Debug Activation Errors 2.0

Description

Debug Activation Errors 2.0 shows you the issues during plugins activation on WordPress plugins page: plugins.php

A developers’ plugin that allows to debug the ambiguous error message: “The plugin generated ### characters of unexpected output during activation”.

If you notice messages like “headers already sent”, problems with syndication feeds or other issues, activate Debug Activation Errors 2.0 and deactivate any suspicious plugin.

Then, activate the possible culprit again and you will see if there are any issues during its activation. You can repeat this operation as many times as you want…

Whenever you have solved the issues and to stop seeing any messages, you can deactivate our plugin, Debug Activation Errors 2.0

This plugin is not designed to operate on a Multisite install (Network Mode) and we do not guarantee any results in those conditions.

@@@@@ READ CAREFULLY @@@@@

Alongside with the use of Debug Activation Errors 2.0, you should update the file wp-config.php with the below snippet of code:

/**
* For developers: WordPress debugging mode.
*
* Find the line of code >> define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, false ); << and replace it with the 3 lines of code below.
* You must set WP_DEBUG to “true” to enable the display of notices during development.
* WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY should always be “false”, unless you have a very strong reason to change its value to “true”.
* You should have a debug.log file in WordPress, if not, you must create it and set WP_DEBUG_LOG to “true”.
* It is strongly recommended that plugin and theme developers use WP_DEBUG in their development environments, with caution.
*/
define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true );
define( ‘WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY’, false );
define( ‘WP_DEBUG_LOG’, true );

Support

Please, use the www.ads-software.com forums for community support at https://www.ads-software.com/support/plugin/debug-activation-errors and if you spot a bug or if you have a suggestion to improve the code functionality, you can contact us at [email protected]

Screenshots

Installation

AUTOMATIC INSTALLATION (Direct Method)

Automatic installation is the easiest option as WordPress handles the file transfers itself, you do not even need to leave your web browser.

1. To do an automatic install, login to your WordPress administration panel or dashboard, navigate to the “Plugins” submenu and click “Add New”.
2. In the search field, you must type “Debug Activation Errors 2.0” and click “Search Plugins”.

WordPress will open a page with several plugins that are related to each other through common “tags”. Once you have found our plugin, you can view details about it such as the release date, reviews, screenshots and description.

1. You can install it by clicking “Install Now”.
2. Then, you will see the option to “Activate” and you have to click on it…

AUTOMATIC INSTALLATION (Download)

1. Upload the ZIP file or debug-activation-errors.zip into your WordPress plugins’ page after downloading it from https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/debug-activation-errors
2. Activate the plugin!

MANUAL INSTALLATION (Download & Transfer FTP)

The manual installation method involves downloading the plugin and uploading it to your webserver via an FTP application. If you are a beginner, we dare to suggest you the use of a FileZilla.org Client since it is quite easy and intuitive to use.

1. Download the debug-activation-errors.zip file to your computer and unzip it…
2. Yes, unzip it. Mouse over the zip file, right click and choose “Extract All”. Better to point the folder directory to your desktop (easier to find).
3. Using an FTP program (maybe even your hosting control panel) upload the unzipped plugin folder to your WordPress installation’s wp-content/plugins/debug-activation-errors
4. Activate your new plugin called Debug Activation Errors 2.0 from the “Plugins” submenu within the WordPress administration panel.

FAQ

What if something does not work?

Debug Activation Errors 2.0 should work with all well coded WordPress plugins and standard themes. However, not all plugins and themes are well coded and this includes some of the most popular, unfortunately.

Even the best programmers make mistakes, it does not matter how good you are when coding software.

If something does not work properly, first you must deactivate ALL other plugins and switch to one of the core standard themes, e.g. “twentytwenty”.

But if the problem persists, please leave a post in the support forum: https://www.ads-software.com/support/plugin/debug-activation-errors since we look there regularly and we aim to resolve any doubts or problems.

Why do I get a fatal error when uploading Debug Activation Errors 2.0 to my website?

That error is due to the fact that since WordPress v5.2 there is a built-in core feature that detects when a plugin or theme causes a fatal error on your website and the detection system is correct, in this case.

That fatal error results from your website still not running on PHP 8.0 (according to all of our tests) and you must double-check your PHP version with your hosting provider on cPanel, Plesk, Cloudways, VestaCP, ISPconfig, OviPanel or any other GUI (online graphical interface) used by your server.

If you do not know what are those names above, please contact your hosting provider for help and if their staff is not very cooperative, you can also contact us asking for help. We will do our best to help you.

Where can I get more information on how to use this plugin?

Please, visit https://avattava.xyz to obtain detailed information on how to use Debug Activation Errors 2.0 and its full capabilities.

Does the number of plugins slow down your WordPress website?

Yes. The strongest argument against this idea is that “as long as the plugins are well coded, they will not slow down the website”. Wishful thinking, nothing else.

Obviously, any plugin must be well coded to avoid slowing down your website but the fact is that WordPress CMS runs on PHP and if we compare it with Node.js, we can imagine that PHP runs on a one way avenue and Node.js runs on a two-way avenue, to say the least.

PHP (despite its amazing speed) will have to go through each plugin, each readme.txt file, each license.txt file, each line of code, etc., to get its job done. So, it does not matter how well things are coded, the more plugins you have, the bigger is the probability of slowing down.

Debug Activation Errors 2.0 was developed to keep your website safe and fast. We also advise you to use a Ngynx server to host and speed up your WordPress website, whenever possible.

Are WordPress plugins secure and safe to use?

Many plugins on the repository (despite its need and brilliant concept) are no longer maintained and updated on a regular basis and that is something that creates security vulnerabilities. Check if the desired plugin was updated during the last 12 months or so…

To be sure that our plugin is totally safe and does not harm your website, we suggest that (after downloading it from www.ads-software.com) you scan it first using https://www.virustotal.com where you can even join that vibrant security community.

Reviews

Working good but would deserve to be improved

cpoakl April 12, 2024 1 reply

Hello, thank you for packaging this snippet in a plugin.Few UX issues in my opinion though: a major one is the hardcoded $max_length value of 140 characters. In my case I needed to retrieve the full output of a “print_r($array)” command, much longer… The plugin’s codebase is not that big so it is fine to change the value manually, but the point of a such a plugin is not to have to go through the code… It should really have an input box somewhere to change the value from the UI (or at least a much higher value by default). two minor ones: Clicking “Clearing warning” did nothing. Bug? Desactivating the plugin being object of study removed the warning. Remind the user from within the dashboard on how to enable WP_DEBUG if it is detected as “OFF”.

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

1.0

Our plugin that debugs errors related to plugins’ activation, Debug Activation Errors 2.0 is launched on www.ads-software.com by April of 2024

1.1

Tested with WP v6.5
blueprint.json added in order to allow users preview on playgroung.