Apache style "MutliViews" on nginx with php - php

Question

I've looks up and down and, while this has been answered dozens of times, I can't get it to work. I'm trying to get apache style multiviews on my PHP site running under nginx. In this case I don't care about all file extensions, just php. So i have my try_files directive:
try_files $uri $uri.php $uri/ $1?$args $1.php?$args
which is all good and dandy, except that when I visit a PHP page without the PHP file extension, the PHP doesn't get rendered and just gets dumped straight to the browser. I see why (PHP is only being used when the location ends in .php, but I've got no idea how to fix it. Here's my config:
server {
listen 80; ## listen for ipv4; this line is default and implied
#listen [::]:80 default ipv6only=on; ## listen for ipv6
root /usr/share/nginx/www;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
server_name inara.thefinn93.com;
location / {
root /usr/share/nginx/www;
try_files $uri $uri.php $uri/ $1?$args $1.php?$args;
}
location ~ ^(.+\.php)$ {
try_files $uri =404;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_index index.php;
include fastcgi_params;
}
location ~ /\.ht {
deny all;
}
}

Answer 1

In your scenario, the location / is the last processed location setting. Having a try_files on it won't make it past the location ~ ^(.+\.php)$ setting (unless it ends with ".php"), therefore not being forwarded to the fastcgi upstream. You might use a named location for that purpose (locations starting with "#").
Here's an example based on your configuration:
# real .php files only
location ~ ^(.+\.php)$ {
# try_files is not needed here. The files will be checked at "location /"
# try_files $uri =404;
# do not split here -- multiviews will be handled by "location #php"
# fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
# fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
# also not needed here/with try_files
# fastcgi_index index.php;
include fastcgi_params;
}
# pseudo-multiviews
location #php {
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
# search for the split path first
# "$uri/" is not needed since you used the index
try_files $fastcgi_script_name $uri.php =404;
}
# this should also be before "location /"
location ~ /\.ht {
deny all;
}
location / {
root /usr/share/nginx/www;
# if file does not exist, see if the pseudo-multiviews work
try_files $uri #php;
}