Plugin stuck on batch process

Hi Barbadada, thanks for contacting us. I’ll do what I can to help.

Can you link your website here please?

The first thing to do is completely remove the plugin and all its files and reinstall it from the WP Directory, so you’ll have the latest version. You should also make sure to remove the log file, ltoc_logger.txt, and (if it exists) the PID file, ltoc_tagging.pid. The PID file is used to make sure that the batch process doesn’t start if it’s already running – we need to do this to make sure we don’t break Open Calais’ API limits on requests per second.

If you can access your server logs, any errors that might show up there could be useful for troubleshooting too.

Thank you!

Hi there

The log and PID file will both be in the web root. It sounds like the PID file is not being properly deleted when the plugin is deactivated. In my experience, this could be related to user permissions.

Can you check to see if it exists there? If so, please remove it and then start the batch process manually. If the PID file reappears, but nothing further happens, then we will need to know if there are any errors in your server logs to troubleshoot further.

I can see from your domain that you’re hosted on 1and1, so this article might be useful: https://help.1and1.com/hosting-c37630/scripts-and-programming-languages-c85099/php-c37728/enable-error-logs-a792503.html

Thank you!

Hi!

Thank you very much for your very nice support!

I could find the files in my webroot.
I deleted the pie file and started a new batch process with 100 posts and it completed successfully, the pid file being removed at the end of the process.

I also checked my file and directory permissions (I’m selling hosted on Google Cloud actually) and they seem to be correct.

My guess is that the tagging process hung on the 12th, leaving the following error message that I could find in a file called: ltoc_error_log.txt

”’
2018-06-12 07:19:09 :: ERROR! [Donald Trump and Kim Jong-una€?s body language was a complex display of power, politeness and clash of cultures – ID 61616] was not tagged! Retry in next batch :: [Politics, Kim dynasty, Kim Jong-il, Climate change skepticism and denial, Donald Trump, The Apprentice, WWE Hall of Fame, Kim Jong-un, United States, North Korea?United States relations, North Korea, Political philosophy]
”’

Maybe some character set issues, given the title of the post?

Thanks again!!
Jack

Hi there

It’s hard to say without digging into your setup, unfortunately. We make every effort to ensure that the plugin will still operate in the event of an error, but trying to balance that against ensuring that the plugin doesn’t break the Open Calais API limits is a little tricky. The PID file should be deleted when the plugin is deactivated, but this didn’t happen in your case.

I’ll add some further notes to the FAQ to document this behavior for other users. Please let us know if this issue comes up again. I’ll mark it resolved for now.