Version 6.0.18 of the Passenger application server has been released. This release changes the Nginx rpm we build against to the newest module stream, this affects EL8 and EL9 distributions, special 1-time upgrade instructions are provided below.

Passenger 6 introduced Generic Language Support, or: the ability to support any and all arbitrary apps.

Updates & improvements

  • Adds Ubuntu 23.04 "Lunar" packages, removes Ubuntu 22.10 "Kinetic" packages.
  • Removes packages for Debian 9 "Stretch" (EOL June 2022).
  • [RPM] Changes to building Nginx module packages for the latest supported Nginx module stream instead of the default.
  • [Ruby] Makes Passenger more resilient to invalid byte sequences when loading the Ruby native extension. Contributed by Drew Wells.
  • [Ruby] Add an unhandled_exception_before_exit event callback. Contributed by James Tomson.
  • [Nginx] Upgrades preferred Nginx to 1.24.0 from 1.22.1.
  • Updated various library versions used in precompiled binaries (used for e.g. gem installs):
    • cmake: 3.25.1 -> 3.26.4
    • curl: 7.87.0 -> 8.1.2
    • git: 2.39.0 -> 2.41.0
    • gnupg: 2.4.0 -> 2.4.2
    • libgcrypt: 1.10.1 -> 1.10.2
    • libgpg_error: 1.46 -> 1.47
    • openssl: 3.0.7 -> 3.1.1
    • rubygems: 3.4.3 -> 3.4.13
    • zstd: 1.5.2 -> 1.5.5
    • rubies:
      • 2.7.7 -> 2.7.8
      • 3.0.5 -> 3.0.6
      • 3.1.3 -> 3.1.4
      • 3.2.0 -> 3.2.2

Installing 6.0.18

Please see the installation guide for advice on getting started with Passenger. Coming from a language other than Ruby, Python, Meteor or Node? Even if we didn't write a specific tutorial for your language, we made a generic guide that shows you the steps.

Upgrading to 6.0.18

Note for Enterprise Linux 8 & 9 users: You will need to uninstall the Nginx package that was previously used with Passenger, change module streams, and then upgrade Passenger.

The following steps are a possible approach:

  • sudo yum remove nginx
  • sudo yum module reset nginx
  • sudo yum module enable -y nginx:$(sudo yum module list nginx | cut -d ' ' -f 2 | grep -Ee '^[0-9\.]+$' | sort -V | tail -1)
  • sudo yum update -y
  • sudo yum install -y nginx-mod-http-passenger

We strongly advise staying up to date with the latest version.

Check out our upgrade guides for the different platforms:

Please be aware that you can enjoy enterprise features and sponsor the open source development directly by buying Phusion Passenger Enterprise.