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

coriolis_too November 9, 2024

Simple and easy to use. Does what is says

Jamie February 23, 2024

Yet another one of your plugins that I love and use all the time! Thank you. (Side note: is there a place to buy you a coffee or donate for your time?)

ld2digital December 29, 2023

I use this on all of my sites to streamline debugging. It saves so much time and hassle.

Pulak Ahmed December 6, 2023

Very helpful tool for debugging the conflicts.

pic2click 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.

dglite September 18, 2023

Perfect + nice + awesome plugins…

Read all 18 reviews

Contributors & Developers

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

Andy Fragen

“WP Debugging” has been translated into 8 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

2.12.2 / 2024-12-02

add GA to generate POT
update for PCP

2.12.1 / 2024-11-08

move register_activation_hook and register_deactivation_hook up the chain

2.12.0 / 2024-11-01

exit early(ish) if not on WP Debugging settings page
composer update
remove load_plugin_textdomain()

2.11.24 / 2024-04-29

update link to Debugging in WordPress, thanks @tobifjellner
cast variable to array in Bootstrap::deactivate() fix for PHP 8.3

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