CUNY Academic Commons

Related to #23259?

This one is a weird one.

Jetpack Boost isn't even activated on the main site, but the error I'm seeing when posting to the forum is the same as in https://redmine.gc.cuny.edu/issues/23259#note-18:

Uncaught Error: Class "Automattic\Jetpack_Boost\Modules\Optimizations\Page_Cache\Pre_WordPress\Path_Actions\Rebuild_File" not found
in /wp-content/plugins/jetpack-boost/app/modules/optimizations/page-cache/pre-wordpress/storage/class-file-storage.php on line 194

Call stack:

    Automattic\J\M\O\P\P\S\File_Storage::clear()
    wp-content/plugins/jetpack-boost/app/modules/optimizations/page-cache/pre-wordpress/class-boost-cache.php:526
    Automattic\J\M\O\P\P\Boost_Cache::rebuild_recursive()
    wp-content/plugins/jetpack-boost/app/modules/optimizations/page-cache/pre-wordpress/class-boost-cache.php:494
    Automattic\J\M\O\P\P\Boost_Cache::rebuild_post_cache()
    wp-content/plugins/jetpack-boost/app/modules/optimizations/page-cache/pre-wordpress/class-boost-cache.php:369
    Automattic\J\M\O\P\P\Boost_Cache::invalidate_on_post_transition()
    wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:324
    WP_Hook::apply_filters()
    wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:348
    WP_Hook::do_action()
    wp-includes/plugin.php:517
    do_action()
    wp-includes/post.php:5740
    wp_transition_post_status()
    wp-includes/post.php:5000
    wp_insert_post()
    wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/topics/functions.php:336
    bbp_new_topic_handler()
    wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:324
    WP_Hook::apply_filters()
    wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:348
    WP_Hook::do_action()
    wp-includes/plugin.php:517
    do_action()
    wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/core/sub-actions.php:399
    bbp_post_request()
    wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:324
    WP_Hook::apply_filters()
    wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:348
    WP_Hook::do_action()
    wp-includes/plugin.php:517
    do_action()
    wp-content/plugins/bbpress/includes/core/sub-actions.php:337
    bbp_template_redirect()
    wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:324
    WP_Hook::apply_filters()
    wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:348
    WP_Hook::do_action()
    wp-includes/plugin.php:517
    do_action()
    wp-includes/template-loader.php:13
    require_once('/var/www/webroot/ROO.../template-loader.php')
    wp-blog-header.php:19
    require('/wp-blog-header.php')
    index.php:17

I tried rolling back Jetpack Boost to the version before the latest maintenance release and flushed the Litespeed Cache, but that didn't work. I then tried temporarily removing the Jetpack Boost plugin from the Commons and this appears to have addressed the fatal error in the forums. Can you test again, Luke? Also, Raffi feel free to test as well and report back in the other thread.

I see that Jetpack Boost modified wp-config.php to add:

define( 'WP_CACHE', true ); // Boost Cache Plugin

This most likely caused the issues in both this ticket and #23259. I've just removed this entry from our wp-config.php file on production.

Posted with success.

Thanks, Ray.

I see that Jetpack Boost modified wp-config.php to add:

This kind of "feature" makes it extremely hard to use WordPress and its plugin ecosystem for anything that is mission critical.

Better still, there's no obvious way to stop this behavior in jetpack-boost. Looking at https://github.com/Automattic/jetpack/blob/e5ae1dd1c3168eda92aa532bc71a8d36dca928c9/projects/plugins/boost/app/modules/optimizations/page-cache/class-page-cache-setup.php#L237, it seems like if we add define( 'WP_CACHE', false ); to our wp-config, it will prevent the plugin from modifying wp-config, but it will result in the wp-cache-defined-not-true error. Do we know whether this will break jetpack-boost in other ways?

It looks like Jetpack Boost sets the Page Cache configuration options at /wp-content/boost-cache/config.php. If we set enabled to false in that config file and make that file read-only, this would, in theory, prevent Jetpack Boost's Page Cache feature from writing to wp-config.php and being enabled again: https://github.com/cuny-academic-commons/cac/blob/cf32567acef05232a5122a502fa78dea730aa38a/wp-content/plugins/jetpack-boost/app/class-jetpack-boost.php#L243-L245 . I've just set enabled to false, but I haven't re-enabled Jetpack Boost yet. Boone, how do we want to proceed?

On second thoughts, I don't feel comfortable re-enabling Jetpack Boost unless there was a filter to disable their Page Caching feature entirely.

Their Page Cache setup is highly involved:
1. Creates their settings file at /wp-content/boost-cache/config.php
2. Writes to wp-config.php
3. Adds /wp-content/advanced-cache.php. It's probably this step that caused the fatal error on the main site because advanced-cache.php is enabled at all times on all sites and the checks in that file do not check if the Jetpack Boost plugin is activated or not. I've just removed this file from production.

See https://github.com/cuny-academic-commons/cac/blob/cf32567acef05232a5122a502fa78dea730aa38a/wp-content/plugins/jetpack-boost/app/modules/optimizations/page-cache/class-page-cache-setup.php#L44-L49

Outside of the Page Caching feature, the Jetpack Boost plugin does the following:
- CSS optimization
- Image CDN
- Image guide
- Defer non-essential javascript
- Concatenate JS and CSS

We originally installed this for Raffi for testing purposes on the old server, but now, we're with Reclaim and run Litespeed Cache. If we want to re-introduce these features, I'd probably look for another plugin that specializes in these things.

Thanks for the thoughtful review, Ray. I agree with your take: The plugin does too many things in ways that are not appropriate for a site like ours. If Raffi or other users can point to specific optimizations that jetpack-boost claims, we can consider implementing them in a way that's more appropriate for the Commons.

Ray, can you remove the plugin from the codebase?