Parse error wp-settings line 600+ // Web host update PHP 5.6 to 7.3

  • Resolved icerabbit

    (@icerabbit)


    4 years, 1 month ago

    I am hoping somebody can point me in the right direction.

    I wholly admit that I have not kept up with WordPress in recent history, I was versed in WP in the earlier days, coming from a different platform, but life changes, and I have not kept up. Afaik, things were working fine, the 3 sites / blogs were dormant but still live online over the holidays. I designed them back in the day with a simple custom theme. Nothing crazy or elaborate. From the ground up. Standard code. Maintained it for a while, but probably have not touched the admin panel for over 5 years. Mostly for fear of breaking something.

    I was just notified today that sites were down. All of them with the same parse error towards the end of wp-settings, line 600+. So, not my code or anything I did, or a plug-in. Other than not updating wordpress ??

    All three error like this:

    Blank page with:

    Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘new’ (T_NEW) in /nfs/c01/h01/mnt/32648/domains/mydomainname.com/html/blog/wp-settings.php on line 646

    I suspected a web host / server change. And the web host (media temple) confirmed a mandatory change they instituted from PHP 5.6 to 7.3. No way back. I would need to pay $$$ to upgrade to some advanced package, that then lets me install the php of my choice. Not something I look forward to maintaining or spend money one. I just want to get things live again, for now.

    Things is: I’m locked out of WordPress altogether.
    I cannot update that way. I don’t think I can archive. Export. Re-import into a newer install (if that is an option, I thought it was)

    All I have left is what is on the server directory as files, and however that ties into the database file(s).

    I’m thinking the line about T_NEW may be a red herring, that there’s something more at play, I don’t know what to change it to, or if I should touch even tough that.

    > is there a some kind of summary that explains this error and how to fix it, when one has not kept up with PHP & WP changes?

    > is there a way to force an update, when you can’t do it automatically?

    > is there a way to export/import without the control panel … along the lines of grabbing all data & text, but putting it into a fresh wordpress install, then editing the css from scratch

    Thank you for reading and hopefully giving me a pointer in the right direction as to how to resolve this.

    I had found a topic that was very similar, but it was locked down, and I couldn’t ask a how do I do step x that a person mentioned.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Which version of WordPress were you running?

    WordPress 5.6 is fully compatible with PHP 7.3.

    Thread Starter icerabbit

    (@icerabbit)

    Digging into the files through the webhost file manager, the first version reference I see is in a readme . html that says 2.9.2.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Oh yeah, that was released in February of 2010, there’s no way that’s going to run under PHP 7.3.

    You’ll need to try a manual update: https://www.ads-software.com/support/article/upgrading-wordpress-extended-instructions/

    Thread Starter icerabbit

    (@icerabbit)

    Thank you for the extended instructions.
    I will try to dig in …

    Thread Starter icerabbit

    (@icerabbit)

    I am downloading a directory copy via FTP.

    One trouble is, right off the bat, it says in STEP 4: de-activate all plugins in the admin panel … which is something I do not have access to?

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by icerabbit.
    Thread Starter icerabbit

    (@icerabbit)

    > I have managed to download the files & db.
    > I can see my html & css code is fine
    > Six common plugins were outdated … no surprise
    > Page renders error free locally

    … now to update WP on the server ???

    I cannot do step 4 = deactivate the plugins on the server.
    As I cannot access my admin page on the server.

    Hoping somebody can help.

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by icerabbit.
    • This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by icerabbit.
    Thread Starter icerabbit

    (@icerabbit)

    Okay, so I figured I would power forward.

    I renamed the plugins folder to plugins-old. Then proceeded to FTP delete (or rename to -old) as needed and copied the new wordpress files into place.

    Step 9 … run wordpress upgrade. Bit tricky. Got there.

    Did that. It said it did it successfully.

    Then I had a white page?

    Because the provider had me update the DB password …

    And then the theme was missing, of course.

    So many steps and hoops and detours ??

    Anyhow. One site is alive again!

    Still have to re-install plugins. And do two more websites. They should go easier. Crossing fingers.

    Thank you for your help, James, in pointing me the right way.

    If you would, leave this open for another day, in case I have a follow thingy, related to this bugging me. I will signal if it is resolved or can be deleted.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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