Weird Bug: WP_DEBUG Set to FALSE Kills Site

  • Looking for some advanced help to troubleshoot this very odd heisenbug-like issue. It seems backwards, but I have a 4.8.4 WordPress instance on a RHEL6/httpd server behind a corporate load-balancer (F5) that I have to set WP_DEBUG to false or I will get this error:

    This site can’t be reached
    The connection was reset.

    Things I’ve tried so far unsuccessfully:
    – Fresh install
    – Deactivate all plugins
    – Set php error reporting to none, E~ALL, default
    – Increased PHP memory limit

    Only modifications I’ve done to wp-config.php:

    define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('FORCE_SSL_LOGIN', true); // Added for forced https
define('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true); // Added for forced https
define('OPENID_SSL', true); // Add for wordpress-openid plugin

    Any guidance on what to troubleshoot would be much appreciated!

    • This topic was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by conrmahr.
Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

  • Did you make sure this was added to the wp-config.php file above the stop editing line?

    Did you make sure these are unique (no dups)?

    Not sure about the openid one, ask the plugin provider, but to test comment it out.

    Also, do you have an SSL cert in place? Just adding force SSL does not provide it.

    Thread Starter conrmahr

    (@hireconor)

    Yeah, it’s above the stop editing line. It’s the only line, no dups. The cert is installed but on the F5. The website loads fine if WP_DEBUG is set to TRUE. But of course that’s a security issue since it’s on Prod.

    Change your debug line to this:

    define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

    It means you can keep debug set to true, but it will not write any errors to the screen, but instead to a file called debug.log in wp-content.

    Obviously this isn’t a fix, rather a workaround, so you should try and find the cause in the long run!

    Thread Starter conrmahr

    (@hireconor)

    Thanks. That’s a good workaround.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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