Import from Blogspot / SSL Errors

Your host isn’t configured to allow outgoing https connections.

Short answer, you can’t do the import on that host. There is no way to fix this unless you control that host completely.

Long answer, you can import the site into a local install of WordPress, or onto WordPress.com, and then export it from there and then reimport that exported data into your site.

I host my own server, please explain how to correct this.

It’s hard to say specifically. Basically, you need to have OpenSSL installed and configured so that PHP can use it. On older PHP versions, this was a matter of installing the php-openssl package. On newer PHP versions, it’s built into the php-common packages. So it really depends on a lot of factors.

The best place to ask would be the forums for whatever particular version of whatever particular Linux flavor you are running. They’ll know what php packages are available and what package manager commands you need to run to install them.

“you can import the site into a local install of WordPress, or onto WordPress.com,”

But we are trying to import into a local WP install, on the server.

We’re running PHP 5.2.6 and we do have OpenSSL installed as well.

WordPress.com helps you create an account online, export it there and then import it locally.

But we are trying to import into a local WP install, on the server.

Right, I’m saying, as an intermediate step, to import it into somewhere where you actually can make it import, then export it from there as a WordPress export, and THEN import it onto your other site. See?

We’re running PHP 5.2.6 and we do have OpenSSL installed as well.

Clearly, you don’t. Or, at least, PHP does not recognize that you do. The only way you can get that message is when your PHP instance doesn’t support outgoing SSL connections. That’s a PHP error. Google for the text of that error and you’ll see what I mean.

Blogger/Google only allows code like the WordPress importer to access blogger blogs over SSL. So your PHP instance must support outgoing SSL. You have to reconfigure PHP to be able to do that sort of thing.