[feature] Configured nginx to serve precompressed files (gzip/brotli) #599

Remove GZIP_STATIC_COMPRESSION and BROTLI_STATIC_COMPRESSION settings from Django configuration as they are no longer valid with the new openwisp-utils package. Configure nginx to serve precompressed files by adding gzip_static and brotli_static directives to the SSL configuration. This improves performance by serving pre-compressed .gz and .br files directly when available, rather than compressing on-the-fly.

Updated templates/openwisp2/settings.py to remove obsolete compression settings, modified defaults/main.yml to add precompressed file serving configuration, and updated documentation in docs/user/role-variables.rst.

Fixes #599

Author: SAMurai-16

defaults/main.yml

@@ -161,8 +161,12 @@ openwisp2_nginx_ssl_config:
         - "application/x-font-ttf"
         - "font/opentype"
 # Enable precompressed gzip files serving (requires nginx with gzip_static module)
+# Note: The role will attempt to install libnginx-mod-http-gzip-static when enabled
+# If the module is not available, nginx will fail with "unknown directive" error
 openwisp2_nginx_gzip_static: false
 # Enable precompressed brotli files serving (requires nginx with ngx_brotli module)
+# Note: The role will attempt to install libnginx-mod-brotli when enabled
+# If the module is not available, nginx will fail with "unknown directive" error
 openwisp2_nginx_brotli_static: false
 openwisp2_nginx_access_log: "{{ openwisp2_path }}/log/nginx.access.log"
 openwisp2_nginx_error_log: "{{ openwisp2_path }}/log/nginx.error.log error"

molecule/resources/converge.yml

@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@
     openwisp2_uwsgi_extra_conf: |
       single-interpreter=True
     openwisp2_usage_metric_collection: false
+    openwisp2_influxdb_install: false  # Disable InfluxDB for testing to avoid repository issues
+    # Test nginx static compression modules
+    openwisp2_nginx_gzip_static: true  
+    openwisp2_nginx_brotli_static: true
     openwisp2_extra_django_settings:
       ACCOUNT_RATE_LIMITS: false
     freeradius_eap_orgs:

molecule/resources/verify.yml

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
       command: systemctl status redis-server
       changed_when: false
 
-    - name: Chcke if redis is running
+    - name: Check if redis is running
       command: systemctl status redis
       changed_when: false
 
@@ -65,3 +65,15 @@
       register: freeradius_eap_ports  # Register the output and return code
       failed_when: freeradius_eap_ports.rc | int != 0
       changed_when: false
+
+    - name: Test nginx compression configuration
+      block:
+        # Test that enabled features appear in nginx config
+        - name: Check nginx config contains gzip_static and brotli_static directives
+          shell: "grep 'gzip_static on;' /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/openwisp2 && grep 'brotli_static on;' /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/openwisp2"
+          changed_when: false
+
+        # Test nginx configuration syntax is valid
+        - name: Test nginx configuration syntax
+          shell: "nginx -t"
+          changed_when: false

tasks/apt.yml

@@ -40,6 +40,18 @@
     name: nginx
   when: openwisp2_nginx_install
 
+- name: Install nginx gzip static module
+  apt:
+    name: libnginx-mod-http-gzip-static
+  when: openwisp2_nginx_install and openwisp2_nginx_gzip_static
+  ignore_errors: true  # May not be available on all distributions
+
+- name: Install nginx brotli module
+  apt:
+    name: libnginx-mod-brotli
+  when: openwisp2_nginx_install and openwisp2_nginx_brotli_static
+  ignore_errors: true  # May not be available on all distributions
+
 - name: Install redis
   apt:
     name: redis-server