Fatal Error with PHP 8.x

The error does not seem to be due to the PHP version, but to the fact that “Download Monitor ” requires write permission for the “wp-content” folder, which is not advisable for security reasons.

Why does the plugin require write permission for this folder even though “wp-content/uploads/download” is entered as the download path?

Hello Support,
we are still waiting for an answer.

Hello @roundaboutweb ,

Sorry for the late reply. Could you please share the error you receive? Using with PHP version 8.3.0 with no problem.

Warmly,
Razvan

In my projects, the “wp-content” folder is always write-protected and only defined subdirectories (e.g. “uploads”) are given write permission. However, as soon as I activate this write protection, your plugin causes a “fatal error”.
For security reasons, customers do not want to do without write protection (which makes sense). Since this problem only occurs with the “Download Monitor” plugin, we need a functional solution for the plugin or we will have to look for another solution. I therefore hope that you can offer a solution in a timely manner, as is the case with all other plugins.

I have the same problem, when updating WordPress to version 6.5.3 the plugin has stopped working and is impossible to activate. Fatal error.

PHP: 8.1.28

• This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by joska1993.

Hello ,

@roundaboutweb as said before, I understand the circumstances, but I need the PHP error to know what exactly is going on. Could you please share the error log with the Fatal error? The error log should be in root or wp-content folder. You could contact your host to give you the error log or you can follow this documentation.

@joska1993 the above applies to you also, you are receiving an error but it’s not necessarily the same situation that roundaboutweb is experiencing, and the error log would help a lot.

Warmly,
Razvan

You can reproduce the error yourself by changing the permissions for “wp-content” to 555.
But I would also like to add the error message here:

PHP Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: ftp_nlist(): Argument #1 ($ftp) must be of type FTP\Connection, null given in /.../wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php:438
Stack trace: 
0 /.../wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php(438): ftp_nlist(NULL, '…') 
1 /.../wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php(456): WP_Filesystem_FTPext->exists('…') 
2 /.../wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php(757): WP_Filesystem_FTPext->is_file('…')

Is there any hope of an answer?

Hello @roundaboutweb ,

Could not reproduce your issue, although I’ve set the permissions to 555 as you specified. Maybe you could send a video, so I can replicate your exact steps?
Also, upon modifying the permissions I’ve found that WordPress itself has a problem with that, so this may be more of a WordPress permissions issue rather than a plugin issue. The error you gave above is triggered when WordPress is checking if a file exists, and needs ftp connection for that. If you set 555 permissions for wp-content, WordPress might need FTP credentials, and if it doesn’t have them it could give the error you gave above.

Warmly,
Razvan

All WP installations that I maintain have the right 555 for wp-content and only in one case there is an error, namely on the only page with the plugin “Download Monitor”. The error only occurs when you click on Downloads –> Create.

https://nextcloud.roundaboutweb.info/index.php/s/Sr7p37LKLQCHmCa

• This reply was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by roundaboutweb.

Could you please check and see if the “dlm_uploads” directory and .htaccess file ( in dlm_uploads ) are present in wp-content/uploads and what permissions do they have ( including subdirectories of dlm_uploads )?

Warmly,
Razvan

All directories below “uploads” have write permission (755) and the file “/dlm_uploads/.htaccess” has permission 644.
For some reason, your plugin requires write permission directly to the “wp-content” folder and that is a problem!
The folder “wp-content” does not have write permission, only the subdirectory “uploads” and all folders below it.

In my opinion, the error is due to the fact that you are checking the write permission for “wp-content” instead of “uploads”. Please correct your script so that we can continue to use your plugin.

• This reply was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by roundaboutweb.

Could you please add the following code to your wp-config.php file and let me know if you are still receiving the error?

define( 'FS_METHOD', 'direct' );

Warmly,
Razvan

Fine, now it work.

Thank you for the info. Could you please let me know if the website’s FTP user is part of the www-data group? If not, could you add it and let me know if the problem still persists?

Could you make sure that the FTP user that wants to make changes in the subdirectories of the wp-content directory is the actual owner of those directories or has permissions to do so?

Warmly,
Razvan