Failed to initialize storage module

I'm now getting this error after upgrading to 2.2.2 ...

Fatal error: session_start(): Failed to initialize storage module: user (path: /tmp) in /home/bhm1264/public_html/dnplan/vbseocp.php on line 7

I'm assuming this is the same /tmp directory that vB uses ... and image uploads are working fine there ...

Greg

Hello Greg,

please ensure that "/tmp" directory is writable and there is free space available on the harddrive for this folder.

Originally Posted by Oleg Ignatiuk

Hello Greg,

please ensure that "/tmp" directory is writable and there is free space available on the harddrive for this folder.

Well <grin> ... "IF" it uses the same /tmp directory that vB does ... then it is Chmod'd to 777 ...

Is there a way to test to see what path vbseocp is looking for it in? (And I can physically watch files being temporarily uploaded, renamed, and moved ...)

Greg

Hi Greg,

vbseocp doesn't create temporary files itself, by it uses standard php session handler, which stores temp session files in the "/tmp" folder as defined in your php.ini.

This seems to be related to php bug: http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=25876
Didn't you changes php configuration recently?

Originally Posted by Oleg Ignatiuk

Hi Greg,

vbseocp doesn't create temporary files itself, by it uses standard php session handler, which stores temp session files in the "/tmp" folder as defined in your php.ini.

This seems to be related to php bug: http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=25876

I'll check out the thread ...

Didn't you changes php configuration recently?

Nope ... and vB works just fine ... you can watch uploaded files being saved in the /tmp directory, then moved and renamed if you do an upload ...

Which ... is why I asked the question about whether it uses the same /tmp directory that vB does ... *IF* I try to read between the lines, what you really meant to tell me was that no, vbSEOCP does not use the same /tmp directory that vB does rather, it uses the /tmp directory that is the default within the php setting right?

And ... I asked if there was a way to test to see what path it is looking for ... so how would I test to see what the path is that php has set for the /tmp directory ...

For example, I have two /tmp directories, one which vB uses which is chmodded to 777 and I have a /tmp directory outside of my root which is also chmodded to 777 ... I checked both of these before I posted my initial inquiry <grin> ...

Greg

As I mentioned the directory used by php to store temporary session files depends on your php configuration. Check "session.save_path" setting in your php.ini for the specific value (it may be different folder than used for uploaded files - "upload_tmp_dir").

Originally Posted by Oleg Ignatiuk

As I mentioned the directory used by php to store temporary session files depends on your php configuration. Check "session.save_path" setting in your php.ini for the specific value (it may be different folder than used for uploaded files - "upload_tmp_dir").

Hi Oleg <grin> ...

I know you are a "programmer" <grin> ... which means that you speak in technospeak ... which is ok, because the rest of us would not have such wonderful products if it were not for people like you!

So ... perhaps I can help by "translating" your reluctant answers into a language that can help the rest of us <grin> ...

I run 8 vBulletin sites ... and unfortuantely, like Oleg, once upon a time, I got one of those nasty applied computer science degrees ... so today, I try to know just enough to know the "Art of the Possible" without having to dig into those nasty manuals and actually have to figure out the "how or why" ...

Oleg wouldn't quite answer it ... but vBSEO uses the /tmp value from the default php settings and NOT the /tmp value that vBulletin uses ...

Oleg wouldn't quite answer it ... but for the 90% of the vBulletin users out here that do not have access to their php.ini files (obviously, most of us can not simply look at our php.ini values <grin>) ... there is a "fix" or work around ...

Since I'm not inclined to give up ... and since I knew that vBulletin and a lot of other mods were working just fine ... I needed to know what vBSEO didn't like that everyone else seemed to be handling just fine ... that meant I really needed to know what the php /tmp location really was ... boy I hate programming, but since no answer was forthcoming I had to write a quick and dirty script to find it for myself ...

So ... for anyone that needs a REAL solution <grin> ... you can fix the /tmp problem by a quick addition to your .htaccess file ...

simply add the following line to your .htaccess file:

HTML Code:

php_value session.save_handler files

Now ... I'm not a programmer (at least I try not to be anymore, I'll leave that to Oleg and the excllent vBSEO team) ... so for the rest of us non-programmers out there <grin> ... I am sure that if anyone needs to know "why" this fix works, Oleg could probably explain it to us and I could then translate that into non-programmer english ...

The quick and dirty answer is that this is a known bug in php ... and the fix for it can be programmed around programatically (like vBulletin and many others do) ... but until then, this quick and dirty fix will take care of it <grin> ...

Thanks,
Greg

Hello Greg, thank you for the information. We are looking into implementing a workaround natively or (worst case scenario) will include an additional item in the troubleshooting.txt file for the benefit of users encountering this issue.

Closing this thread in preparation for the 2.2.3 release.