Help: Uploading MP3s on WordPress doesn’t work

Today I ran into a minor issue with WordPress.

When uploading an MP3 file (in my case, although I’m sure many other file types) — I was getting an “HTTP Error” or “Internal Server Error” depending on how I uploaded the file.  The file wasn’t even that big, just a 150K test file.

There were 2 things that had to happen..

Add an MP3 Mime Type

Out of the box, WordPress doesn’t want you to upload an MP3 file to the Media Library.  You have to add it.

You can do this by using the “upload_mimes” hook in your functions.php file:

function addMimeTypes($mimes) {
    $newmimes = array_merge($mimes, array(
        'mp3' => 'audio/mpeg'
    ));
    return $newmimes;
}
add_filter('upload_mimes', 'addMimeTypes');

Disable FastCGI

Yes, unfortunately FastCGI use of PHP was causing me to have problems so I had to switch back to PHP being run as an Apache Module.

To do this, you’ll have to find out per your hosting provider how to do this.  I’m at Media Temple and it was pretty easy.

Keep in mind that FastCGI lowers your memory usage, and disabling it may have other negative effects.

Tags: apache, FastCGI, Mime Types, MP3, PHP, Upload, upload_mimes, WordPress

WordPress 3.3.2 Released

Yesterday WordPress released version 3.3.2.

Included are some minor security fixes, and maintenance issues.  Not database changes were made.

Tags: Release, WordPress

WordPress 3.4 Beta 1 Released

This morning it was announced that the WordPress 3.4 Beta 1 was released.

If you are a web developer who develops custom themes and/or plugins, you should be watching the next release as there are changes very relevant to your work.

Here’s some of what’s new:

• Theme Customizer with Previewer
• Flexible Custom Header Sizes
• Selecting Custom Header and Background Images from Media Library
• Better experience searching for and choosing a theme

And some of the under-the-hood changes:

• New XML-RPC API for external and mobile applications
• New API for registering theme support for custom headers and backgrounds
• Performance improvements to WP_Query by splitting the query (Please test!)
• Internationalization improvements (improved performance and locale support)
• Performance and API improvements when working with lists of installed themes
• Support for installing child themes from the WordPress Themes Directory

You can download the WordPress 3.4 Beta 1 here.

Tags: API, plugins, Themes, WordPress, WP_Query

Is WordPress Dead?

I just ran across WordPress has left the building, by Kevinjohn Gallagher.

From his post:

… I love WordPress. With it, I have felt a genuine affinity for a product the likes of which is matched only by my Commodore64. It will be exceptionally strange for me to no longer recommend WordPress.

The reality is that we’ve moved in different directions, and if I’m honest this decision has been coming for a long time. Over the last year, for the first time since we started, we’ve migrated more clients away from, rather than to WordPress.

Everyone has the right to choose any CMS they want, but they should know why they are making that decision.

An excellent response by Joe Brockmeier, Missing the Point of WordPress Entirely:

Let’s look at some of Gallagher’s requirements, and ask ourselves was WordPress ever intended to do these things or were the expectations a little off?

Read his article, he goes into much more detail, but I wanted some room for my own opinions.

WordPress is a Tool

That’s just it, a tool.  A tool is only as useful as the person using it.

› Continue reading

Tags: Brockmeier, Gallagher, Kevinjohn Gallagher, WordPress

How to enable Mod_Rewrite in Apache2 on Ubuntu

Was just doing this, and thought it’d be a nice guide to write up.

I’m assuming you already have Apache2 installed on your machine.  If not, check how to install Apache 2 on Ubuntu.

Mod_rewrite is a module that allows runtime modification of the URL structure.  Typically this is to allow .htaccess directives to implement friendly URLs.  This is done frequently in WordPress and many other CMSes.

Link to the Module

Apache 2 on Ubuntu is a bit different than some servers, as Apache is usually controlled in the /etc/apache2 directory.

There will be 2 directories for enabling mods, they are /etc/apache2/mods-enabled and /etc/apache2/mods-available.  Mods-enabled includes a list (hopefully links) of files that are enabled via the configuration file (if you look, there’s a command to load all modules in that directory).  Mods-available, is all modules you can enable.

To create the link:

cd /etc/apache2/modes-enabled
ln-s ../mods-available/rewrite.load rewrite.load

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Tags: apache2, cms, htaccess, mod_rewrite, ubuntu, WordPress

Help: WordPress broke after 3.3 Upgrade

I just ran into a client who’s WordPress installation broke due to the 3.3 upgrade.

The symptom was the WYSIWYG editor didn’t load (which was just a big Javascript error loading supporting scripts).  This could manifest itself in any Javascript functionality (admin bar, popup menus, etc) not working.

The Fix

The fix is easy, you need to install WordPress 3.3.1 (when it comes out).  For those of you who need this fixed immediately, you can install the Hotfix 0.8 plugin.  It will disable the JSON support that is breaking in 3.3.

UPDATE – 2012-01-03

WordPress has released version 3.3.1 which is supposed to fix this issue.

Tags: help, Hotfix, WordPress

Help: I only have SFTP/SSH access, How can I update my WordPress plugins?

Ran into this one today.  A site with only SFTP/SSH access, and the server required the “FTP” method of updating plugins/WordPress.  Remember FTPS is not SFTP.  FTPS runs over HTTPS/SSL, while SFTP runs over SSH.  Confusing?

Fortunately there’s a nice little plugin called, SSH SFTP Updater Support.

You must download it, then upload the contents of the zip into /wp-content/plugins/, then Activate the plugin in the admin.  It will add an SSH2 (which is used for SFTP) option to your “Updates” screen.

Worked for me.

Tags: FTPS, help, HTTPS, SFTP, SSH, SSL, WordPress

WordPress 3.3 Released

I just updated, and you can too!

WordPress 3.3, “Sonny” (in honor of Sonny Stitt) – is available for download, or update inside your WordPress.

You can see some of the features listed in my WordPress 3.3 Release Candidate 2 post:

• New toolbar (was the admin bar in 3.2)
• Accordingly, there are some Admin Bar API changes ($wp_admin_bar->menu no longer returns anything), check out add_node, add_menu, remove_node,remove_menu, get_node and add_group.
• jQuery libraries are updated (jQuery 1.7.1, and jQuery UI updated to 1.8.16)
• wp_editor() API has changed
• QuickTags are improved (HTML toolbar)
• If you used wp_localize_script, you’ll want to use wp_add_script_before instead
• File uploader (the flash one) is replaced with Plupload
• wp_enqueue_script() works mid-page
• New is_main_query() function (yay!)
• Help and screen API changes

Tags: WordPress

WordPress 3.3 Release Candidate 2

Yesterday, WordPress 3.3 Release Candidate 2 was released.

Sounds like we’re getting close to the real deal.  My bet is next week.

If you haven’t been following it, here are some new things in WordPress 3.3:

• New toolbar (was the admin bar in 3.2)
• Accordingly, there are some Admin Bar API changes ($wp_admin_bar->menu no longer returns anything), check out add_node, add_menu, remove_node, remove_menu, get_node and add_group.
• jQuery libraries are updated (jQuery 1.7.1, and jQuery UI updated to 1.8.16)
• wp_editor() API has changed
• QuickTags are improved (HTML toolbar)
• If you used wp_localize_script, you’ll want to use wp_add_script_before instead
• File uploader (the flash one) is replaced with Plupload
• wp_enqueue_script() works mid-page
• New is_main_query() function (yay!)
• Help and screen API changes

I’m excited … hoping it comes out before I launch a site in the next week.

Tags: WordPress, WordPress 3.3

WordPress: Story of a Hack with WSO

WordPress is great, but the more people that use it, the more “criminals” out there that will target it’s vulnerabilities.

Alex has a detailed write up covering his site being hacked, in My website was hacked – yours could be too!  You won’t know until it’s too late.

From the article (read the whole thing):

Yesterday I found out that my website had been hacked. Not only that, but it had been hacked months ago, and I hadn’t even noticed. How did this happen?

I only found out about it because somebody was kind enough to email me to let me know that they saw this on Google

Even the best of us get hacked when we use any “standardized” platform (Windows, OS X, WordPress, Drupal, etc.).

What is WSO?  It’s an environment hackers can upload to your server when they find a vulnerability, and use it to access everything on your site.  When you’ve been hacked, this is the payload that a hacker wants delivered.  It could site dormant for months before being activated.  Ever hear about those “Zombie Computers”?  WSO is like a bite from a zombie, it can transform your website into anything they want at any time, all they have to do is wake it up.

Did Alex make any mistakes?  Maybe … he should have been aware of the TimThumb vulnerability, as most WordPress developers were.  Is it his fault?  Not really.

› Continue reading

Tags: Alex, Hack, security, TimThumb, WordPress, WSO