root works, alias doesn't

[Valentin V. Bartenev]

On Tuesday 01 October 2013 11:12:41 Grant wrote:
> >> It works if I specify the full path for the alias.  What is the
> >> difference between alias and root?  I have root specified outside of
> >> the server block and I thought I could use alias to avoid specifying
> >> the full path again.
> > 
> > http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#alias
> > http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_core_module.html#root
> > 
> > The docs says that the requested filepath is constructed by concatenating
> > root + URI
> > That's for root.
> > 
> > The docs also say that alias replaces the content directory (so it must
> > be absolutely defined through alias).
> > By default, the last part of the URI (after the last slash, so the file
> > name) is searched into the directory specified by alias.
> > alias doesn't construct itself based on root, it's totally independent,
> > so by using that, you'll need to specify the directory absolutely, which
> > is precisely what you wish to avoid.
> 
> I see. It seems like root and alias function identically within "location /".
> 

Not exactly.  For example, request "/favicon.ico":

  location / {
     alias /data/www;
  }

will result in opening "/data/wwwfavicon.ico", while:

  location / {
     root /data/www;
  }

will return "/data/www/favicon.ico".

But,

  location / {
     alias /data/www/;
  }

will work the same way as

  location / {
     root /data/www;
  }

or

  location / {
     root /data/www/;
  }


 wbr, Valentin V. Bartenev