Chef cookbook for nginx + passenger (compiled from source)

attributes-default.rb

default['nginx']['version'] = "1.2.0"
default['nginx']['passenger']['version'] = "3.0.12"

recipes-default.rb

# --- Install nginx ---

# First, remove unneeded packages
%w{ nginx nginx-light nginx-full nginx-extras }.each do |pkg|
  package pkg do
    action :remove
  end
end

# Install nginx-common (contains the init-scripts) and packages needed for compilation
%w{ nginx-common build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libpcre3-dev }.each do |pkg|
  package pkg
end

# Install passenger
gem_package 'passenger' do
  action :upgrade
  gem_binary '/usr/bin/gem1.9.1'
  version node['nginx']['passenger']['version']
end

remote_file 'download nginx' do
  action :create_if_missing
  owner 'root'
  group 'root'
  mode '0644'
  path "/usr/src/nginx-#{node['nginx']['version']}.tar.gz"
  source "http://nginx.org/download/nginx-#{node['nginx']['version']}.tar.gz"
end

execute 'extract nginx' do
  command "tar xvfz nginx-#{node['nginx']['version']}.tar.gz"
  cwd '/usr/src'
  not_if do
    File.directory? "/usr/src/nginx-#{node['nginx']['version']}"
  end
end

execute 'build nginx' do
  command "passenger-install-nginx-module" <<
    " --auto" <<
    " --prefix=/opt/nginx-#{node['nginx']['version']}" <<
    " --nginx-source-dir=/usr/src/nginx-#{node['nginx']['version']}" <<
    " --extra-configure-flags='--with-ipv6 --with-http_realip_module'"
  not_if do
    File.exists?("/opt/nginx-#{node['nginx']['version']}/sbin/nginx") &&
    File.exists?("/var/lib/gems/1.9.1/gems/passenger-#{node['nginx']['passenger']['version']}/agents/PassengerWatchdog")
  end
end

# Setup nginx environment
link '/usr/sbin/nginx' do
  to "/opt/nginx-#{node['nginx']['version']}/sbin/nginx"
end

link '/etc/nginx/logs' do
  to '/var/log/nginx'
end

# Configuration files
template '/etc/default/nginx' do
  owner 'root'
  group 'root'
  mode '0644'
  source 'nginx.erb'
  notifies :reload, "service[nginx]"
end

template '/etc/nginx/nginx.conf' do
  owner 'root'
  group 'root'
  mode '0644'
  source 'nginx.conf.erb'
  notifies :reload, "service[nginx]"
end

service "nginx" do
  supports :status => true, :restart => true, :reload => true
  action [ :enable, :start ]
end

templates-default-nginx.conf.erb

user www-data;
worker_processes     2;
worker_cpu_affinity  0101 1010;
pid        /var/run/nginx.pid;

events {
    use epoll;
    worker_connections 1024;
    # multi_accept on;
}

http {
    sendfile on;
    tcp_nopush on;
    tcp_nodelay on;
    keepalive_timeout 5;
    types_hash_max_size 2048;
    server_tokens on;
    server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;

    include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
    default_type application/octet-stream;

    access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;

    gzip on;
    gzip_disable "msie6";
    gzip_comp_level 9;
    gzip_proxied any;
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/x-javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;
    gzip_vary on;

    # on  = helps free the backend fast
    # off = required for php flush() and ajax/comet based applications
    #       worse, if app-server generates large files
    proxy_buffering on;

    # This directive sets the text, which must be changed in response-header
    # "Location" and "Refresh" in the response of the proxied server.
    proxy_redirect off;

    proxy_set_header Host            $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP       $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

    client_max_body_size            1024m;

    #proxy_send_timeout              300;
    #proxy_read_timeout              300;
    #fastcgi_send_timeout            300;
    #fastcgi_read_timeout            300;

    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers       on;
    ssl_protocols                   SSLv3 TLSv1;
    ssl_session_cache               shared:SSL:2m;
    ssl_ciphers                     HIGH:!ADH:!MD5;

    passenger_root /var/lib/gems/1.9.1/gems/passenger-<%= node['nginx']['passenger']['version'] %>;
    passenger_ruby /usr/bin/ruby1.9.1;

    ##
    # Virtual Host Configs
    ##

    include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
    include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}

templates-default-nginx.erb

# Note: You may want to look at the following page before setting the ULIMIT.
#  http://wiki.nginx.org/CoreModule#worker_rlimit_nofile
# Set the ulimit variable if you need defaults to change.
#  Example: ULIMIT="-n 4096"
#ULIMIT="-n 4096"

DAEMON_OPTS="-p /etc/nginx/ -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf"

Great! Had to go this route because the nginx cookbook is broken.