Cached files not deleted when clearing cache

  • Resolved nestormarius

    (@nestormarius)


    2 months ago

    Hello, when I click on the “Clear cache” button on Jetpack Boost settings it says that it’s clearing the cache, but when I look at the /wp-content/boost-cache/cache/ directory, all the cached files are still there.

    Is this a normal functionality? Shouldn’t the /wp-content/boost-cache/cache/ directory be emptied when the cache is being cleared? I’m asking because my server has a file usage limit of 250K and the cached files are piling up.

    Also, when I disabled the Cache feature in Jetpack Boost settings, I noticed that the /wp-content/boost-cache/cache/ directory wasn’t emptied, and when I enabled the Cache feature again after clearing the cache, my server’s file usage started growing with about 8K.

    Without Jetpack Boost, my server has around 64K file usage, but when Jetpack Boost is enabled it goes to 90K. Looking at the /wp-content/boost-cache/cache/ directory, it contains around 27K files.

    Is it a good practice to manually delete the files in the /wp-content/boost-cache/cache/ directory?

    Thanks!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Plugin Support Tamirat B. (a11n)

    (@tamirat22)

    Hi @nestormarius ,

    To address your concerns, when you click the “Clear Cache” button, the cached files should indeed be cleared. If they are not being deleted, it is safe to manually delete them as a last option.

    You can read more on that here: https://jetpack.com/support/jetpack-boost/caching-site-content/#how-to-clear-cache

    That said, as a next step, I encourage you to address any file access/permission issues that might be there. Ensure that the?wp-content/boost-cache/?directory and its contents are writable by setting the directory permissions to 755 or 775 and file permissions to 644 or 666.

    We have addressed this and additional permission requirements in our troubleshooting guide here: https://jetpack.com/support/jetpack-boost/troubleshooting-caching-issues.

    I hope this was helpful! Please let us know if you need further assistance or have additional questions.

    Thread Starter nestormarius

    (@nestormarius)

    Hello @tamirat22 and thank you for your reply. I have already read the troubleshooting guide for caching while searching for a solution to my problem before posting this thread ?? But the troubleshooting guide does not say anything if manually deleting the cache folder is safe.

    Yes, the /boost-cache and /boost-cache/cache folders are both set to 755 by default, and the config.php file inside /boost-cache is set to 644.

    My issue remains. If I disable Cache, the /boost-cache/cache directory has multiple folders of my website with and without www and they all contain cached files. I was using the Cache feature when it was on beta testing, so maybe that’s the problem.

    I think I will delete the plugin, remove the /boost-cache folder, and reinstall. What do you think?

    Thread Starter nestormarius

    (@nestormarius)

    Hello again @tamirat22 I did just that. I deactivated Jetpack Boost, I deleted it, then I manually removed the /boost-cache directory, and I’ve reinstalled Jetpack Boost. Guess what? My server’s file count went from 95K to 65K after I deleted the /boost-cache directory.

    My /boost-cache/cache directory contained 5 (five) cached instances of my website, two without www prefix (e.g. exemple.com and exemple.com.) – notice the dot before the second folder – and two with www prefix (e.g. www.exemple.com and www.exemple.com.) – again, notice the dot at the end of the second folder – and one with mail prefix (e.g. mail.exemple.com).

    After I reinstalled the plugin, there’s now only a single cached entry of my site (e.g. exemple.com) in the /boost-cache/cache directory.

    Plugin Support Alin (a11n)

    (@alinclamba)

    Hi @nestormarius,

    Thank you for the detailed follow-up and for sharing the results of your troubleshooting!

    It’s good to hear that reinstalling Jetpack Boost and manually removing the?/boost-cache?directory resolved your issue.?

    To answer your earlier question, yes, it is safe to manually delete the /boost-cache/ directory if the “Clear Cache” button doesn’t clear the cached files as expected. Your approach of deactivating the plugin, removing the cache directory, and reinstalling Jetpack Boost was a good solution, and I’m glad to hear it helped reduce your server’s file usage.

    It sounds like everything is now functioning as it should so I’m going to mark the thread as resolved, but if anything else comes out, feel free to let open a new forum.

    Best!

    PS. Per your suggestion, I updated our support documentation to include information about manually deleting the cache folder. Thank you for pointing that out! ??

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.