Gravatar cache doesn’t seem to be updating based on the frequency set

Hello @willstockstech

I’m fine thank you!

I’ve analyzed how your gravatars are being served.
From what I’ve noticed from the server’s response headers, it caches the gravatar for about a month:

date: Thu, 15 Nov 2018 09:46:46 GMT
content-type: image / jpeg
content-length: 9200
last-modified: Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:49:03 GMT
etag: “23f0-57a8ceb2a95c0”
cache-control: max-age = 2592000
expires: Sat, 15 Dec 2018 09:34:09 GMT

With this configuration it will not be possible to present to users an updated gravatar in a maximum of two days.

I recommend trying the “query string” option.

I have an account on gravatar.com that I use for testing in the plugin, I update regularly and it changes perfectly.

I’m not saying it can not be a bug.

To try to understand where the problem comes from is this:

1. Update the gravatar again on gravatar.com;
2. Let 3 days pass;
3. Check via ftp if the gravatar in your cache directory has been updated.

If the gravatar was not updated in your cache directory can be a problem with the plugin, if it was updated is certainly a problem with the server cache configuration.

Thanks @jomisica – I will check the .htaccess file on the cache folder as I assume it’s something in there?

If not, I will try the query string option (although at the moment I strip query strings from WordPress via a simple function – hopefully it won’t strip these!) ??

So my top level .htaccess file has the following rules:

  <FilesMatch "\.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|swf|webp)$">
   ExpiresDefault A2592000
   </FilesMatch>

and

  <FilesMatch "\.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|swf|webp)$">
   Header set Cache-Control "max-age=2592000"
   </FilesMatch>

Which is resulting in this header being set. I’ve just noticed there’s no .htaccess in my gravatar cache folder… If I set one up with a lower value specifically in the cache folder, it should overrule the top-level .htaccess right?

Yes, it in principle overrides the top-level .htaccess rules.

So if I just use the “template” version you supply as part of the plugin and put that in my \gravatar\cache\ folder, that should sort my issue?

I’ll setup the cache-control header to 2 days (cache-control: 172800) and ExpiresDefault A172800

I will try enabling the query string as well, to cache bust!

In principle yes, but it is necessary to experiment, there may be some incompatibility with the modules on your server.

I can help solve if there is a problem.

Thanks! ??
I think I was using this template prior to this version when we were doing a little “testing”
I’ll let you know how it goes

If I click “sync users and commenters now” – should that essentially “force refresh” my cache on demand?

Also, I have now enabled the query string option. I was expecting to see:
?d=[modification date] reflected as something like ?d=151120181430 but instead I’m seeing: ?d=tcmsvx?
I now have set:
Refresh gravatars cache every: 1 days
Search for outdated avatars every: 5 minutes

If I click “Sync users and commenters now” – nothing seems to happen at all. The page refreshes, but nothing happens. I have also applied the .htaccess file in my cache folder and it has lowered the cache-control to 24 hours ??

• This reply was modified 6 years ago by Will Stocks.

“Sync users and commenters now” only announces the email of users and commentators to the plugin, however their avatars will be built in the background.

The dates “?d=151120181430” are converted to base 35 “?d=tcmsvx” to save characters, but does the same job.

OK – so it doesn’t “force update” gravatars when I click the button. Does it still wait for the cache time limit to be hit before checking for new avatars? Only reason I ask, I hit that button half an hour ago (no new users/commenters) thinking that it would simply do an “on demand” refresh of the gravatars. Nothing has changed in that half an hour window ??

Ahhh, OK that makes sense! I thought it’d be some form of date formatting I just couldn’t work out which type of encoding it was using haha!

Will now just wait a day or two and will check that it has been updated.
Do not clean your cache now, otherwise you’ll go back to the beginning.

OK, I will wait for a day or two ??

However if you want to rush things.
Edit the plugin file and substitute it in line 1859:

$time=time()-$this->expireTime * 86400;//86400 1 day

per
$time=time()-$this->expireTime * 1;//86400 1 day

and wait a while that the cache will start updating all the gravatars.

Ooooh….

I think just to make sure, I’ll leave it to run it’s course properly ??

I’ll check my site again in 24 hours, which would be the “1 day” window per:
Refresh gravatars cache every: 1 days

If the cache only refreshes once every day as a minimum, what exactly does:
Search for outdated avatars every: 5 minutes
this do? Does it just check for outdated gravatars every 5 minutes and flag them as needing to be refreshed every expireTime days?