Archive for July, 2011

FeedWordPress 2011.0706: WordPress 3.2 compatibility, better performance

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

 Call to undefined method WP_SimplePie_File::WP_SimplePie_File()
 in [...]/wp-content/plugins/feedwordpress/feedwordpress.php
 on line 1841.

  • WP 3.2 COMPATIBILITY: ELIMINATES FATAL ERROR “Call to undefined method WPSimplePieFile::WPSimplePieFile() in […]/wp-content/plugins/feedwordpress/feedwordpress.php on line 1841.” The latest release of WordPress, version 3.2, has shifted the minimum requirements up to PHP 5.2, and in line with the shift to PHP5 they have rewritten a number of code segments that made use of now-obsolete PHP4 idioms. Unfortunately, this caused a fatal error whenever FeedWordPress attempted to make use of the cache, since FWP’s caching plugin was written to match the older idiom. FeedWordPress has been updated to follow the new, PHP5 idiom when possible, thus eliminating the fatal error.
  • PERFORMANCE: The handling of queries to determine whether posts had been previously syndicated produced some very slow queries (usually, but not always, involving a scan over the MD5(postguid) column of the table). The code that prepares MySQL queries for previously-syndicated checks has been revised to eliminate the MD5(postguid) scan entirely, and to significantly improve performance by eliminating other unnecessary clauses.
  • BUGFIX: NO LONGER DESTROYS STICKY POSTS. Previous versions could destroy (or, more precisely, replace the content of) sticky posts due to some queries mashed together in unexpected ways by WordPress. Version 2011.0706 accounts for and eliminates the problem; your sticky posts should be safe once again.
  • BUGFIX: GUIDS CONTAINING MYSQL-ESCAPED CHARACTERS NO LONGER CAUSE DUPLICATE POSTS TO APPEAR. One remaining source of duplicate post issues in 2011.0602 was guids that contained characters that needed to be escaped for MySQL, such as single quotes and double quotes. The work-around for handling filtered URIs has now been corrected to ensure that these do not cause duplicate posts.

  1. The versions of WordPress and FeedWordPress you’re currently using.
  2. The specific URL(s) of the feed or feeds where you are encountering the problem;
  3. An indication of whether you are seeing the problem on all your feeds, or seeing it on some feeds but not on others; and whether you are seeing it on all posts from the affected feeds, or just seeing it on some posts but not on others;
  4. The update method that you are using (automatic updates before page load, after page load, manual updates from within the WordPress interface, a cron job…); and
  5. Any FeedWordPress-related add-ons you may be using, if any, or any significant special settings you may have set under Syndication –> Posts & Links (for example, whether you have set syndicated posts to come in as Drafts or hold them as Pending, rather than publishing immediately; whether you are making any use of Custom Post Types under the Advanced settings; etc.).