The Nginx release on the Ubuntu repositories is often outdated. Igor pushes out new versions of Nginx quite frequently and it’s understandable that the Ubuntu package maintainers do not keep up. Also, Ubuntu only includes major version updates with new OS releases. So, if the Nginx development branch turns stable, and you plan on staying on your LTS (Long Term Support) version, you might not be able to get the newer version of Nginx unless you upgrade your OS.

So, in view of all this, Michael Lustfield and a bunch of other cool folks maintain a Launchpad PPA where they provide the latest versions of Nginx from both the stable and development branch. To get the latest version of Nginx from the PPA, follow these steps :

add-apt-repository ppa:nginx/stable
apt-get update && apt-get install nginx

Use ppa:nginx/development to get the latest development version.

If you want to do it manually, you’ll need to edit your sources.list, import the appropriate key, and then install/upgrade Nginx.

echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/nginx/stable/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys C300EE8C
apt-get update && apt-get install nginx

Here too you can use deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/nginx/development/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) main to get the latest development version.

You now have the latest version of Nginx on your server. Ubuntu will also automatically pull down and install updates for Nginx if they are available.