WP Debugging

Description

This plugin sets the following debug constants in wp-config.php on plugin activation and removes them on plugin deactivation. Any errors will result in a PHP Exception being thrown. Debug constants per Debugging in WordPress.

Default settings:

define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'SCRIPT_DEBUG', true );
define( 'SAVEQUERIES', true );

 
@ini_set( ‘display_errors’, 1 ); is set when the plugin is active. WP_DEBUG is set to true when the plugin is first run, thereafter it can be turned off in the Settings.

The Settings page allows the user to set the following.

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); // Default on initial plugin installation.
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false ); // Default when not declared is true.
define( 'WP_DISABLE_FATAL_ERROR_HANDLER', true ); // WordPress 5.2 WSOD Override.

When the plugin is deactivated best efforts are made to re-add pre-existing constants to their former state. When the plugin is activated the default settings and any saved settings are restored.

This plugin uses the wp-cli/wp-config-transformer command for writing constants to wp-config.php.

Debug Quick Look from Andrew Norcross is included with this plugin to assist in reading the debug.log file. If you already have this plugin installed you should delete it when WP Debugging is not active.

Query Monitor and Debug Bar plugins are optional dependencies to aid in debugging and troubleshooting. The notice for installation will recur 45 days after being dismissed.

If you have a non-standard location for your wp-config.php file you can use the filter wp_debugging_config_path to return the file path for your installation.

The filter wp_debugging_add_constants allows the user to add constants to wp-config.php.

The filter returns an array where the key is the name of the constant and the value is an array of data containing the value as a string and a boolean to indicate whether or not the value should be passed without quotes.

$my_constants = [
    'my_test_constant' =>
    [
        'value' => 'abc123',
        'raw' => false,
    ],
    'another_test_constant' => [ 'value' => 'true' ],
];

The value option contains the constant’s value as a string.

The raw option means that instead of placing the value inside the config as a string it will become unquoted. The default is true. Set as false for non-boolean values.

Example:

add_filter(
    'wp_debugging_add_constants',
    function( $added_constants ) {
        $my_constants = [
            'my_test_constant'      => [
                'value' => '124xyz',
                'raw'   => false,
            ],
            'another_test_constant' => [ 'value' => 'true' ],
        ];
        return array_merge( $added_constants, $my_constants );
    },
    10,
    1
);

This will create the following constants.

define( 'MY_TEST_CONSTANT', '124xyz' );
define( 'ANOTHER_TEST_CONSTANT', true );

Development

PRs are welcome against the develop branch on GitHub.

Screenshots

  • Settings Screen

Reviews

November 13, 2023
This little plugin was a lifesaver for a site of ours, self-hosted via docker. The implementation left us with a curious problem … some configuration someplace somewhere other than the standard lines in wp-config.php was overriding our WP_DEBUG setting. This plugin solved that.
August 12, 2023 3 replies
for some reason when I activate the plugin it reports an error message- Warning: file_put_contents(/home/nelmedia/public_html/wp-config.php): Failed to open stream: Success in /home/nelmedia/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wp-debugging/vendor/wp-cli/wp-config-transformer/src/WPConfigTransformer.php on line 349 Caught Exception: \Fragen\WP_Debugging\Settings::add_constants() - Failed to update the config file. Any idea?
Read all 18 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“WP Debugging” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

“WP Debugging” has been translated into 7 locales. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.

Translate “WP Debugging” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

2.11.23 / 2024-03-04

  • composer update
  • WPCS updates

2.11.22 / 2023-05-31 🎂

  • update afragen/wp-dismiss-notice

2.11.21 / 2023-04-29

  • update afragen/wp-dismiss-notice
  • update Debug Quick Look

2.11.18, 2.11.19, 2.11.20 / 2023-02-07

  • composer update

2.11.17 / 2023-01-27

  • updated link to Debugging in WordPress and improved text for translators
  • composer update

2.11.16 / 2023-01-19

  • composer update

2.11.15 / 2023-01-02

  • composer update

2.11.14 / 2022-07-15

  • composer update

2.11.13 / 2022-06-23

  • make anchor preg_match more greedy

2.11.12 / 2022-05-29

  • update to latest afragen/debug-quick-look

2.11.11 / 2022–5-16

  • update wp-dismiss-notice with transient and only poll wp_remote_get() weekly

2.11.10 / 2022-05-10

  • use sanitize_key() for nonces
  • composer update

2.11.9 / 2022-02-05

  • composer update

2.11.8 / 2022-01-24

  • load call to WP_Dependency_Installer() in plugins_loaded hook to avoid loading pluggable.php.
  • update WP_Dependency_Installer

2.11.7 / 2022-01-18

  • fix logic in verify nonce conditional

2.11.6 /2022-01-18

  • proper nonce verification
  • composer updates

2.11.5 / 2022-01-11

  • I messed up the release 🤦‍♂️

2.11.4 / 2022-01-10

  • composer updates

2.11.3 / 2021-12-19

  • more fixes via composer update

2.11.2 / 2021-09-24

  • composer update, cause of course I needed to fix something

2.11.1 / 2021-09-24

  • init in plugins_loaded hook
  • composer update

2.11.0 / 2021-09-23

  • fix security issue for capabilities check, possible CSRF, and nonce checks.

2.10.2 / 2021-09-04

  • only use esc_attr_e for translating strings

2.10.1 / 2021-07-23

  • fix PHP Notice, Settings:line 68
  • update Debug Quick Look admin bar menu for mobile

2.10.0 / 2021-06-30

  • update Debug Quick Look to show menu on mobile

2.9.3 / 2021-06-22

  • update WPConfigTransformer to use alternate anchor if default not present
  • add @10up GitHub Actions for WordPress svn integration

2.9.1 / 2020-11-17

  • update wp-dependency-installer library
  • update wp-cli/wp-config-transformer
  • comment out quote normalization in set_pre_activation_constants(), not sure why I did that but it can cause problems #10

2.9.0 / 2020-08-15

  • use try/catch around use of WPConfigTransformer object

2.8.0 / 2020-08-01

  • exit if called directly
  • NB: I have seen the WPConfigTransformer Exception error live. The issue seems to be that a file_get_contents() on the wp-config.php file path, at random times, returns an empty value. I’m done chasing this random error in wp-cli/wp-config-transformer. Modified version of wp-cli/wp-config-transformer present

2.7.2 / 2020-06-01

  • test wp-config.php everywhere, still occasional WSOD reports.

2.7.1 / 2020-5-15

  • return early if wp-config.php is empty before calling WPConfigTransformer

2.7.0 / 2020-04-30

  • start loading in init hook
  • run process_filter_constants() as chained method in Bootstrap

2.6.1 / 2020-03-28

  • move Settings action link to front
  • change test for wp-config.php file empty

2.6.0 / 2020-02-28

  • load autoloader in main file
  • update composer dependencies

2.5.8 / 2019-12-23

  • badly messed up check for empty wp-config.php

2.5.7 / 2019-12-20

  • check and exit early if wp-config.php is empty
  • return empty array for the above exit

2.5.6 / 2019-11-02

  • early exit if wp-config.php not set in specific functions

2.5.5 / 2019-09-17

  • update composer.json for wp-dependency-installer update, now requires at least PHP 5.6 for spread operator
  • composer update

2.5.4 / 2019-04-25

  • added check for writable wp-config.php, exit with notice if not found

2.5.3 / 2019-04-01

  • update Debug Quick Look to display error log file path

2.5.1 / 2019-04-01

  • updated version of wp-cli/wp-config-transformer

2.5.0 / 2019-03-25

  • added wp_debugging_add_constants filter for users to add their own constants

2.4.3 / 2019-03-09

  • missed an output escape

2.4.2 / 2019-02-26

  • add Domain Path header

2.4.1 / 2019-02-10

  • refactor set/restore pre-activation constants

2.4.0 / 2019-02-06

  • save pre-activation constants for re-installation on deactivation ( say that 5x fast )

2.3.0 / 2019-02-04

  • look for wp-config.php in directory above ABSPATH
  • add filter wp_debugging_config_path to set non-standard path to wp-config.php

2.2.0 / 2019-02-02 🏈

  • initial release on dot org

2.1.1 / 2019-02-01

  • only show WSOD bypass when appropriate
  • update dependencies

2.1.0 / 2019-01-26

  • update Debug Quick Look, minor CSS changes
  • Improve messaging
  • add setting for WP_DISABLE_FATAL_ERROR_HANDLER constant (WSOD)
  • add default setting of WP_DEBUG to true, can be changed

2.0.0 / 2019-01-18

  • total re-write
  • add settings page
  • use wp-cli/wp-config-transformer to change wp-config.php
  • include norcross/debug-quick-look as dependency via composer but use my fork
  • update POT via composer.json and wp-cli
  • add image assets