Page Cache – White Screen – WP>5.2.3

Hello Marko, I find the real issue behind all this.

When we receive HEAD request on a page and it needs to refresh the cache, the new cache have the right header, but without the body. I follow closely the access log and the behavior is always the same.

It seems that you had an option “Reject HEAD requests” but i cannot find it. Can you help me? thank you!

Hello @jmichaudelisys

Thank you for the info. Reject HEAD requests: is in Performance>Page Cache>Advanced section available when Dish: enhanced is set as a caching method.
There is a possibility that that option was enabled and the setting remained historically.
Can you please switch to Dish: enhanced and see if that option is checked?
Thank you!

Hello marko,

I find this option when I switch the cache system for Disk Enhanced, but this option has the html attribute “disabled”, so it is “impossible” to check this box. I did remove the attribute, check the box and save the settings. On page reload, the option is still uncheck, so I validate the “w3tc-config/master.php” and the value is set to true, which is correct. But the interface is showing otherwise and it could lead to a misinterpretation.

I validate the default settings of your plugin in “ConfigKeys.php” and I see the value is set to false. I doubt this is a good default settings. From my point of view, HEAD requests should never be cache.

I use those type of requests when I do not care about the content. As for an example, when I validate a sitemap and be sure every links return does not return a 404 status code.

Is it fine to fix this issue by setting the value to “true” in my “w3tc-confg/master.php” file or there is some chances this value will change?

Will you plan to change this default setting in near future?

Thank you!

One more recommandation would be to set a different cache key that integrate the type of request. I think this will be a more effective solution.

Hello @jmichaudelisys

Thank you for the information.
We are checking this and I’ll get back to you as soon as we investigate.

Hello,

HEAD is never cached by Disk: Enhanced, that’s why this option is disabled.

It’s controlled by a snippet

if ( isset( $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] ) && strtoupper( $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] ) == 'HEAD' &&
			( $this->_enhanced_mode || $this->_config->get_boolean( 'pgcache.reject.request_head' ) ) ) {
			$this->cache_reject_reason = 'Requested method is HEAD';

			return false;
		}

You may check that your server keeps correct $_SERVER[‘REQUEST_METHOD’] for such requests.
Thank you!

Hello Marko, The condition is good enough with the cache engine Disk Enhanced, but we are using Memcached, so this is why HEAD requests are saved in the cache.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by jmichaudelisys.

Hello Marko, are-you investigating/confirming this issue?

Have a nice day

Hello @jmichaudelisys

Sorry for the late reply. We are trying to replicate this but this seems like an environment-specific issue.
We are checking this and will reply when we investigate.
Thanks!

A simple message to keep this thread active.

Hello @jmichaudelisys

Sorry for the late reply.
I’ve consulted with the team and I can confirm that this kind of issue may happen in some cases such as yours.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for the support Marko,

Can you tell me more specifically what was wrong and what is the approach to resolve the issue?

Hello @jmichaudelisys

I just need to change some rules for different environments.
I’ll make sure to drop you a note once this is fixed.
Thank you!