Loopback requests taking too long with no plugins installed at all

  • I have no plugins enabled at all except for Health Check which reports the following three errors:

    1. You are not using HTTPS to access this website.
    2. A scheduled event (wp_version_check) has failed to run. Your site still works, but this may indicate that scheduling posts or automated updates may not work as intended.
    3. The loopback request to your site took too long to complete, this may prevent WP_Cron from working, along with theme and plugin editors.

    And when I try to edit a php file specifically through the wordpress editor, I am told:

    Unable to communicate back with site to check for fatal errors, so the PHP change was reverted. You will need to upload your PHP file change by some other means, such as by using SFTP.

    So there must be a problem in my theme I am guessing?

    Which should be easy enough to track down since I have written it from scratch myself using a generic version downloaded from underscores.me

    I just have no clue where to even start looking.

    What is a “loopback request” exactly? How long is it actually taking? And what can I do to make the connection or speed it up or whatever?

    I am totally lost right now.

    EDIT: Just to be clear, I can edit .css files on my current theme. And I can edit any file on another theme that is not currently active. I just cannot edit php files on my currently active theme… which makes me think it’s related to this loopback request stuff.

    EDIT 2: Are loopback requests actual http requests that look for a copy of my site online? Because if so… the site is actually offline right now. Could that be the issue?

    • This topic was modified 6 years, 12 months ago by 247pinger.
    • This topic was modified 6 years, 12 months ago by 247pinger.
Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

  • Sounds theme related and since you are the developer I suggest asking here: https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/
    This forum is for WordPress support not theme development support.

    I’m getting this same error when trying to do a test edit in WordPress twenty-seventeen

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.ads-software.com Admin

    Are loopback requests actual http requests that look for a copy of my site online? Because if so… the site is actually offline right now. Could that be the issue?

    Yes. That is exactly the issue.

    WordPress makes a request back to itself. If my site is https://example.com, then WordPress is going to try to contact https://example.com as if it was a web browser.

    If it can’t make that request, then the file editors will not function, nor will the cron system. These requests are essential. Basically, when you make the file edit, WordPress saves the edit, then makes the request to see if that broke the site. If it did, then it reverts the edit. If it can’t make the loopback request, then it cannot test if the site is broken or not.

    WordPress is designed to be a live site that is accessible. If the site is not accessible, then the editors will not work.

    This was helpful. I have an installation behind a .htpasswd challenge so it’s no surprise that a loopback query fails. I need to see if I can configure requests from (essentially) localhost to bypass that.

    In my investigation of this issue, per the OP and other suggestions, I loaded Health Check and (long story short) found my version of “libcurl” used by PHP is very old, and not the same version as “curl” the command-line tool. This prompted other changes.

    My resolution: Don’t use the WP file editor for a site that’s behind a layer of security.

    Thanks.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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