First of all, thank you for Nginx. It is a breath of fresh air after Apache. And
though it has taken some getting used to, I've discovered that I like the config
file syntax better in Nginx.

Second, there are three server variables whose values are not the same under
Nginx as under Apache: PATH_INFO, PATH_TRANSLATED, and SCRIPT_NAME. Obviously
this makes trouble when trying to use applications designed for Apache. In
addition, because the "fastcgi_param" directive cannot be used inside an "if"
statement, it is impossible to write a general rule to set their values the same
as under Apache. This is an issue when using URIs of the form
"/directory/script.php/blah".

PATH_INFO: Under Apache, it doesn't exist unless using URIs of the above form;
then it equals "/blah". Under Nginx, it never exists.

PATH_TRANSLATED: Under Apache, it doesn't exist unless using URIs of the same
form; then it equals "/document/root/blah" (note: not
"/document/root/directory/blah"). Under Nginx, it exists when using such URIs,
but it equals "/document/root".

SCRIPT_NAME: Under Apache, when using URIs of the same form, it equals
"/directory/script.php". Under Nginx, it equals "/directory/index.php/blah".

So far I haven't been able to find a general rule to fix this. What I would like
to do is put something like this at the end of fastcgi_params:

if ($document_uri ~ "^/(.+)\.php/(.*)") { fastcgi_param PATH_INFO /$2; fastcgi_param PATH_TRANSLATED $document_root/$2; fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME /$1.php; }

If someone called a URI that matched the pattern, these values would kick in;
otherwise, the defaults would be used. But this can't be done because
"fastcgi_param" isn't allowed inside "if". Next I tried the following at the end
of fastcgi_params:

if ($document_uri ~ "^/(.+)\.php/(.*)") { set $apache_path_info /$2; set $apache_path_translated $document_root/$2; set $apache_script_name /$1.php; } fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $apache_path_info; fastcgi_param PATH_TRANSLATED $apache_path_translated; fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME $apache_script_name;

But this sets PATH_INFO, PATH_TRANSLATED, and (most problematically) SCRIPT_NAME
to empty values even for URIs that don't match the pattern.

Has anyone found a way around this? I.e. a way of writing a general rule (i.e.,
one that is not hard-coded for specific URIs) that will normalize the three
variables to their Apache values?

Posted at Nginx Forum: http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,866,866#msg-866