Plugin Triggers “CURL error 28” Message

Additional Info:

We checked above issue with our host (SiteGround). They confirmed everything is secure and our website is using HTTPS with no issues. Here’s what they said:

It does appear that on server level, everything is properly functioning.

There were no errors on the developer console on my browser and no errors related to the website were logged on the server.

This information suggests that the issue is most probably caused by a plugin and not by the server configuration, as the operations listed above are running normally and there are no DNS/firewall issues.

I would recommend reviewing the recently installed plugins, more specifically checking the plugin that adds this option in your Settings > General tab, as this is not a default WordPress functionality.

Regardless, I would also like to assure you that the website is running through HTTPS without any issues and is loading securely.

Looking forward to your review, input, and fix.

By the way, when is your plugin scheduled to come out of beta testing?

Thank you.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by jetxpert.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by jetxpert.

The error here is part of a check the plugin is doing to ensure that HTTPS is available for your site. This is done to prevent enabling HTTPS but then locking yourself out of the site because it is not available.

The code responsible for the check is here: https://github.com/xwp/pwa-wp/blob/da201a5dadaf958f9e97ac52f426e015cb907e24/wp-includes/class-wp-https-detection.php#L77-L141

Apparently it is taking more then 5 seconds to generate a response for your homepage, so that’s why it is failing. You could try adding adding 'timeout' => 10 (or some other higher value than the default 5) to the wp_remote_request() calls.

Give that a try and if that fixes the problem, I’ll bump the timeout to something like 10 seconds. Going higher than that will be perilous with the existing setup because then the entire request can timeout. We may need to modify the plugin to make a request to another endpoint to verify HTTPS is working.

In fact, your plugin adds a new field “HTTPS” to the General pane, which is not a standard WordPress field. Not good.

The PWA plugin is a feature plugin to propose the functionality to merge into core. As such, it integrates as much as possible with the standard WordPress fields.

By the way, when is your plugin scheduled to come out of beta testing?

The plugin will likely never be out of beta, as once it is out of beta, the hope is that it would be merged into core itself.

Hi @westonruter ,

Thanks for the detailed response. We’ll get back to you within 2 days.

Until then, recommend removing the “hook” that caused above message. In fact, it’s kinda hiding from the user. We found it by chance. Instead, recommend some other method to notify your plugin users that the site is not secure, etc.

A push notification (yellow warning) would be better. For example: “PWA (plugin) has detected that your website is not secure (HTTPS compliant) or your server’s response time is high. Please consult your host provider before using this plugin.”

Also, recommend bumping up the time to 8 seconds to be on the safe side and to account for remote server issues.

Again, thanks!

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by jetxpert.

Hi @westonruter ,

Back as promised. Assessment:

(1) We reloaded our website (files), tested website response time throughout the day … and the problem went away.

(2) Confirmed the issue is triggered based on server response time (which varies depending on many factors such as private server, shared server, bandwidth, etc.)

(3) Could not find the “timeout” code line in your file: wp-includes/class-wp-https-detection.php. Since not a developer, did not add it to this file either.

(4) This is the second time I’ve reported a bug and/or false positive for this plugin. Yes, it’s in beta stage, so you’re forgiven ??

(5) After thorough research, I have concluded that “PWA” apps provide no benefits to websites at this time – PLUS – your app is in beta stage. Here’s a great article on the subject to start with: PWAs Won’t Save Mobile WordPress Speed.

Based on the above, we’ve decided to remove PWA from our plugin list. We’ll just have to wait until it’s stable, integrated into our website theme, or recommended by Google and other search engines for improved SEO score.

Cheers!