nginx.conf recipe for username-based authorization levels for a Docker registry

nginx.conf

user www-data;
worker_processes 1;
daemon off;

events {
  worker_connections  1024;
}

http {
  upstream docker-registry {
    server registry:5000;
  }

  server {
    listen                          443 ssl;
    server_name                     registry.mydomain.org;
    ssl_certificate                 /etc/nginx/server.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key             /etc/nginx/server.key;

    client_max_body_size            0;
    chunked_transfer_encoding       on;

    proxy_set_header Host           $http_host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP      $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header Authorization  "";

    # protected by basic authentication, delegates to /_auth for push/pull authorization
    location / {
      proxy_pass                    http://docker-registry;
      proxy_set_header              Host  $host;
      proxy_read_timeout            900;
      auth_basic                    "Docker Registry";
      auth_basic_user_file          /etc/nginx/registry_users;
      auth_request                  /_auth;
    }

    location /_auth {
      if ($remote_user ~* "^admin-?.*$") {
        # admin* is allowed to do anything
        return 200;
      }
      if ($request_method ~* "^(GET|HEAD)$") {
        # all other authed users can only GET/HEAD
        return 200;
      }
      # anonymous users can do nothing
      return 403;
    }

    # all users can access /v1/users to authenticate
    location /v1/users {
      proxy_pass                    http://docker-registry;
      proxy_set_header              Host  $host;
      proxy_read_timeout            900;
      auth_basic                    "Docker Registry";
      auth_basic_user_file          /etc/nginx/registry_users;
    }

    # ping end points require no authentication
    location /_ping {
      proxy_pass            http://docker-registry;
      auth_basic            off;
    }

    location /v1/_ping {
      proxy_pass            http://docker-registry;
      auth_basic            off;
    }
  }
}

For v2, use mine at https://gist.github.com/coolersport/8f576615c786ef86c8d90701c9762743

the github gist has been deleted, here the archive : https://web.archive.org/web/20210307065508/https://gist.github.com/coolersport/8f576615c786ef86c8d90701c9762743