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When updating nginx to a newer version, we may encounter deprecated configurations. Nginx uses a YAML-like definition format to create configurations. This format has evolved over time by adding, removing, or changing keywords.

This article describes how to fix the nginx " 'ssl' Directive Is Deprecated, Use 'listen … ssl' " error.

Deprecation Warning

When checking the nginx configuration using nginx -t, we may see the following warning message:

$ sudo nginx -t

nginx: [warn] the "ssl" directive is deprecated, use the "listen ... ssl" directive instead in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/futurestud.io:8

nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed  

This message may appear after updating nginx. However, don’t panic if this happens, we can fix it quickly!

Fix “ssl” Directive Is Deprecated, Use “listen … ssl”

The Deprecation Warning tells us to reconfigure our SSL settings. In nginx 1.10 (and earlier), ssl on;SSL is configured using . Here is how it works:

server {  
    listen 80;
    listen 443;

    server_name futurestud.io;

    ssl on;
}

This setting has changed in nginx 1.12 (and later). We now need to configure SSL in the same line as the listen statement. Also, ssl on;the setting is no longer available. It can be removed.

Now modify the configuration file as follows

server {  
    listen 80;
    listen 443 ssl;

    server_name futurestud.io;

    # ssl on;
}

Let's check our nginx configuration again to verify that it is configured correctly:

$ sudo nginx -t  

Finally, we can reload the nginx service for the changes to take effect. The maintenance changes made in this article do not change the actual behavior of nginx. Moving from deprecated features to optimized configuration options for nginx:

$ sudo service nginx reload