Image upload failures after server PHP update

[gsimon]

            Briefly, here is my story: I have essentially inherited maintenance of a friend's website after the creating developer disappeared without a trace. Things had been working well until late this March when the hosting company upgraded PHP on the server. Many things became broken and I have fixed the majority of them.  However, the issue at hand has me perplexed. I am new to GetSimple and also somewhat unfamiliar with PHP. (I'm a retired Oracle DBA so I'm comfortable, just not familiar.) 
What happens is this: When the client attempts to upload images (.jpg files) the process errors out. The image file actually does land on the server, but the process indicates an error and the desired end result of a link inserted on a page does not happen. The server and application specs are below and images to show the error messages as well.  I'm at my wit's end with this and need to get it working for my friend/client.
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions! 
Please, if you wish to see anything more such as snippets of code, php files, etc. Please let me know!
-george
======================================================
Linux web server
GetSimple Version 3.3.13
PHP Version 5.6.30
Item Manager V 1.6
Items Manager V 1.4 shown however I upgraded to 1.6 (?) 
Issues noticed after hosting company upgraded PHP. 
Ateempts to fix issue included various GS and related updates. 
(Virtually all GS and related areas were behind in releases.)
======================================================

[hameau]

(Somebody with more insight will probably be along soon.)

The most likely cause of the 'headers already sent' warnings is whitespace after the closing tag (?>) in one of the php files. Start by looking at files that you may have edited – some editors will add a blank line at the end, which you definitely don't want.

You can remove that final php closing tag from the end of such files (the end-of-file implies the end of php) and then the problem can't recur.

Edit to add: What is the origin of that file 'sa_welcome.php' (shown in the warning message)? Is it legitimate or something that has been planted on the server?

[gsimon]

(Somebody with more insight will probably be along soon.)

The most likely cause of the 'headers already sent' warnings is whitespace after the closing tag (?>) in one of the php files. Start by looking at files that you may have edited – some editors will add a blank line at the end, which you definitely don't want.

You can remove that final php closing tag from the end of such files (the end-of-file implies the end of php) and then the problem can't recur.

Edit to add: What is the origin of that file 'sa_welcome.php' (shown in the warning message)? Is it legitimate or something that has been planted on the server?

Thanks!  I've begun searching for that blank.  To no avail so far.  However, do I understand correctly that the "?>" tag can be completely removed from files with no bad effects? 

The "sa_welcome.php" file appears to have been created by the original designer and my best guess is that it is a somewhat modified "welcome.php"  Unfortunately, there appears to be no way of contacting the original developer... 

In helping me find the possible white space can you/someone answer this:
In the error log output below, in which file might I best look for the white space?
=============Begin Log Output===============
[24-Apr-2017 14:57:10 America/Chicago] PHP Warning:  Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/shabonna/public_html/gs/plugins/sa_welcome.php:12) in /home/shabonna/public_html/gs/admin/inc/cookie_functions.php on line 23
=============End Log Output================

[hameau]

headers already sent by (output started at /home/shabonna/public_html/gs/plugins/sa_welcome.php:12) in /home/shabonna/public_html/gs/admin/inc/cookie_functions.php on line 23

The output (which triggers sending the html headers) is started by the bold bit. What is around line 12 of sa_welcome.php? Indeed, what is the contents of sa_welcome.php?

What is the full list of plugins installed (from the Plugins tab in admin backend)?

[gsimon]

headers already sent by (output started at /home/shabonna/public_html/gs/plugins/sa_welcome.php:12) in /home/shabonna/public_html/gs/admin/inc/cookie_functions.php on line 23

The output (which triggers sending the html headers) is started by the bold bit. What is around line 12 of sa_welcome.php? Indeed, what is the contents of sa_welcome.php?

What is the full list of plugins installed (from the Plugins tab in admin backend)?

Thanks for the reply!  Answers to your questions are below.
-george

Contents of sa_welcome.php:
=========================  Begin sa_welcome.php ==================
<?php
/*
Plugin Name: sa_development
Description: Provides page generation times
Version: 0.1
Author: Shawn Alverson
Author URI: http://www.shawnalverson.com/

*/

$SA_PLUGIN_NAME = "sa_welcome";
$SA_PLUGINPATH = $SITEURL.'plugins/'.$SA_PLUGIN_ID;
$SA_URL = "http://tablatronix.com/getsimple-cms/";

# get correct id for plugin
$thisfile=basename(__FILE__, ".php");
$plugin_id = $thisfile;
$tab_name = $plugin_id; // can be unique

# register plugin
register_plugin(
$plugin_id,                  //Plugin id
$SA_PLUGIN_NAME,          //Plugin name
'0.1',                  //Plugin version
'Shawn Alverson',           //Plugin author
$SA_URL,                    //author website
'Adds page generation time to footer', //Plugin description
$tab_name,                //page type - on which admin tab to display
'tabcallout'              //main function (administration)
);

# debugLog(print_r($plugin_info,true));

add_action('nav-tab','createNavTab',array($tab_name,$plugin_id,'Welcome'));
add_action($tab_name.'-sidebar','createSideMenu',array('item_manager','Create a Litter','category'));
add_action($tab_name.'-sidebar','createSideMenu',array('item_manager','Add a Kitten','edit'));
add_action($tab_name.'-sidebar','createSideMenu',array('item_manager','View All Records','view'));

add_action('item_manager-sidebar','createSideMenu',array($plugin_id,'Back To Menu'));

function tabcallout(){
  echo '<h2>Welcome</h2>';
  echo '<h3>To Add a litter</h3>';
  echo '<p>First you must create a liter by clicking <b>Create a Litter</b> to the right, this is the category for kittens in the litter<br>
  Category names must be unique, and will show up on the site, I suggest you name them "Sire Dam Breed DOB" for consistency.</p><br>';
  
  echo '<h3>To Add a kitten to a litter</h3>';
  echo '<p>After you have created a category for the litter, click go <b>Back to Menu</b>, and click <b>Add a Kitten</b>. Kitten titles must be unique across all kittens. Choose a title that is unique for this kitten, the title is not shown on the site but is used to identify the record. A unique name might be <b>DOB #1</b> and so on. Then assign a category for this kitten, you will pick the litter category you just created.</p>
  <p>You can continue filling out information for this kitten. To add photos, click the red boxes and select a file, only select one file per image upload button.</p>
  <p>If you edit an existing kitten(by clicking its name in view all) and then change its title, upon saving, it will create a new record, effectively copying the kitten! You can use this to copy kittens while making only minor changes such as sex and #. You can overwrite images, and remove them by removing the image name that appears below the upload button. This is a bit awkward at this time.</p>';
  
  echo '<h3>To mark a kittens availability</h3>';  
  echo '<p>You can mark a kitten sold by editing it and checking the sold checkbox. Sold kittens will continue to show up on the site as SOLD.</p>';
  
  echo '<h3>To remove a kitten from listing</h3>';  
  echo '<p>It is not recommended to delete records from the system, unless it is erroneous. This way you can keep a historical record of kittens.</p>
  <p>To remove kittens and litters from the site listings, click the visibility flag on the relevant row for the kitten under view all. This will toggle a kittens visibility on the site. If all kittens in the litter are hidden, the litter will no longer show on the available kittens page.</p>';
  
}

function createlitter(){
  header('Location: admin/load.php?id=item_manager&category');
}

?>
=========================  End sa_welcome.php  ===================

========================= Installed Plugins ======================

[Bigin]

Just try to replace a few lines in your file, before the register_plugin() function call, with:

Code:

# get correct id for plugin
$thisfile = basename(__FILE__, ".php");
$SA_PLUGIN_NAME = "sa_welcome";
$SA_PLUGINPATH = $SITEURL.'plugins/'.$thisfile;
$SA_URL = "http://tablatronix.com/getsimple-cms/";
$plugin_id = $thisfile;
$tab_name = $plugin_id; // can be unique

[shawn_a]

Ill take a look I created this for someone under contract a long time ago but i think i remember what the code was

[hameau]

Oh, my! What have you inherited? (Aside: if you wrap code with the tags [ code ] ... [ /code ] – leave out the spaces – you get a much more readable result.)

If you haven't already, make a full backup of what you have at the moment (e.g., ftp to your computer).

That sa_welcome.php file is clearly a hacked-together plugin to provide custom tabs for managing litters, but without much finesse. At least remove the closing php tag at the end of the file and change the plugin name and description to something relevant.

You have two versions of the Item(s) Manager, which is unlikely to be a good thing. Disable one of them (probably the older one – but you may not be able to go back).

Disable non-essential plugins:

• Custom Admin CSS
  
• (Innovation theme plugin – depending on the theme requirements, you may have to enable this again)
  
• SA PageTime Plugin
  
• Theme Highlighter
  

You still have a couple of outdated plugins, so bring those up to date.

I have no experience of the Items Manager plugins, so I can't help you there. I don't know what the implications are of having two versions installed.

If this site were my responsibility, I'd look at migrating the existing content to a fresh installation of GS, but there may be other customisations under the skin, so it's going to be a risky business. Good luck!

@Bigin: those lines are already in the file.

Edit to add: Crossed with Shawn's post. @shawn_a: how could you! ;P

[Bigin]

@Bigin: those lines are already in the file.

nope, they are not, have a closer look at it

[shawn_a]

Did you try just turning off php errors display? Or did you enable them to debug the actual issue? Errors rather notices and warnings are not errors but they will break cookies and ajax if you have them enables on production sites

[hameau]

nope, they are not, have a closer look at it

Sorry, I see you changed $SA_PLUGINPATH.

[gsimon]

Did you try just turning off php errors display? Or did you enable them to debug the actual issue? Errors rather notices and warnings are not errors but they will break cookies and ajax if you have them enables on production sites

Shawn, I appreciate you having a look at this, your old code.  The "errors" are turned on for debugging.

[gsimon]

Oh, my! What have you inherited? (Aside: if you wrap code with the tags [ code ] ... [ /code ] – leave out the spaces – you get a much more readable result.)

If you haven't already, make a full backup of what you have at the moment (e.g., ftp to your computer).

That sa_welcome.php file is clearly a hacked-together plugin to provide custom tabs for managing litters, but without much finesse. At least remove the closing php tag at the end of the file and change the plugin name and description to something relevant.

You have two versions of the Item(s) Manager, which is unlikely to be a good thing. Disable one of them (probably the older one – but you may not be able to go back).

Disable non-essential plugins:

• Custom Admin CSS
  
• (Innovation theme plugin – depending on the theme requirements, you may have to enable this again)
  
• SA PageTime Plugin
  
• Theme Highlighter
  

You still have a couple of outdated plugins, so bring those up to date.

I have no experience of the Items Manager plugins, so I can't help you there. I don't know what the implications are of having two versions installed.

If this site were my responsibility, I'd look at migrating the existing content to a fresh installation of GS, but there may be other customisations under the skin, so it's going to be a risky business. Good luck!

@Bigin: those lines are already in the file.

Edit to add: Crossed with Shawn's post. @shawn_a: how could you! ;P

Did you try just turning off php errors display? Or did you enable them to debug the actual issue? Errors rather notices and warnings are not errors but they will break cookies and ajax if you have them enables on production sites

Naturally I backed this (and the whole site) up before edits.  I'm also careful enough to usually make a backup of each file before I edit so that rollback is quick, if needed.  I disable the plugins you mentioned and removed the closing php tag too.  Also added the suggested code from @Bigin.  Essentially, I've followed all the suggestions, but the upload still fails. I'd like to do a fresh install of GS, but I'm reluctant to do so until I am more familiar with it.  For now, it is simply imperative that I get the upload function working again.  Later, I will be considering a fresh install when I can roll back to a working "version" should I encounter issues.  Actually, in the long run, the client would like the entire site revised, but for now we'll all be happy just fixing the existing one.

[Bigin]

Do you get any more php errors after it? I think, that's the old Item Manager that causes the error, this PlugIn was really bugged.

PS. try to disable all your plugins

[gsimon]

Oh, my! What have you inherited? (Aside: if you wrap code with the tags [ code ] ... [ /code ] – leave out the spaces – you get a much more readable result.)

If you haven't already, make a full backup of what you have at the moment (e.g., ftp to your computer).

That sa_welcome.php file is clearly a hacked-together plugin to provide custom tabs for managing litters, but without much finesse. At least remove the closing php tag at the end of the file and change the plugin name and description to something relevant.

You have two versions of the Item(s) Manager, which is unlikely to be a good thing. Disable one of them (probably the older one – but you may not be able to go back).

Disable non-essential plugins:

• Custom Admin CSS
  
• (Innovation theme plugin – depending on the theme requirements, you may have to enable this again)
  
• SA PageTime Plugin
  
• Theme Highlighter
  

You still have a couple of outdated plugins, so bring those up to date.

I have no experience of the Items Manager plugins, so I can't help you there. I don't know what the implications are of having two versions installed.

If this site were my responsibility, I'd look at migrating the existing content to a fresh installation of GS, but there may be other customisations under the skin, so it's going to be a risky business. Good luck!

@Bigin: those lines are already in the file.

Edit to add: Crossed with Shawn's post. @shawn_a: how could you! ;P

Did you try just turning off php errors display? Or did you enable them to debug the actual issue? Errors rather notices and warnings are not errors but they will break cookies and ajax if you have them enables on production sites

Do you get any more php errors after it? I think, that's the old Item Manager that causes the error, this PlugIn was really bugged.

PS. try to disable all your plugins

Still seeing errors.  I'm now on the most current Item Manager.  So far, no progress.  I'll turn off more plugins soon...

[shawn_a]

You are gonna have to check your error log for actual errors
data/other/logs

Did you turn off php display errors or error level? Upload still failing ( or says it failed, but not? )

you can probably ignore the other suggestions in this thread, you would be getting fatal php errors if it was something major in a plugin. Also that itemmanager pugin is heavily modified mostly by me (custom for mutiple uploads, and special thumnail creation processes), it has since been abandoned by its author also.

post your error log entries that are relevant
also check your host error log and make sure there is no security or mod_sec filtering going on.
post your js (console) errors again

I will look into this http_raw_post deprecated warning, but that should go away if you disable error output, unless strict mode is on maybe.

either way error log will help, i am unsure what the js error is, it might be a result of the other error.

Also what version of GS ?

in latest we use GSSUPPRESSERRORS to override your host env if needed

Code:

    error_reporting(0);
    ini_set('display_errors', 0);

[Bigin]

you can probably ignore the other suggestions in this thread, ...

lol really?

Code:

headers already sent by (output started at /home/shabonna/public_html/gs/plugins/sa_welcome.php:12) in /home/shabonna/public_html/gs/admin/inc/cookie_functions.php on line 23

this warning should be fixed with changes i posted before.

Note: the current ItemManager >2 absolutely incompatible with the old one that you used before.

[shawn_a]

headers were output by a php warning, you can fix it, but its not the cause of the problem, one does not need to fix every php notice and warning, they are not errors, they are verbose debugging for development. Turn php error dispaly off on production websites, it should never be on period.

If you have the time to resolve all warnings and notices then do so, but it is not an error condition typically. I am more interested in finding the main errors, and working backwards from there. The rest is noise.

NOTES about site
but as said, do NOT upgrade plugins, you will definitely break something, not sure which ones are modified, I do know item manager was my custom version made specifically for this site.

Also your site uses a custom gs loader, to load GS into an external site, basically a stripped down customized version of index.php for including into the main site static html. ( GS does not support this natively in 3.3.x version, planned for future though )

disable debug mode, see what errors you get when uploading in console, i am also curious about that JS fatal error

if you want to shut up the notice
add

Code:

$SA_PLUGIN_ID = "";

I do not think $SA_PLUGINPATH is actually used, maybe check though.
no idea how I left that in there not defined.

[Bigin]

If warnings and notices are caused by your code, you should definitely fix it. Messages will warn you about bad coding style and possible bugs in your code.

[gsimon]

Oh, my! What have you inherited? (Aside: if you wrap code with the tags [ code ] ... [ /code ] – leave out the spaces – you get a much more readable result.)

If you haven't already, make a full backup of what you have at the moment (e.g., ftp to your computer).

That sa_welcome.php file is clearly a hacked-together plugin to provide custom tabs for managing litters, but without much finesse. At least remove the closing php tag at the end of the file and change the plugin name and description to something relevant.

You have two versions of the Item(s) Manager, which is unlikely to be a good thing. Disable one of them (probably the older one – but you may not be able to go back).

Disable non-essential plugins:

• Custom Admin CSS
  
• (Innovation theme plugin – depending on the theme requirements, you may have to enable this again)
  
• SA PageTime Plugin
  
• Theme Highlighter
  

You still have a couple of outdated plugins, so bring those up to date.

I have no experience of the Items Manager plugins, so I can't help you there. I don't know what the implications are of having two versions installed.

If this site were my responsibility, I'd look at migrating the existing content to a fresh installation of GS, but there may be other customisations under the skin, so it's going to be a risky business. Good luck!

@Bigin: those lines are already in the file.

Edit to add: Crossed with Shawn's post. @shawn_a: how could you! ;P

Did you try just turning off php errors display? Or did you enable them to debug the actual issue? Errors rather notices and warnings are not errors but they will break cookies and ajax if you have them enables on production sites

headers were output by a php warning, you can fix it, but its not the cause of the problem, one does not need to fix every php notice and warning, they are not errors, they are verbose debugging for development. Turn php error dispaly off on production websites, it should never be on period.

If you have the time to resolve all warnings and notices then do so, but it is not an error condition typically. I am more interested in finding the main errors, and working backwards from there. The rest is noise.

NOTES about site
but as said, do NOT upgrade plugins, you will definitely break something, not sure which ones are modified, I do know item manager was my custom version made specifically for this site.

Also your site uses a custom gs loader, to load GS into an external site, basically a stripped down customized version of index.php for including into the main site static html. ( GS does not support this natively in 3.3.x version, planned for future though )

disable debug mode, see what errors you get when uploading in console, i am also curious about that JS fatal error

if you want to shut up the notice
add

Code:

$SA_PLUGIN_ID = "";

I do not think $SA_PLUGINPATH is actually used, maybe check though.
no idea how I left that in there not defined.

All debugging and error display are off.  Errors are only visible with the browser's "developer" option. Save for the indication that the file upload "failed."  The "item_manager.php" code has been reverted to the older/original one.  
The "errors" first start when"add a kitten" is clicked. 

Then additional messages/warnings appear when the file (image) is uploaded.

At that point, the process is essentially dead.  The image, in reality, has been uploaded, but the "New Item" creation process has failed. 

My "best guess" at this point is that when the hosting company did an update to php (and other services?) some bit or bits of code was/were depreciated.  Frankly, I have no idea of exactly what is wrong and I'm quite frustrated since I had hoped it might be a simple fix.

[Bigin]

I think it could be a bug in PHP 5.6. The warning corrupting the json response in your uploader.php
The error means: you are sending an empty request. This error occurs when requests with empty parameter is passed.

Solution:
If you are using CGI you have set always_populate_raw_post_data = -1 in the php.ini
Or put the following lines in .htaccess file:

Code:

<IfModule mod_php5.c>
    php_flag always_populate_raw_post_data -1
</IfModule>

And keep php error reporting turned off, items manager and other plugin is still bugged as hell.

[shawn_a]

Sounds like your host enabled php errors when they updated. Maybe you can turn it off in cpanel?
If not there are htaccess ways and php ways and a gs way.

Ill look at this createuploader issue

[Bigin]

As I said before, nobody has enabled php errors here, PHP > 5.6 throw this deprecation warning automatically. It is a good example of why script writers should always fix PHP warnings

[gsimon]

Oh, my! What have you inherited? (Aside: if you wrap code with the tags [ code ] ... [ /code ] – leave out the spaces – you get a much more readable result.)

If you haven't already, make a full backup of what you have at the moment (e.g., ftp to your computer).

That sa_welcome.php file is clearly a hacked-together plugin to provide custom tabs for managing litters, but without much finesse. At least remove the closing php tag at the end of the file and change the plugin name and description to something relevant.

You have two versions of the Item(s) Manager, which is unlikely to be a good thing. Disable one of them (probably the older one – but you may not be able to go back).

Disable non-essential plugins:

• Custom Admin CSS
  
• (Innovation theme plugin – depending on the theme requirements, you may have to enable this again)
  
• SA PageTime Plugin
  
• Theme Highlighter
  

You still have a couple of outdated plugins, so bring those up to date.

I have no experience of the Items Manager plugins, so I can't help you there. I don't know what the implications are of having two versions installed.

If this site were my responsibility, I'd look at migrating the existing content to a fresh installation of GS, but there may be other customisations under the skin, so it's going to be a risky business. Good luck!

@Bigin: those lines are already in the file.

Edit to add: Crossed with Shawn's post. @shawn_a: how could you! ;P

Did you try just turning off php errors display? Or did you enable them to debug the actual issue? Errors rather notices and warnings are not errors but they will break cookies and ajax if you have them enables on production sites

Sounds like your host enabled php errors when they updated. Maybe you can turn it off in cpanel?
If not there are htaccess ways and php ways and a gs way.

Ill look at this createuploader issue

Thanks Shawn.  So far nothing I've tried (.htaccess and php ways, but not gs) will get php to shut up.  I'm less concerned about that verbosity though since it isn't a "fatal" message.  The "createuploader" issue is of more concern right now. 
I will say that although I'm frustrated with these issues, my introduction to gs is quite welcome and I'm considering using it on another, different site!

[gsimon]

Oh, my! What have you inherited? (Aside: if you wrap code with the tags [ code ] ... [ /code ] – leave out the spaces – you get a much more readable result.)

If you haven't already, make a full backup of what you have at the moment (e.g., ftp to your computer).

That sa_welcome.php file is clearly a hacked-together plugin to provide custom tabs for managing litters, but without much finesse. At least remove the closing php tag at the end of the file and change the plugin name and description to something relevant.

You have two versions of the Item(s) Manager, which is unlikely to be a good thing. Disable one of them (probably the older one – but you may not be able to go back).

Disable non-essential plugins:

• Custom Admin CSS
  
• (Innovation theme plugin – depending on the theme requirements, you may have to enable this again)
  
• SA PageTime Plugin
  
• Theme Highlighter
  

You still have a couple of outdated plugins, so bring those up to date.

I have no experience of the Items Manager plugins, so I can't help you there. I don't know what the implications are of having two versions installed.

If this site were my responsibility, I'd look at migrating the existing content to a fresh installation of GS, but there may be other customisations under the skin, so it's going to be a risky business. Good luck!

@Bigin: those lines are already in the file.

Edit to add: Crossed with Shawn's post. @shawn_a: how could you! ;P

Did you try just turning off php errors display? Or did you enable them to debug the actual issue? Errors rather notices and warnings are not errors but they will break cookies and ajax if you have them enables on production sites

I think it could be a bug in PHP 5.6. The warning corrupting the json response in your uploader.php
The error means: you are sending an empty request. This error occurs when requests with empty parameter is passed.

Solution:
If you are using CGI you have set always_populate_raw_post_data = -1 in the php.ini
Or put the following lines in .htaccess file:

Code:

<IfModule mod_php5.c>
   php_flag always_populate_raw_post_data -1
</IfModule>

And keep php error reporting turned off, items manager and other plugin is still bugged as hell.

Which .htaccess file?  The one in the gs root?  I tried it there, but to no avail...