Root ignored for "location = /"?

[Valentin V. Bartenev]

On Friday 07 February 2014 01:32:44 Mark James wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I want the index.html file in a particular directory to only be served when 
the domain's root URI is requested.
> 
> Using the config
> 
> server example.com;
> index index.html;
> location = / {
>    root path/to/dir;
> }
> 
> a request to example.com results in index.html in the Nginx default root 
"/html" directory being served.
> 
> The same thing happens with a trailing slash on the root, or when I 
substitute a trailing-slash alias directive.
> 
> If I use an alias directive without a trailing slash I get 403 error
> 
>     directory index of "path/to/dir" is forbidden.
> 
> There are no problems if I instead use "location /".
> 
> Can anyone suggest a reason or a resolution?


The reason is documented: http://nginx.org/r/index

"It should be noted that using an index file
 causes an internal redirect ..."

  wbr, Valentin V. Bartenev