Nginx not logging PHP errors

Question

When accessing some PHP scripts on my website, I'm getting the dreaded 500 error message. I'd like to know what's wrong to fix it, but Nginx isn't logging any PHP errors in the log file I have specified. This is my server block:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost;
    access_log /home/whitey/sites/localhost/logs/access.log;
    error_log /home/whitey/sites/localhost/logs/error.log error;
    root /home/whitey/sites/localhost/htdocs;
    index index.html index.php /index.php;

    location / { 

    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/tmp/phpfpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME  $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~* \.(?:ico|css|js|gif|jpe?g|png)$ {
        expires max;
    }
}

Note that some PHP scripts work fine, and others don't. So there isn't a global problem with PHP, there's just something in these scripts that's causing Nginx to throw the 500 error.

How can I get to the bottom of this? The only thing in error.log is an error about favicon.ico not being found.

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 20 '12 at 23:21

10

You have to add the following to your php-fpm pool configurations:

catch_workers_output = 1

You have to add this line to each defined pool!

answered Aug 20 '12 at 23:21

Fleshgrinder

3,918

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 13 '17 at 12:20

I had a similar issue.

I tried deploy phpMyAdmin with php-fpm 7.0 and nginx on CentOS7. Nginx showed me 500.html but there was not errors in any log file. I did all of this

catch_workers_output = 1

and

display_errors = On

Either nginx log or php-fpm log did not contained any error string.

And when I commented this line in nginx.conf I was able to see in browser page things that was wrong.

#    error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
#    location = /50x.html {
#    }

That was what helped me understand troubles.

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 13 '12 at 18:37

3

php-fpm throws everything in /var/log/php5-fpm.log or similar.

answered Aug 13 '12 at 18:37

erickzetta

609

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 13 '12 at 18:36

0

Look in your nginx.conf for an error_log definition. Maybe nginx writes something in this error log.

You might also enable logging to file on PHP.

answered Aug 13 '12 at 18:36

Christopher Perrin

4,891

Kzqai · Answer 5 · 2015-07-21T18:11:45.910

0

For me, this seemed to be a problem with upstart, which was routing the logs for php-fpm to it's own custom location, e.g.:

/var/log/upstart/php5-fpm.log

There's also some bugginess with ubuntu Precise, 12.04 that may contribute to the lack of logging ability: https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=61045 If you're still running that version.

edited Jul 21 '15 at 18:11

answered Jul 21 '15 at 16:55

Kzqai

1,318

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 22 '16 at 00:34

When PHP display_errors are disabled, PHP errors can return Nginx 500 error.

You should take a look to your php-fpm logs, i'm sure you'll find the error there. With CentOS 7 :

tail -f /var/log/php-fpm/www-error.log

You can also show PHP errors. In your php.ini, change :

display_errors = Off

to :

display_errors = On

Hope it helps.

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 12 '15 at 07:22

This is what happened to me:

When I deleted my error log, nginx noticed that it was no longer missing. When I recreated this file nginx would no longer recognise that it existed, therefore not writing to the file.

To fix this, run these commands (I'm on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS):

sudo service nginx reload

If that doesn't work, then try:

sudo service nginx restart

Nginx not logging PHP errors

7 Answers7

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