Website Down Upon Activating AgentPress Child Theme

[jgillam]

Tonight loaded Genesis on to my server and experienced no problems. Also loaded the AgentPress "child" theme and experienced no problems. Went into Appearence>Themes and clicked on "Activate" Child Theme and received the following error message:

Warning: require_once(E:\USERS\jgillam7\www\wordpress-2.8.5\wordpress/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/functions/feed_functions.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in E:\USERS\jgillam7\www\wordpress-2.8.5\wordpress\wp-content\themes\genesis\lib\init.php on line 74
PHP Warning: require_once(E:\USERS\jgillam7\www\wordpress-2.8.5\wordpress/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/functions/feed_functions.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in E:\USERS\jgillam7\www\wordpress-2.8.5\wordpress\wp-content\themes\genesis\lib\init.php on line 74


I then deleted the "child" theme and tried to access my site and received the same error message. I then deleted Genesis and tried to access my original AgentPress site. Again, received the same message. As a last resort I reloaded both Genesis and then The AgentPress "child" theme. Again, the same error message!

I now can not access my website from the front or backend.

[Kris Themstrup]

Looking into it now....

[Brian Gardner]

The issue is with you using WP 2.8.5..... Genesis requires at least 2.9 b/c of a few coding things.....I think that I need to update the theme pages to reflect this.

[Kris Themstrup]

Ok Jeff, I got it back up. I don't know what the issue is with Genesis, but for some reason your memory on you host really doesn't like it. It's not a theme issue though, which is good. I can't help but think it might have to do with all these sub-folders you've got the install sitting in. Is it possible to get rid of some of them and install WP on jeffgillam.com/wordpress?

Also, I think that question mark thing has to do with a plugin. Can you deactivate and check?

[Brian Gardner]

By the way, I'm emailing Nathan to confirm this.... my guess is that if you upgrade to WP 2.9.1 things should work. Let us know either way if you try this.

[Kris Themstrup]

Actually Brian, it's 2.9.2, he just has it in a sub-folder called that.

[jgillam]

Ok ...

1. When I started this journey; I believe it was November, the current version of Wordpress was 2.8.5. To the best of my knowledge there have been 2 updates, i.e. 2.9.1 and 2.9.2. Although when viewing my FTP it shows 2.8.5 I have since then automatically updated twice through WP; and, am now using 2.9.2. To verify same, when I access my dashboard it states at the bottom that I am currently using 2.9.2. I guest I need to rename that version file.

2. As to all of the sub-folders ... I believe what you be may to referring to are the folders on my computer which are reflected on the left side of my FTP screen when logined into my FTP client. Those files are not on my server. If I'm wrong on this point please advise where and which files you are referring to and/or should be deleted if in Wordpress. Will do what is necessary on this front.

3. I really do not understand your question relative to installing WP on jeffgillam.com/wordpress. I was under the impression that it was already there since my site was functional prior to the error problem ... very confused on this point Kris.

4. Relative to the question marks ... deactivated each plugin one by one and that did not resolve that problem.

As previously noted I had no problem with the Genesis and the "child" theme uploads ... it was only after trying to activate the "child" theme did I get the error message.

Should I go ahead and reload Genesis and the "child" theme again to see what happens this time around; or, do I need to dump everything and start from scratch? Hate to go that route if not necessary!

[Kris Themstrup]

Your WordPress installation is located within...
wordpress-2.8.5
- wordpress
Which is two folders deep on your FTP site. Typically, I would expect the installation to either be in a "wordpress" folder right off the main folder of the site (the "www") or right in the "www' folder - that's where it typically is. It looks like you installed WP by uploading the version folder. However, this really shouldn't make too much of a difference, theoretically.

In regards to Genesis and the AP child theme not working, I'm not 100% sure why that's happening. I'm also at a loss about the question marks for the classic theme after it seems we've tried everything in the book. I'm going to give Nathan a heads up about this and see if he can help. Sorry I couldn't help more.

[nathanrice]

First of all, I notice you're using a Windows server. I generally discourage the use of Windows as a WordPress platform, since there are SO many issues with it.

Secondly, this seems like an execution permissions problem. For whatever reason, PHP is getting denied access to the genesis/lib/init.php file for inclusion. Again, this is an issue because I'm not entirely sure how to change permissions on a Windows machine. Basically, the entire genesis folder (and all it's content) needs to have server execute permissions. Otherwise, PHP can't access the files in the genesis folder.

Hope that helps a little

[jgillam]

Kris ... regarding the folder issue ... if I can re-config the folders (not sure I can), would the tree then look like this:

www
- wordpress
- wordpress - 2.8.5

... or, am I missing something here? If not correct, please advise.


In a nutshell I would still like toget Genesis and the "child" theme up and running some how.

[jgillam]

Not really. I see what you saying Nathan; but, offers little direction in getting my problem resolved.

I wish I had know about the Windows situation prior to signing aboard; but, we here know and must decide what direction to take moving forward.

What do I; or, we need to do at this point? Do I need to send your comments to my server to see what they can do relative to the permissions issue (if anything)? Do I need to change my server platform ... would rather not if this can be worked through. I'm sure that I'm not the only one running with Windows and utilizing Wordpress successfully to this point.

As a final question ... what server platform do you recommend so, I can hopefully avoid this problem in the future if I can make the change?

[Kris Themstrup]

I like the linux platform. It works well for me, but others may have different recommendations. What Nathan talked about with the permissions, yes, should be brought to the attention of your host. Maybe they can switch you over without losing anything. In regards to the folders, you shouldn't have a folder with the version - you should just have www, then a folder called wordpress, with the wp core files directly in that fodler, as well as the wp-admin, wp-content and wp-includes folders. The themes can all be uploaded to the wp-content/themes folder.

See, when you have this large tree of folders, it makes it a more difficult process to call files, assign permissions, etc, because it's so many levels deep. The full URL to your wordpress upload folder is something like "www.jeffgillam.com/wordpress2.8.5/wordpress/wp-content/uploads....." - like I said before, it shouldn't really affect anything it's just best practices, and in this case it might be something to change going forward.

[jgillam]

Basically (keep in mind that I'm not a "A" class techie), the wordpress version file 2.8.5 could be eliminated which I could then move everything up under "www". Is that possible???

Have contacted my server and they can provide Linux. I need to establish a new account, copy and upload my existing files into the new account. Then cancel the old account. Seems as though it should be easier than that.

[Kris Themstrup]

Sure, move everything into the www folder, that's what I do. Since you're basically moving the site to new hosting, the whole backup process needs to happen. Backup your database, copy your wp-content folder, and I always like to do an XML export as well. There are several tutorials out there, as well as help in the codex: http://codex.wordpress.org

[jgillam]

Originally Posted by Kris Themstrup

Sure, move everything into the www folder, that's what I do. Since you're basically moving the site to new hosting, the whole backup process needs to happen. Backup your database, copy your wp-content folder, and I always like to do an XML export as well. There are several tutorials out there, as well as help in the codex: http://codex.wordpress.org

Well Kris ... tried in vain to move the files around and created more problems for me than I thought it would. So, I deleted everything, changed my hosting service from a Windows framework to Linux and in the process of rebuilding my site utilizing Genesis and the AgentPress "child" theme. Although it will take some time, it forced me to move to Linux. I do however have 2 questions at this point:

1. where do I go to change some of the coding in the "child" theme footer. I looked in the footer file but couldn't find anything?

and ...

2. When my site now comes up there is initially an area about 3/8" high between the bottom of the top browser banner and the top of my website. After a second or two it jumps up and touches the browser. How can I correct that?

[Kris Themstrup]

That space might be from the lightbox plugin CSS. Try using the plugin included with the AP child theme. You can edit the child theme by going in and accessing the files that are included with it, like the style and home page. Much of it is controlled through widgets. It's suggest starting at the AP theme tutorials and the Genesis tutorials: http://www.studiopress.com/support/s...ad.php?t=24028 | http://www.studiopress.com/support/s...ad.php?t=19316