Plugin errors in a fresh install of Elgg, for plugins that don't exist

My Elgg site died today during an upgrade to 1.8.15.  I had made a backup of the database, and also thought I had a complete backup of all files. Unfortunately some items inside /mod were missed (and maybe more I haven't discovered?) during the backup.  After several attempts to restore my site with various combinations of backup files, I did a fresh install of 1.8.3, since that was the version I was trying to upgrade from. During installation, I pointed it to the existing Elgg database.

When I try to go into admin in my 1.8.3 fresh install, I get a string of errors about plugins I had been using but I have not yet re-installed:

hypeSpamFighter (guid: 231) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin hypeSpamFighter (guid: 231) at /the/site/path/mod/hypeSpamFighter.

easytheme (guid: 41) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin easytheme (guid: 41) at /the/site/path/mod/easytheme.

zaudio (guid: 34) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin zaudio (guid: 34) at /the/site/path/mod/zaudio.

uservalidationbyemail (guid: 33) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin uservalidationbyemail (guid: 33) at /the/site/path/mod/uservalidationbyemail.

twitter (guid: 31) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin twitter (guid: 31) at /the/site/path/mod/twitter.

messageboard (guid: 20) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin messageboard (guid: 20) at /the/site/path/mod/messageboard.

members (guid: 19) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin members (guid: 19) at /the/site/path/mod/members.

Can anyone tell me why it is expecting the plug-ins that haven't been reinstalled?

 

  • Because you said you used the same database - that has references to installed plugins.  When the engine booted with those plugins missing it had no option but to disable them from the system.  Haf you created a clean db there would be no errors.  There is no problem though, close out the errors and install the plugins when you're ready.

  • Matt,  Thank you for your reply and instructions. Unfortunately it has not worked. I uploaded a few of the plugin directories into /mod in my clean install. The errors are now including some of the core plugins, like this:

    thewire (guid: 29) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin thewire (guid: 29) at /the/site/path/mod/thewire.

    bookmarks (guid: 3) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin bookmarks (guid: 3) at /the/site/path/mod/bookmarks.

    categories (guid: 4) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin categories (guid: 4) at /the/site/path/mod/categories.

    custom_index (guid: 5) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin custom_index (guid: 5) at /the/site/path/mod/custom_index.

    dashboard (guid: 6) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin dashboard (guid: 6) at /the/site/path/mod/dashboard.

    diagnostics (guid: 8) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin diagnostics (guid: 8) at /the/site/path/mod/diagnostics.

    notifications (guid: 22) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin notifications (guid: 22) at /the/site/path/mod/notifications.

    oauth_api (guid: 23) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin oauth_api (guid: 23) at /the/site/path/mod/oauth_api.

    pages (guid: 24) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin pages (guid: 24) at /the/site/path/mod/pages.

    profile (guid: 25) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin profile (guid: 25) at /the/site/path/mod/profile.

    thewire (guid: 29) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin thewire (guid: 29) at /home/peregrin/public_html/subsites/akp/research-net/mod/thewire.

    bookmarks (guid: 3) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin bookmarks (guid: 3) at /home/peregrin/public_html/subsites/akp/research-net/mod/bookmarks.

    categories (guid: 4) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin categories (guid: 4) at /home/peregrin/public_html/subsites/akp/research-net/mod/categories.

    custom_index (guid: 5) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin custom_index (guid: 5) at /home/peregrin/public_html/subsites/akp/research-net/mod/custom_index.

    dashboard (guid: 6) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin dashboard (guid: 6) at /home/peregrin/public_html/subsites/akp/research-net/mod/dashboard.

    diagnostics (guid: 8) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin diagnostics (guid: 8) at /home/peregrin/public_html/subsites/akp/research-net/mod/diagnostics.

    notifications (guid: 22) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin notifications (guid: 22) at /home/peregrin/public_html/subsites/akp/research-net/mod/notifications.

    oauth_api (guid: 23) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin oauth_api (guid: 23) at /home/peregrin/public_html/subsites/akp/research-net/mod/oauth_api.

    pages (guid: 24) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin pages (guid: 24) at /home/peregrin/public_html/subsites/akp/research-net/mod/pages.

    profile (guid: 25) cannot start and has been deactivated. Reason: Cannot include start.php for plugin profile (guid: 25) at /home/peregrin/public_html/subsites/akp/research-net/mod/profile.

  • Update: Things are really odd. In the current list of 'cannot start' errors I see now, there are multiple conditions. Some are indeed inactive. Others appear to be running perfectly despite the "cannot start" message about it. Others were inactive before these problems started, are still deactivated, and yet have a message that they can't start.

    Additionally, plugin status seems to be changing each time I load the site, though I haven't made any changes to settings. For example, a long time ago I altered The Wire to allow 1000 characters. After this fresh installation it reverted to 140, so I uploaded the entire modified thewire folder to overwrite the freshly installed one. The character limit still showed 140. After making a couple of wire posts under the 140 limit, suddenly the page started showing my 1000 limit override. I hadn't changed any files or run the upgrade script.

    The list of plugins with "cannot start" errors keeps changing too.

  • These error messages in the admin section will not disappear on their own. They will only go away if you click on the "X". You should do that to be sure that there are not always the same error messages shown. The "cannot start and has been disabled" messages surely come partly due to the fact that you hadn't re-installed all 3rd party plugins when you made a fresh install but used a database that were based on a site with these plugins installed and enabled.

    Did you modify Elgg core files to be able to post 1000 characters in wire postings? Of course these modifications are lost if the modified files get overwritten at an update. Do NOT modify core files! Instead override the views via you own custom plugin (check http://docs.elgg.org/ to learn more about how to start with your own little custom plugin).

    If you only replace / overwrite plugin files and directories in your mod directory while the caching of your site is active, you won't notice these changes immediately but only after the cache is flushed (either by doing that manually or by an action like enabling/disabling/reordering a plugin). Also the error messages regarding "cannot start and has been deactivated" is quite likely due to changes of files of plugins while these plugins are not deactivated. Best thing to avoid such error messages is to always disable a plugin on your site before you overwrite files of it or upgrade it. Only when you are done enable it again. Or click on the flush cache and/or upgrade button on the admin dashboard after you altered plugin files.

  • Thanks for the detailed reply, iionly. 

    The 'cannot start' messages were varied. When I closed them, some returned, some didn't, and some new ones appeared when the page was reloaded. It seemed inconsistent.

    I didn't modify core files for the 1000 character limit. I copied /thewire to a new directory inside /mod and made the changes there. The new plugin had been uploaded and showed as activated when the 140 char limit warning was shown.

    I flushed the caches multiple times without seeing any changes. Eventually things started working, though I still don't know what happened to change it from errors and blank spots to being functional.

    Perhaps the key to my entire problem is that I missed deactivating everything before I started working on the upgrade.