Trackback Issues

LisaS
(@lisas)

20 years ago

I’m running WordPress 1.0.2 Blakely. I have Trackbacks and
Pingbacks set to “True” in the Options.
My mod_rewrite looks like this:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^archives/([0-9]{4})?/?([0-9]{1,2})?/?([0-9]{1,2})?/
?([0-9a-z-]+)?/?([0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?year=$1
&monthnum=$2&day=$3&
name=$4
&page=$5 [QSA]
RewriteRule ^archives/category/?(.*) /index.php?
category_name=$1 [QSA]
My problem is recieving trackbacks sent from other blogs.
I can send them with no problem – and when I send them,
the link appears in their comment/trackback area.
However, when someone trackbacks a post of mine – –
their trackback does not show in my comments and I do
not receive an email alerting me of their linkage.
It works occassionaly – – but very infrequently. People who
used to be able to have their trackbacks show on my blog
(in my old MT) worked just fine – but now those same people
cannot do it now that I’ve switched to WordPress.
I’ve seen this posted in this forum quite a few times and none
of the “fixes” offered up seem to work for me.
Has anyone come up with a fix for this issue?
IS there a fix for this issue?
Ideas? Suggestions? Advice?
Much thanks in advance!

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

alan
(@alan)

20 years ago

I’m far from an expert at this but I went to your site and checked out the trackback uri. While trying to copy it, I end up capturing more text than I need. I’m wondering if the folks who send you trackbacks might not be copying and pasting the URI correctly. Just a thought….

Thread Starter LisaS
(@lisas)

20 years ago

Thank you, Alan – but that’s not the issue.
I’ve manually typed in the URI for trackback
and it still doesn’t work.
I’ve tried both the trackback_url
and the archive url – still no go.
Thanks for the response, though 🙂

alan
(@alan)

20 years ago

It might be of interest to know which systems are sending the failed trackback. For instance, does the problem only occur from systems using MovableType?
It sounds to me there might be a bug in the system. A bug which ought to be corrected since so many bloggers communicate via trackback.
I hope you get some help.

Thread Starter LisaS
(@lisas)

20 years ago

It doesn’t seem to matter what
the blog system is.
It doesn’t work from MT users,
nor does it work from WP users.
Haven’t tried from any other
systems, though.
I’m almost frustrated enough to
go back to MT – – I do a lot of
trackbacking, you’re right – it’s how
we do much of our communicating
blog-to-blog.
*shrug*

Moderator Matt Mullenweg
(@matt)

20 years ago

Lisa, I think it has something to do with PHP running as a CGI on your server, and that’s effecting the PATH_INFO information. I’ll look into this some more.

Thread Starter LisaS
(@lisas)

20 years ago

Thank you, allusion – any help
would be greatly appreciated!

Thread Starter LisaS
(@lisas)

20 years ago

I discovered the solution via tons of trying and re-trying.
The mod_rewrite rules given to me by WordPress did
not include rewrite rules for wp-trackback.php.
The rule that I used in .htaccess is:
RewriteRule ^wp-trackback.php/(.*) /wp-trackback.php?p=$1 [QSA]
I tried different variations of this re-write rule – and the above
stated on is the one that finally gave me success on the ability
to receive trackbacks.
For anyone needing to use this – don’t forget to indicate the
directory that your wp-trackback.php is in. Mine is located
at the root – but if you have it in a directory (i.e. /blog) – you
need to indicate that in the rule – – for example:
RewriteRule ^wp-trackback.php/(.*) /path/to/wp-trackback.php?p=$1 [QSA]
Hope this helps anyone who is having the same issue.
On a side note – should the re-write rule for
wp-trackback.php be included in the rules that
WordPress gives for mod_rewrite?

carthik
(@carthik)

20 years ago

Thanks Lisa! That’s a cool solution. I can use that 🙂

Thread Starter LisaS
(@lisas)

20 years ago

1.0.2 didn’t give me a rewrite rule for trackbacks, at all.
At least, not that I saw – – it took me days and days
of searching PHP as CGI issues…looking into
the PATH_INFO issue with our server
(I host my own stuff on Apache/Linux)
Thought maybe it was our version of PHP.
When I found that it was a rewrite rule I needed
in my .htaccess – -my immediate thought was
“why doesn’t WordPress give you the trackback
rewrite along with the other two it gives you?”
Just a thought.

Thread Starter LisaS
(@lisas)

20 years ago

Oh, you said version 1.2 🙂
Duh on me 😉

alan
(@alan)

20 years ago

Way to go Lisa….smart catch.

Ryan Boren
(@ryan)

20 years ago

Rewrite isn’t necessary to the function of trackback. It’s just a nice little something we do in 1.2. It also happens to be a good workaround to path info problems. Typically, the following fixes most trackback problems. Sounds like you probably already tried it unsuccessfully, though.
<Files "wp-trackback.php"> AcceptPathInfo On </Files>

Thread Starter LisaS
(@lisas)

20 years ago

rboren –
I did try that and it gave me a 500 error
throughout my domain.
Maybe it depends on which version of
Apache the server is running?
Not sure, though.
The trackback rewrite is a nice
addition to 1.2 – looking forward
to it.
Love WordPress, btw – I’ve converted
5 people from MT so far 🙂

Ryan Boren
(@ryan)

20 years ago

AcceptPathInfo only works with Apache 2.0.30 and later. So, rewrite rules to the rescue. 🙂 Happy trackbacks.