php Redirect

lee · Mar 5, 2014

I want to mask an affiliate link and send people off to a php page before a redirection. I have had this working before but now I am getting 500 Internet Server Error, can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong (I am trying to sleep off a night shift, so is probably me being stupid.)

I have the following code;

< ?php header("Location: http://www.bbc.co.uk/"); >

In a test.php page in the root direction of the domain.

Thanks in advance!

RobM · Mar 5, 2014

No question mark for the close tag?

?>

Also make sure the file has permissions for the user/net
eg chown user:user test.php

Some servers are set not to run php files with root permissions

lee · Mar 5, 2014

Thanks Rob.

Added ? and set file permissions to 777 on a temp basis, with no change, I still receive the error message.

I have googled the code required and all sites seem to suggest its correct. I just cannot work out why it will no longer work.

PoshTiger · Mar 5, 2014

is it the space at the start between < and ?

should be <?php

RobM · Mar 5, 2014

No I didn't mean change the read/write permissions I actually meant change the ownership of the file.
chown user:user test.php
where [user] is the username of the account
An internal server error occurs on some servers where a file is set to
root:root test.php

<?php header("location: http://www.bbc.co.uk/"); ?>

lee · Mar 5, 2014

Thanks for the input.

Removed space, no change. Moved out of root info a subfolder - no change.

I'm out of ideas!

lee · Mar 5, 2014

RobM said:
No I didn't mean change the read/write permissions I actually meant change the ownership of the file.
chown user:user test.php
where [user] is the username of the account
An internal server error occurs on some servers where a file is set to
root:root test.php

<?php header("location: http://www.bbc.co.uk/"); ?>

Ah, sorry Rob, I misunderstood. I don't think I have command line access through this Cpanel account. Of if I do, I don't recall every seeing where I would access it.

I also don't remember having to change teh ownership when I plopped them up there last time. I don't recall doing anything different to what I have done today to be honest.

RobM · Mar 5, 2014

As an aside you can check that it's not the actual command by trying:

<?php echo 'test'; die(); ?>
in it's place

If that fails to run it's the file not the command
If you want to setup temporary access just PM me with details and I'll login and have a look for you. No probs if you don't.

lee · Mar 5, 2014

That didn't run, so I guess its the file itself. I have opened support ticket with the hosting company as its not my site (otherwise I would have given you access)

Thanks for your time

RobM · Mar 5, 2014

I think it's an ownership issue. I have uploaded the same file to my server - the first one has ownership set to the user. The second has ownership as root. Apart from that the file and read/write permissions are the same (644).
You can see below:
http://www.domainview.co.uk/test.php
http://www.domainview.co.uk/test2.php

greg2013 · Mar 5, 2014

Do you have a .htaccess file? 500 is usually a .htaccess issue.
Made any recent changes to it?

If you remove the entire redirect code does the issue go away?

lee · Mar 5, 2014

Its been an interesting afternoon. After I misread Robs suggestion, I changed the permissions on the php file to 777 whilst I gave it a quick check. It didnt work, so I changed it back.

Then I realised that ALL the WP sites under that Cpanel account were getting the 500 error. The straightforward html sites were ok, so there appears to be a permissions problem across the whole account.

Krystal are investigating for me

- I have to say this is not the first time I have had to call on them for assistance and they are shit hot.