserably bored. This stuff is pretty interesting. Or it probably gives me a false sense of achievement or whatever. If you want to try out nginx-lua I have put together something which you can start with. Currently I’m working on something more flexible than that, something I can base my hobby nginx-lua projects on. I’ll definitely report if I ever finish it.
Maybe follow me on twitter. Who am I to say you should?
PS: Tweet at me if you got the should joke. :D