mreho/unit repository overview

⁠NGINX Unit

⁠Overview

This repository provides a customized build of NGINX Unit, the lightweight and dynamic application server developed by NGINX. Unlike the official images, these builds are tailored for PHP workloads and come with several enhancements for modern, production-grade environments.

⁠Key Differences from the Official NGINX Unit Images

• Rootless by default: Runs as non-root user unit (UID 20000) and group unit (GID 20000), improving container security.
• PHP-focused images: Optimized specifically for PHP applications, with a rich set of extensions included out of the box.
• Up-to-date: Built on Debian Trixie (instead of Bookworm used in the official image), providing a more recent base system.

⁠Included PHP Extensions

In addition to the default PHP extensions provided by NGINX Unit, these images include:

• opcache
• mysqli, pdo_mysql
• pgsql, pdo_pgsql
• gd (with FreeType, JPEG, PNG, and WebP support)
• zip
• tidy
• soap
• intl
• exif
• gmp
• sysvsem
• redis
• uuid
• imagick
• apcu
• imap

These extensions cover a wide range of real-world application needs (databases, caching, graphics, messaging, cryptography, and internationalization).

⁠ionCube Loader Variants

Images tagged with the suffix -ioncube additionally ship with ionCube Loaders, enabling execution of protected PHP scripts without extra setup.

⁠Use Cases

• Secure, rootless deployments of PHP applications
• Out-of-the-box support for modern PHP frameworks (Symfony, Laravel, Drupal, WordPress, etc.)
• Enterprise environments requiring ionCube Loader compatibility

⁠Why Use This Image?

If you need a secure, rootless, PHP-ready NGINX Unit image with a comprehensive extension set, this repository saves you the effort of building and maintaining custom images while keeping the flexibility and performance of NGINX Unit.