ejm

re: “If you really want to start this change I recommend you to join the WordPress slack channel, […snip…] and mention your ticket there.”

Because I am not a programmer, and considering that there has been little attention from developers interested on implementing this feature in 13 years since someone first placed the ticket, and the sporadic replies offering solutions or stating that this is indeed a good idea (indicating statistically that there must be others wanting this improvement to the WP core), I confess that I’m not sure that I’m ready for the disappointment when/if nothing happens again.

If there is a mis-threaded comment on my WP again, I will probably just resort to delving into the database as you suggested. Thank you again, !Benni, for pointing to that plugin-free solution.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by ejm.

Thank you, !Benni. I have created a ticket and hope that I filled everything in correctly. Fingers crossed….

Thanks for finding that, !Benni. Others may find this plugin useful. (I am not wild about installing a plugin just for this; I don’t get enough comments to make it worthwhile.)

Going directly into the databasetable did the trick. Still, it would be handier if there were a place in the comments area of WP-admin where this could be done.

With reluctance, I’ll mark this question as resolved.

Thank you, !Benni. I was hoping there was a way from the admin area of wp, but if going into the database itself is the only option, that will have to do.

I’m going to leave this as “unresolved” just in case someone knows a better way.

Thank you for your reply, Jan Dembowski.

By putting the following in my theme’s functions.php, am I correct that “get header” would cause the page to display my theme’s header?

// Activate WordPress Maintenance Mode
function wp_maintenance_mode() {
    if (!current_user_can('edit_themes') || !is_user_logged_in()) {
        wp_die('<h1>Under Maintenance</h1><br />Something ain't right, but we're working on it! Check back later.');
    }
}
add_action('get_header', 'wp_maintenance_mode');

However, this would cause the site to show it was in Maintenance mode until the coding was removed, would it not?

What I am trying to do is use “The maintenance function in WordPress” but avoid the display of a wp-generated splash page that is largely blank (or worse, if I used a plugin, one with someone else’s generic background image) with just a few words on it and nothing else (even if it is for a very short time) that doesn’t not look anything like the expected view of the site.

WordPress updates shouldn’t take longer than a minute, but during that minute, your site will be replaced by this splash page [- mhthemes.com/support/knb/how-put-wordpress-in-maintenance-mode/#built-in-maintenance-mode]

In computer time, a minute is an eon.

I was hoping that someone might be able to explain how I could make the maintenance page show my header and footer (and perhaps modified sidebar), with the maintenance message displayed prominently on the main part of the page. It doesn’t seem like a huge thing to want….

Until around December, we were able to do that by customizing the maintenance.php in wp-content folder.

WP is just one aspect of my site. When WP is in maintenance, I would like to be able to offer visitors links to related parts, rather than knowing they will simply leave in impatience.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but placing the WP php coding on a div to be inserted on a largely HTML based page would not be any more of a security risk than having the WP-generated php page would it?

-E. Morris

P.S. The reason I moved the question over into Feedback section was to point out that there is zero explanation of /wp-content/maintenance/template.phtml in the Codex. Or at least, if there is, it is pretty much impossible to find by searching.

Alas, the thread I started in the Feedback section of the forum has been removed. How disappointing.

I have now moved this question over to https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/walk-through-to-customize-maintenance-page-without-a-plugin/

I do not know how to close this thread. I am reluctant to mark this as “resolved”, because it is not.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by ejm.

Thank you for your reply, t-p.

Just to clarify, I am hoping NOT to use a plugin. Already, a number of the maintenance mode plugins are no longer compatible with the latest WP version. Additionally, the plugins that are compatible with the latest WP version offer their own templates or a blank template, offering blocks to modify. (I still haven’t wrapped what’s left of my mind around the block editor.)

What I’m looking for is something that will use the theme of my WP. I have zero plans to change that theme….

I will try in the developers’ forum to see if someone there can help.

Thank you for your reply, jasonabmw. Yes, the code snippet I used does indeed match our server’s version of Apache. I will do as you say, and until the coding is fixed by the plugin (I cannot find where the directive for it is in the plugin files), I will manually change it.

I see that this plugin has just been updated, but the .htaccess file remains the same. Takayuki Miyoshi, I trust you will fix the /wp-content/uploads/wpcf7_uploads/.htaccess file coding to provide backward compatibilty as well as forward compatibility in the next update.

Thank you.

Thank you for you reply, jasonabmw.

Only really knowing enough about coding to get myself in trouble, to make it so that my colleague could once again access webmail, this is what I manually changed the coding to look like in /wp-content/uploads/wpcf7_uploads/.htaccess:

# Deny from all
# ll change.... re: https://linux.101hacks.com/unix/client-denied-by-server-configuration/
Require all denied

Will the following work as well?

<IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
  Require all denied
</IfModule>
<IfModule !mod_authz_core.c>
  Order deny,allow
  Deny from all
</IfModule>

I am hesitant change it and perhaps break my colleague’s access to webmail again….

I think you may be mistaken. My colleague was unable to access webmail (he kept getting a message that his password and email were invalid) until I changed Deny from all to Require all denied in the .htaccess file located in the wpcf7_uploads folder. As soon as this was changed, he was finally able to access his email via webmail.

resources:

• https://support.cpanel.net/hc/en-us/articles/360051768554-Troubleshooting-the-client-denied-by-server-configuration-error-
• https://linux.101hacks.com/unix/client-denied-by-server-configuration/

Therefore, please remove the ancient Apache directive. There is strong evidence that the “backwards compatibility” is causing cPanel’s webmail operation to break.

Thank you.

Thank you, Bryan!

One thing that is important, as you mention security, is that we only officially support the latest major release (that would be version 5.5 at this point) [-Marius]

If there was a security fix in a major release, it would be sent out in a minor for all the other versions (back to 3.7), but that didn’t happen. […]
There’s no way for all of our tests to find the problems […] there’s no way to judge that it’s bug-free unless it’s released.
[-Joy]

In that case, it would be helpful to include a note on the major release that it does NOT contain security fixes. Not everyone is able (or willing) to act as guinea pigs to deal with the inevitable bugs of yet another brand new version.

The WP security plugin I have keeps reporting that it is essential to update to the latest version. I understand that I can (probably) safely ignore that report, and wait for the 5.5.1 fix. But how many less capable WP users know it’s safe to wait?

Again. If it ain’t broke….

Suggestion for all WP developers: Please make it very clear on the announcement of the major release, state the fact that updating to the latest Jazz icon is not required for security reasons and is simply a swishy new design.

Re:

I never update to a major release when it comes out. I wait for the next minor release, that will have all the fixes. Major releases usually don’t have security fixes either, since those happen as soon as they are ready, and don’t wait for the schedule.

That has generally been my habit too, Joy. However, judging from Marius L. J.’s reply, this release DOES include security fixes. Or perhaps I’m misreading his reply above.

However, your habit of waiting for the first minor release after the scheduled major release indicates that the releases do indeed come out prematurely. Don’t get me wrong. I do appreciate that people are working very hard to keep WP updated. I really do.

Thank you for your reply, Marius;

If this is the case, then it would be a good idea to state something along the lines of “as always, this release includes security updates”.

However, it has been my experience that with the annual scheduled regular releases, there are almost invariably glaring errors that become apparent within a few days. Is it possible that the releases are done prematurely, simply because there is a perception that they must appear like clockwork?

I do appreciate that people have been working hard to improve things. However, judging from content of the 5.5 threads in the forums, it seems that all is not entirely rosy with the 5.5 release dedicated to Billy Ekstine.

Therefore, next August, it would be a pleasant surprise to see a notice stating with regret that the much anticipated annual release dedicated to another Jazz legend has had to be postponed because it’s not quite ready for the public. ie: don’t release something new simply because the calendar tells you it’s on the schedule.

E Morris