5.6.3 Crashing site – 500 Internal Server Error

I just tested 5.6.3 on my development server and intentionally lowered the available PHP memory to the bare minimum 32Mb WP default (looks like you have about 128Mb allocated for WP). I ran a script to open 100 browser tabs for logged out users, and no issues.

I cannot replicate the issue, and a generic “memory exhausted” error for “class-wpdb.php” doesn’t help diagnose it any. NOTHING related to the DB was changed in 5.6.3. The only changes made were for BuddyPress visibility handling, better handling of Style Pack shortcodes, and a new Arabic translation. Nothing else was changed, and certainly not any changes related to the DB in any way.

I’m not trying to avoid or deflect the issue you’re having, but I’m pretty certain that nothing changed in Style Pack that would directly cause the issue.

I just checked the stats of the plugin, an we’ve had about 2,500 sites update to version 5.6.3 and no one has reported this issue. You’re the first. That indicates that it’s something unique/different about your specific setup, not the plugin itself.

Let’s start with some basics to try to resolve this issue for you:

Are you using BuddyPress or any of the Style Pack shortcodes?

Did you update any other plugins at the same time as Style Pack?

Are you getting any other errors or warnings in your debug log besides generic “memory exhausted” errors for “class-wpdb.php”?

If you delete the 5.6.3 version and go back to using 5.6.2, does the issue disappear?
https://downloads.www.ads-software.com/plugin/bbp-style-pack.5.6.2.zip

Let’s start there before digging in deeper.

I’m using BuddyPress, but I don’t believe i’m using any of the shortcodes for BP or BSP

I think I recently updated TablePress, Stackable, Forum Permissions bbPress, and my theme Blocksy and its companion plugin.

I have 1 or 2 old warnings from other plugins, but nothing else related to BP/BBP/BSP and no other fatals.

Reverting to 5.6.2 fixes the problem.

EDIT: Found this warning sometime before the fatal errors:

[Wed Aug 16 11:19:35.067608 2023] [fcgid:warn] [pid 142103:tid 3589309196032] [client 114.119.153.72:24211] mod_fcgid: stderr: PHP Warning: Attempt to read property “ID” on null in /home/****/****.com/wp-content/plugins/bbp-style-pack/includes/functions.php on line 2466, referer: https://www.****.com/forums/forum/*****/

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by scottmotion.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by scottmotion.

Thanks for the input!

One more question and then some more info gathering.

Question:

When you were experiencing the issue, was it site-wide EVERY page, or only specifically BuddyPress pages?

Info:

With 5.6.2 running, go to the “Plugin Information” tab
(/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=bbp-style-pack&tab=plugin_info)
and copy:

Site Details
&
Site Plugins

You can also copy:
Plugin Settings
OR:
do a settings export and attach to an email
(/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=bbp-style-pack&tab=export)

You can sanitize anything you think is sensitive and email all this info to me directly at [email protected]

I’m going to try everything I can to replicate the issue on my end!

One more question too:

How many members does your site have?

Good info to know related to this issue and I’m going to be adding this to the “Plugin Information” tab Site Info section in an upcoming release.

I sent the info you requested.

Issue was site-wide. Every page I visited returned 500, except when I was already logged in.

I have just shy of 10K registered users

Got your email. I’m digging in now.

Going to try my best to replicate the issue, figure out the cause, and work on a solution ASAP.

Until then, stick with 5.6.2.

I found the issue and was able to replicate it eventually. It did have a connection to the # of members on your site.

Checking for BuddyPress profile pages was comparing current URLs to user nicenames, and with enough members and/or site traffic could/did lead to out of memory errors.

Even with only 32MB of RAM for WP on my dev server, it took generating over 100k fake users to replicate the issue. Probably due to the higher # of connections overall on your public site at any one time compared to much lower traffic on my dev server.

I’ve re-worked the BuddyPress profile checks to be more efficient, and added extra checks so that they only run on BuddyPress-specific pages to further improve overall site page loading times too.

With that said, you’re currently the only one experiencing this issue, so could I ask you to test out these revisions on your site to verify that the problem is fixed for good?

https://codejp3.com/wp-content/uploads/bbp-5-6-3-scottmotion.zip

1.) upload the zip file in the plugins install page (/wp-admin/plugin-install.php?tab=upload).

2.) deactivate version 5.6.2

3.) activate version 5.6.3 that you just uploaded

4.) verify issue is gone (and keep 5.6.3 activated, 5.6.2 deactivated),

5.) check back in here to confirm

The version I made for you is built off of the upcoming 5.6.4 that I plan to release sometime in the near future after I hear back from you. Once 5.6.4 is released, your next upgrade cycle will be slightly different:

1.) upgrade the old 5.6.2 that you deactivated in step #2 above to 5.6.4.

2.) deactivate and delete 5.6.3 custom that you activated in step #3 above

3.) activate the 5.6.4 official release

That’ll get you back on track with regular releases.

Awaiting your results…

Looks like your update has fixed the problem! I am able to view the site both logged in and out, and the forum appearance and settings seems to be correct.

Its running on the site now if you need to check it out.

Side note: I am on a shared hosting plan and can’t really say how well the site is performing, although my host is usually pretty generous with resources. Also I have a few other things with users/profiles going on in the background, like redirection, author base url rewrite, etc, which could be having an impact.

Yeah, it seems like a combo of you having a semi-large # of users, a lot of concurrent connections, and using shared hosting. You were the first to experience the issue, but eventually others would have too so I’m glad we got it sorted.

You’re also the only one previewing 5.6.4 right now.

Notice a new “BuddyPress” settings tab? You can now setup visibility settings for BuddyPress-specific site sections (Global Groups, Global Members List, and Global Activity feed). It will also be the home for all future BuddyPress -specific features of Style Pack.

If you go to the “Plugin Information” tab, you’ll notice we now include Member count, Forum count, Topic count, and Reply count as part of the reported data. Should help troubleshooting issues like the one you experienced in the future.

I’ll release 5.6.4 officially sometime this week. Please follow the upgrade path specified above so that you don’t run into issues with future upgrades. You can only have 1 version of Style Pack active at a time, and you want to make sure it’s the official release instead of the custom test update you downloaded. That’ll get you back on normal track starting with 5.6.4 official.

Marking as resolved, but feel free to post back here if you have any other questions or issues.

I’ll tag you here when 5.6.4 is released.

@scottmotion – tag ??

5.6.4 released.

Again, please follow the post above for step-by-step to update 5.6.3, deactivate/remove the temp version, and then activate the new official 5.6.4