The Font Awesome plugin caught a fatal error.

Hi @ernestoparrague, I have got same fatal error, but I have not Font Awesome installed, but Elementor Pro and I found no solution. Anyone have any idea about what had happen? thanks in advance

Check my reply over on this other issue that seems related.

In summary, if you’re seeing an error like this, despite not having the plugin installed, it must mean that some other plugin, or your theme, is loading the Font Awesome plugin as a library.

An example of how this situation might occur:

1. you install a theme or plugin that uses the Font Awesome plugin as library, but an earlier version.

2. then you install a newer version of the Font Awesome plugin, which runs some upgrade logic to work with new configuration options

3. then you uninstall that newer version, leaving the older one, being loaded by that theme or plugin.

When multiple copies of the plugin are present, the newest one available wins. But if the newest one upgrades the database configuration, and then you disable it and fallback to the older version of the plugin like this, the older version of the plugin will not understand the configuration format written in the database.

Does that scenario sound similar to what may have happened for either @soyasser or @ernestoparrague?

Here’s another possibility for resolving this. It’s admittedly a workaround. It may not be satisfactory if your goal is to remove all traces of the Font Awesome plugin.

Install the latest version of this plugin from the WordPress plugins directory. It will run any upgrade logic necessary and should take over as the single active instance of the plugin. If so, that error would go away.

This plugin has a Loader that detects when multiple instances of the plugin are present from a theme and any number of plugins that depend on the plugin. The Loader simply chooses the newest version available.

So if you install the newest version of the plugin yourself, you won’t be duplicating the number of instances of the plugin running–you’ll just be taking control over which one runs and letting it get the configuration in the database sorted out.

If your goal is to remove all traces of the Font Awesome plugin, then you could accomplish that like this:

1. deactivate and uninstall any theme or plugin that load this plugin
2. install the latest version of this plugin, then deactivate and uninstall it (you’ve got to use the “delete” link on a deactivated plugin in the plugins page in the admin dashboard in order to get the cleanup code to run).

That may seem counter-intuitive to install the plugin when you’re trying to remove all traces of it. But the plugin knows how to clean up after itself, so this is just a handy way to get the cleanup code to run. Thing is: the cleanup code won’t run if it detects another theme or plugin is also loading the plugin. That’s why it’s important to clean up those others first.

Another possibility for cleanup could be: after deactivating and uninstalling any themes or plugins that load this plugin, install this utility plugin I’ve put up in the GitHub repo. It does a one-click cleanup. Finally, you’d deactivate and uninstall that cleanup plugin.

Hi @ernestoparrague @soyasser @mlwilkerson
I suffer the same issue at https://www.veterizoniashop.com/ and seems related to plugin Booked (online reservations agenda).
I found a typo in an obvious folder name, but I suspect it could be a very poor workaround from previous webmaster:

../wp-content/plugins/booked/vendor/fortawesome/wordpress-fontawesome

I tried to rename the folder to a reasonable “fontawesome” resulting in server error 5XX and website down.

So reverted to the “suspected to be a typo” and living along with
<i>The Font Awesome plugin caught a fatal error. When trying to load Font Awesome, the plugin’s configuration was invalid. Try deactivating, uninstalling, and re-activating the Font Awesome plugin.</i>

Then I discover that “fortawesome” indeed exists! https://fortawesome.com/
From the makers of Fontawesome… Some error log drove me towards Booked, so maybe the error is laying in some FoNtawesome snippet rawly used in FoRtawesome…
I hope this is a hint.

I am having this issue as well, and the site is using Booked. Anyone find a fix? The site uses elementor, and the font awesome plugin is not installed.

Hi @adam320 my issue was over by re-subscribing the abandoned Booked license (previous provider held the license) and updating the whole plugin.
Maybe a bundled pack was wrong and arranged by updates. Good luck!

Using the “Booked” plugin also, and had the same issue. Simpy installing the official “font awesome” plugin updated the version “Booked” was using. I then deleted the font awesome plugin and the error went away.

Stealth’s solution worked just great to get rid of the error. Font awesome’s programming is smart enough to tell you as well. The booked plugin author obviously cant keep the plugin up to date nor get the spelling right. Fortawesome:

Warning right on the plugins page: “Great Scott! The active version of the Font Awesome plugin is being loaded by this plugin or theme: /var/www/wp-content/plugins/booked/vendor/fortawesome/wordpress-fontawesome/ since it’s the newest (ver. 4.2.0). We recommend you update the plugin above to the latest version. In the meantime, we’ll use that newer version for editing your Font Awesome settings so you’ll be sure to hit 88mph with those icons.”

I was also facing the same issue, disabled and re-enabled Booked plugin, it pointed me to a Get Started page and the error went away. I didn’t have to install the Font Awesome plugin at all.

I was also having this issue and originally thought it was an Elementor Pro issue but thanks to @adam320 I realized it is the Booking plugin. Uninstalling this plugin fixes my issue, so that’s one plugin I’m removing from my list to use.

Hi!

It is definitely due to the plugin “Booked” from Boxy Studio. Even the latest version 2.4.3 causes this error. The procedure of stealthdesign works perfectly!

Thanks for the help!

Oliver

Thanks, everyone, for posting suggestions and workarounds. I’m taking all of this as feedback about what kinds of challenges and errors may result from other plugins using the Font Awesome plugin as a library, so I can consider what improvements we might want to make in the future.

As for the concern about a possible typo–foRtawesome versus fonTawesome–well, that’s become a classic point of confusion. It’s not a typo.

Long ago in an internet far away, the company who made the product called FoNT Awesome also made a product called FoRt Awesome. The organization name of “@fortawesome” (with an R) was also established for packages in registries like NPM. For example, our React component here, is @fortawesome/react-fontawesome. More relevant to WordPress, our WordPress plugin is available from the packagist registry as fortawesome/wordpress-fontawesome.

The “fortawesome” part of these package names indicates the “organization scope”, which does actually use the R. So that’s legit.

When you see this:

../wp-content/plugins/booked/vendor/fortawesome/wordpress-fontawesome

…it’s expected. It probably means that the “booked” plugin is using the package called fortawesome/wordpress-fontawesome as part of its software bundle.

Again, this is just to say that it’s not a typo, so a typo is almost certainly not the cause of the fatal error problem.

The fatal error problem is almost certainly due to the state of plugin’s settings stored in your WordPress database being in an inconsistent and/or incompatible state as a result of some confusion between the version of the Font Awesome being bundled by the “booked” plugin versus those that might be loaded by you directly, or by other plugins.

There are multiple levels of magic in this plugin to handle automatic updating and/or upgrading to provide a smooth experience. This scenario seems to be highlighting some dark corner case where all of the magic fails. I will need to level up!

I’ve the same issue. I’ve a multisite wp and it has installed Embark theme that includes “Booked” plugin. The plugin is updated to 2.4.3.

Help please!