Anyone good at using WP?

[alex]

I've recently taken on managing a WordPress blog and have encountered an issue with updating plugins.

Basically, if I install a new plugin it installs perfectly and there are no issues. However, if I update a plugin by clicking 'update automatically' I get the message ''Could not create directory" after the plugin is removed. If I then try to download the plugin and start from scratch the same thing happens.

Funnily enough after about an hour of leaving it I managed to install one of the plugins I'd previously deleted. However, after attempting to update another the issue is back.

Whilst this error is occurring, if I try to manually upload the plugin to the server the the folder does not write to the server and an error occurs.

So, why is this happening? Also, I updated WP to the latest version and it didn't solve it.

 

[AssetDomains]

Probably chmod permisions rather than a wordpress thing by the sounds of it.
http://ss64.com/bash/chmod.html

 

[tifosi]

Depends on the plugin file structure. If it's not in the right format - and many more complex plugins require extracting and then uploading - what you'll get is a folder in the plugins directory and then inside that another folder containing the real plugin directory instead of the plugin file matching the outer directory.

As the WP zip installer - which is a bit flakey at best - insalls with the permissions & ownership of the web user e.g. 'nobody' for apache it results in the folders having that ownership which WILL be an issue if you want to remove it.

You'll need to try the delete plugin via the WP plugins panel. Failing that you'll need to manually zap the plugin.

The best way to reset it all is via SSH if you have su or root ownership. WinSCP can also do it using sftp.

I always recommend plugins are uploaded manually after extraction. If the wp-content directory isn't writable by the server then this is also going to cause issues.

 

[alex]

Thank you for the quick replies. I wondered if it was to do with chmod and set the directory to 777, but it made no difference. Equally I tried manual extrication, but something seems to be blocking it. I will look into it further though.

As mentioned before there seems to be a time delay whereby I can download about an hour later with no issue.

Taking the plugin 'backup' for example. I downloaded it with no issues. I then deleted it with no issues (all traces removed from the server). I then downloaded again and it failed to create the directory. I then tried to manually upload a folder called 'backup' which didn't happen, the FTP client rendering 'error 450' I think. An hour later I tried again and there were no issues.

Similarly, I updated an existing plugin which totally deleted it and did not recreate it. As before I couldn't create a fresh install then about an hour later I could.

Given the time delay is it possible there's something else at play here? Maybe a session or something that is telling the server the directory already exists? I may be completely wrong here, but jut my thoughts.