• Main Question: Does anyone know what PHP message “could not find profile undefined” means, and know how to fix it? This may possibly be the source of the issue with my cron events not working.

    Current environment:

    iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)
    Processor: 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
    Memory: 16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
    Web server: MAMP Pro 5.7.0.0
    WordPress version: 5.4.1

    NOTE: My entire website is working fine. My WP blog works fine as well. I have no problem logging in to my blog as admin, creating new posts, etc. Likewise, I can easily navigate to different posts in the blog without a problem. Internet visitors can also visit my blog without a problem.

    The Main Problem:

    The ONLY thing that appears to be broken are ALL cron events; meaning no automatic checks and updates of WordPress core files, plugins or themes, or of third party plugins. All third party plugins which also rely upon wp-cron.php have also stopped executing their cron events, such as my automatic backup plugin, and my social networks post syndication plugin.

    History:

    About a week ago, my early 2009 iMac Core 2 Duo, running macOS El Capitan 10.11.6, finally died. My web server and WP blog ran on that machine for many years. Thankfully, I do automated daily backups to two external hard drives, so nothing from my website and WP blog were lost.

    Previously, I had also manually transferred my entire website and WP blog — all files and folders, all Library application support files and preferences, etc. — to a 2017 27″ Retina 5K iMac via my ethernet-connected LAN. This machine, running macOS Catalina 10.15.5, is now the new home for my website and WP blog.

    Blog Setup Specifics:

    1. Internal WP-cron execution is disabled with “define(‘DISABLE_WP_CRON’, true);” in “php.config.php” file.

    2. WordPress debugging is enabled.

    3. wp-cron.php is executed every 60 seconds via a launchd job set up with the Launch Control app. The job’s status is “OK” in the Launch Control app, and “OK” switches to “running” each time that “wp-cron.php” is executed.

    Launch Control/launchd creates two output files — “stderr” and “stdout” — which receive output from whatever app or script is being executed by the cron job in question.

    In this case, the “stdout” file is filled with many hundreds of lines which say “Could not find profile undefined”, and more are added to it every minute/hour. I am assuming that this message is being generated by PHP, being as “wp-cron.php” is what is being executed by the job I have set up in the Launch Control app. However, I am not sure why the message is being generated, or even what it means. What profile is it referring to? How do I fix it?

    What I Have Done:

    1. I reinstalled WordPress 5.4.1 over top of my current WP installation.

    2. I deleted the launchd cron job in the Launch Control app and recreated it from scratch.

    3. I examined the “wp-config.php” file for errors. I fixed a small insignificant one.

    4. I enabled WP debugging in the “wp-config.php” file.

    5. I verified that the shebang line is correct at the top of the “wp-cron.php” file. I need this there because I am using my web server’s PHP instead of macOS’s built-in PHP. I’ve ran it this way for many years now.

    6. I disabled and then re-enabled all plugins.

    7. I checked ownership and permissions on both “wp-config.php” and “wp-cron.php”.

    8. I opened and visually examined the property list file in my Library’s “LaunchAgents” folder that corresponds to the job that is being executed by launchd. Everything looks right to me.

    Nothing I have tried has resolved the broken cron events issue. I simply don’t have the knowledge or experience to know how to fix this problem. So, if anyone here is familiar with launchd, the Launch Control app, PHP errors, etc., and how this all works with WordPress, and knows what I need to do to resolve this problem, I would be most appreciative. Thank you so much! It’s been a week of frustration.

    If you need any additional info to help me to resolve this, please don’t hesitate to ask. If publicly-asked questions compromise my web server security, I would prefer to do this privately, such as via email, or texting.

    • This topic was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by Bill Kochman.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

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  • Thread Starter Bill Kochman

    (@wordweaver777)

    I am wondering . . .

    I was just comparing an older version of the wp-cron.php file with the one that is currently in use by 5.4.1.

    I noticed that in the current version, on lines 110 and 143, it uses “!==” — without the quote marks — while in the older version of the same file, it uses “!=” with only ONE equal sign.

    I understand very little regarding PHP, but could this small difference in the code produce a different result, or do they both effectuate the same thing, regardless of which of the two is used?

    Maybe I am just grasping at straws here, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

    Do you have the XCloner Backup plugin installed?

    I faced the same issue as you and the problem resided in this plugin.

    Thread Starter Bill Kochman

    (@wordweaver777)

    arnaudw, yes, I have XCloner installed. However, it was not, and is not, the source of my problem. XCloner continues to work fine for me. Considering how much time I have already invested in this problem, two days ago I took the drastic step of totally trashing my web server setup and blog — well, except for the content in my public html folder — and I set up the web server and blog from scratch. All of my cron events are now working properly again, and the 255 exit code from PHP that was being printed in launchd’s “stdout” file has disappeared. I am relatively certain that the last issue was due to a PHP script called “object-cache.php”, which I got from github. While the content of my main website remained untouched, and safe, I lost about four year’s worth of blog posts — over 5,000 of them. I am now in the process of slowly restoring them from backup files. It will take me many months to get them all posted again. Oh well.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • The topic ‘Cron Events Stopped Working – could not find profile undefined – macOS 10.15.5’ is closed to new replies.