Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates

Subject: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Mr Red
Date: 05 Feb 19 - 02:23 PM

if you have a Wordpress website, congratulations. But: Check your website.

I have just seen something like I experienced. PHP/JavaScript warnings top and bottom across the screen. Website otherwise functional, until you fail to log-in and sort it!

The problem turned out to be an update of PHP to v7.2 and not updating to Wordpress 5.0.2.

Wordpress needs updating while you still have (or rolled-back to) PHP v7.1. If you have auto-updates on PHP and not Wordpress - let us hope it is possible to roll back PHP. The two are not linked and in totally different environs.

Then there is the issue of all the Addons, widgets, Plugins, and Themes that need updating, &/or finding the one that is the root cause of the conflict.

Best of luck.

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 05 Feb 19 - 04:57 PM

Thanks Mr Red
but
rolling back?
PHP?

The ones I've done look ok at the moment - do you think I can leave them and keep my fingers crossed or take some action?

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Nick
Date: 05 Feb 19 - 08:53 PM

I recently put together a wordpress site on some web space I have. There is a copy of C panel on it which has a thing called PHP Selector which allows you to choose the version of PHP and what settings within that work. I am currently running Wordpress 5.0.3 with PHP 7.2 (with the default settings selected) and it seems to be working fine.

If I change PHP to version 7.3 it completely breaks things! Either giving an error 500 or error 503 depending on which options within PHP 7.3 are ticked. Wordpress aim to be functional with v7.3 after next release - Wordpress announcement

As soon as the version of PHP is changed back to v7.2 it works immediately.

The options that I have ticked in v7.2 that work with 5.0.3 are the following - PHP 7.2 settings

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Nick
Date: 05 Feb 19 - 08:58 PM

Though the wordpress download site does suggest that 7.3 is ok so I am confused. It does not work with my site! Wordpress

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Feb 19 - 09:34 PM

I have a Wordpress site but no PHP. Do you use that to maintain some kind of forum on your site?

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Feb 19 - 12:30 AM

SRS, Wordpress is written in php and it won't work without it. Your site may be managed in such a way that php is invisible to you but it will be present.

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Feb 19 - 04:06 AM

download site does suggest that 7.3 is ok so I am confused. It does not work with my site!

Depends on the Add-ons you have installed.

I did ask questions on the Wordpress Support Forum, there are two and you need to know which Wordpress you are using - (Wordpress.org or Wordpress.com - I think). The type of Wordpress SRS has may be why SRS does not see PHP. Or her host is doing the checking/updates.

Someone pointed to a JavaScript Add-on I had installed. Which I don't use so could be removed.

Of course the Add-ons need to be updated, one at a time to see if one is causing problems.

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Nick
Date: 06 Feb 19 - 06:59 AM

All the addons are up to date and it's Wordpress.org. It works happily with PHP 7.2 so I'll continue with it as it is as it's working as far as I can see - on desktop, laptop, tablet and ipad

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Nick
Date: 06 Feb 19 - 07:12 AM

However... a quick look bit of google suggested that the issue might be down to mysqli and, in my case, it seems to be.

I changed to PHPv7.3 and it fails with an Error 500. But if I put a tick in the nd_sqli option (PHP options) then it works fine. On my particular set up the PHP defaults don't have that box ticked.

Don't really have much of a clue of what I'm doing but it does seem to be working. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing etc

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Feb 19 - 11:34 AM

This is the classic look that I have associated with PHP. The type of code doesn't use exactly the same form as regular html.

Seems like Wordpress would have moved onto one of the other open source content management systems by now. Drupal, etc. When I open a page in my blog to view the source code I see typical html and scripts running. I don't see the stylized PHP formatting symbols. So you're apparently talking about something in the back end that I'm not seeing. And I'm not really interested in digging deeper, but it's good to be aware of what software may be in use.

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Feb 19 - 06:53 PM

I’m not sure I’m following your first bit, SRS. This is a static html translation of what was a dynamic php site but this is an example of some of my old php stuff.

You should be able to “print” pretty much whatever you want on the web page with php and it doesn’t all have to be html. Of course frameworks could give a particular look and feel and certain standard looks for forums do seem to have evolved. Wordpress seems to make a lot of use of “themes” but again these largely seem to be php.


Php is server side code though and different technologies may be used on a web page. An otherwise “pure php” page would probably use JavaScript for its WYSIWIG editor. Another approach might use JSON (a sort of standard format for exchanging data), restrict php use to the backend data work and have the entire user front end in JavaScript, etc.


I think...

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Mr Red
Date: 10 Feb 19 - 12:30 PM

FWIW I was warned the the "CSS & Javascrpt Toolbox" was the problem and sure enough the problem re-surfaced despite my updates. So I de-activated it and it solved the problemo - for now.

The warning is beware what you Add-On

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Feb 19 - 12:48 PM

Jon, my use of PHP was primarily in an environment that required different formatting of the code, and using brackets [ and ] instead of the html carets. Beyond that, looking at your source code I only see a regular html page, nothing that tells me that any part of it requires the different code. Evidently there is more to PHP than the code?

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 10 Feb 19 - 01:01 PM

PHP is just a scripting language, SRS. You could even use that one to write command line scripts as you might use with say Python (which can also find web usage) or as an alternative to a batch file but it's main usage is in web sites and I think even Wikipedia for one major site uses it.

In essence, I suppose, if you can say in simple terms, "print the html characters" and have a programming language, able also to talk to major databases and work with web servers including Apache, you have a base on which much can be built.

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 10 Feb 19 - 01:03 PM

"you might use with say Python"

You might also be able to write in say python...

Subject: RE: Tech: alert - Wordpress websites updates
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 11 Feb 19 - 06:25 AM

Ah SRS, I wonder if we are talking a little bit cross purposes here. It would not show if you viewed source on a php enabled web server but it concerns writing php.

This example just switches once but you can change between php and html multiple times in a document. Perhaps this is what you are thinking of.

(Alternatively the same result could be achieved by just having one php block and writing all of the HTML as echo statements)