id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	priority	milestone	component	version	resolution	keywords	cc	uname	nginx_version
2436	Nginx does log anything anymore	jean-christophe-manciot@…		"In /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:

{{{
user www-data;
http {
        log_format      main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] ""$request"" '
                        '$status $body_bytes_sent ""$http_referer"" '
                        '""$http_user_agent"" ""$http_x_forwarded_for""';
...
	include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
	include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}
}}}

In /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/site.conf:
server 
{
...
	access_log      /var/log/nginx/site_access.log combined;
	error_log       /var/log/nginx/site_error.log warn;
}

In /var/log/nginx after accessing the site:
{{{
drwxr-xr-x 1 www-data adm              4096 Jan 13 10:11 ./
drwxrwxr-x 1 root     systemd-resolve 16384 Jan 13 10:11 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data root                0 Jan 13 10:11 access.log
-rw-r----- 1 www-data adm                 0 Jan 13 10:11 error.log
-rw-r----- 1 www-data adm                 0 Jan 13 10:11 site_access.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data root                0 Jan 13 10:11 site_error.log
}}}

Sometimes, the access log is populated a little bit right after restarting nginx and accessing the site, but then the logging stops forever despite accessing the site.

To make sure there is no permissions issues:
{{{
# su -m www-data -c 'echo ""testing"" >> /var/log/nginx/site_error.log'
# cat /var/log/nginx/site_error.log
testing
}}}

If there is any link, in /etc/logrotate.d/nginx:
{{{
/var/log/nginx/*.log {
	daily
	missingok
	rotate 14
	compress
	delaycompress
	notifempty
	create 0640 www-data adm
	sharedscripts
	prerotate
		if [ -d /etc/logrotate.d/httpd-prerotate ]; then \
			run-parts /etc/logrotate.d/httpd-prerotate; \
		fi \
	endscript
	postrotate
		invoke-rc.d nginx rotate >/dev/null 2>&1
	endscript
}
}}}

Also, the systemd service is running:
{{{
# systemctl status nginx
● nginx.service - A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2023-01-13 10:25:24 CET; 6min ago
       Docs: man:nginx(8)
    Process: 312868 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t -q -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 312880 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 312895 (nginx)
      Tasks: 5 (limit: 9226)
     Memory: 15.7M
        CPU: 2.010s
     CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
             ├─312895 ""nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on;""
             ├─312896 ""nginx: worker process""
             ├─312897 ""nginx: worker process""
             ├─312898 ""nginx: worker process""
             └─312899 ""nginx: worker process""

Jan 13 10:25:23 site systemd[1]: Starting A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server...
Jan 13 10:25:24 site systemd[1]: Started A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server.
}}}

And the nginx processes are owned by root and www-data:
{{{
# ps -elf | grep nginx
1 S root      375545       1  0  80   0 - 41675 sigsus 10:32 ?        00:00:00 nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on;
5 S www-data  375547  375545  0  80   0 - 42165 ep_pol 10:32 ?        00:00:00 nginx: worker process
5 S www-data  375549  375545  0  80   0 - 42056 ep_pol 10:32 ?        00:00:00 nginx: worker process
5 S www-data  375550  375545  0  80   0 - 42056 ep_pol 10:32 ?        00:00:00 nginx: worker process
5 S www-data  375551  375545  0  80   0 - 42089 ep_pol 10:32 ?        00:00:00 nginx: worker process
}}}

What is happening?"	defect	closed	major		nginx-core	1.23.x	invalid	log		Linux hostname 5.19.0-30-generic #31-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Jan 6 15:40:20 UTC 2023 x86_64 GNU/Linux	"nginx version: nginx/1.23.3 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
built by gcc 12.2.0 (Debian 12.2.0-9) 
built with OpenSSL 3.0.7 1 Nov 2022
TLS SNI support enabled
configure arguments: --build=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu --prefix=/usr --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log --http-client-body-temp-path=/var/tmp/nginx/body --http-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/tmp/nginx/fastcgi --http-proxy-temp-path=/var/tmp/nginx/proxy --http-scgi-temp-path=/var/tmp/nginx/scgi --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/tmp/nginx/uwsgi --lock-path=/run/lock/nginx.lock --modules-path=/usr/lib/nginx/modules --pid-path=/run/nginx.pid --sbin-path=/usr/sbin/nginx --group=www-data --user=www-data --add-dynamic-module=../git-ngx_headers_more --add-dynamic-module=../git-ngx_http_auth_pam_module --with-debug --with-file-aio --with-google_perftools_module --with-http_addition_module --with-http_auth_request_module --with-http_dav_module --with-http_flv_module --with-http_geoip_module --with-http_gunzip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_image_filter_module --with-http_mp4_module --with-http_perl_module --with-http_random_index_module --with-http_realip_module --with-http_secure_link_module --with-http_slice_module --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_sub_module --with-http_xslt_module --with-http_v2_module --with-mail --with-mail_ssl_module --with-perl_modules_path=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.36.0 --with-pcre-jit --with-stream --with-stream_ssl_module --with-stream_realip_module --with-stream_geoip_module --with-stream_ssl_preread_module --with-threads
"