The easiest way to build this module is using NGINX's build_module.sh script.

$ wget http://hg.nginx.org/pkg-oss/raw-file/default/build_module.sh
$ chmod +x build_module.sh
$ ./build_module.sh -y https://github.com/gomlgs/nginx-request-start-time.git

This produces a deb package that works with the mainline version of NGINX. See flags for build_module.sh for other options, including building for other NGINX versions. I'd recommend building this inside a container.

• From NGINX - Building dynamic modules.
• build_module.sh

Load the module early in the NGINX config.

load_module /etc/nginx/modules/ngx_request_start_time_module.so;

This provides a new variable $request_start_usec that can be used in other configuration. An example:

  location / {
    proxy_set_header X-Request-Start $request_start_usec;
    
    proxy_pass http://some_server;
  }