Compiling nginx is surprisingly easy and straightforward; a perfect example to get started with packaging for yourself.

Indeed - but having built an nginx module, it's hard to convince others to use it. Often, nginx users are simply using the binary packages from their Linux distribution, and if they compile their own, they'll have to remember that they have a version that's compiled from source on the system and not the packaged one.

Exactly and then when it is time to patch nginx you can't just install a new binary and reload - you have to have documented exactly right set of modules previously compiled. Depending on the modules this can be time consuming and error prone. Not impossible, but adds additional automation requirements.