Disappeared | WP Widget | WordPress Events and News

Same thing happened to me. What host do you use?

SiteGround. You?

Also Siteground… sounds like they might have turned it off

Can you confirm with them? I’ll do the same at my end. Thank you.

I haven’t been able to get their chat support to work, but I have heard from people using other hosts who are still seeing so the widget. I’m going to keep trying, not a big deal overall, I’m just curious. My local sites still have the widget.

Update:

So, after contacting SiteGround (SG) Support and several back-and-forth discussions, SG finally confirmed that the issue is being caused by a wp-config.php file entry created by SG.

The wp-config.php file entry they made is:

/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. **/
@include_once('/var/lib/sec/wp-settings-pre.php'); // Added by SiteGround WordPress management system 
@require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php'); 
@include_once('/var/lib/sec/wp-settings.php'); // Added by SiteGround WordPress management system 

Temporary Solution:

To fix the issue, simply comment out the following entries (as noted):

/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. **/
// @include_once('/var/lib/sec/wp-settings-pre.php'); // Added by SiteGround WordPress management system 
@require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php'); 
// @include_once('/var/lib/sec/wp-settings.php'); // Added by SiteGround WordPress management system 

I am waiting for SG to explain what is the purpose of their file entry and why did they modify our wp-config.php file without out cognizance.

Will advise once I hear back from SG Support.

Cheers!

Correction:

To fix the issue (still a temporary solution), simply comment out the line entries noted below and clarify which line entry was added by WordPress

/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. **/
// @include_once('/var/lib/sec/wp-settings-pre.php'); // Added by SiteGround WordPress management system
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php'); // Added by WordPress
// @include_once('/var/lib/sec/wp-settings.php'); // Added by SiteGround WordPress management system

Thank you! I am also curious why this change was made with no announcement or explaination.

The widget is back and working as of today.

Hey @alittledev,

Martin from SiteGround here.

I will use this opportunity for a short followup ??

As @generosus mentioned, our team was contacted regarding this matter. I provided somewhat more detailed information in the communication we had through our official support channels. I will spare some details in this public thread but here it is, without omitting anything important:

• this file /var/lib/sec/wp-settings.php adds additional functionality for the SiteGround managed hosting for WordPress
• it is used for various features, one of them being the custom dashboard SiteGround ships along with the “SiteGround starter”
  • the SiteGround starter itself allows clients that perform new installations to more easily start building their websites with preinstalled plugins, themes and overall website setup relevant to the needs they have
• due to a bug in the code that was shipped in the end of last week, instead of preserving user preferences for the default dashboard the options that are modified in the custom SiteGround starter dashboard were hidden.
• it was not expected, it was a regression in the code for the shipped version
• the issue was rectified yesterday by the SiteGround team and distributed across the hosting infrastructure

To answer your question why there was no announcement: The change was not supposed to affect existing customers in a way that it changes the expected functionality of their websites. More of a under the hood type of tweaking. Still @generosus made a very nice comment also, suggesting we consider putting up a website that would provide regular updates for new features, up to date service status and similar announcements for clients.

Hi @martinvelikov,

Once again, thank you for your follow-up, explanation, and fix.

Looking forward to SiteGround publishing a website that will keep its customers abreast of SiteGround’s technical issues, activities, and updates. A must these days if you want to keep customers happy, well-informed, and moving at the speed of business.

Closing this topic as “Resolved.”

Have a great week!