Title: Database prefix Last modified: August 28, 2025 --- # Database prefix * [Ben Keith](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benlk/) * (@benlk) * [9 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/database-prefix-5/) * I’m running a code audit of this plugin before adopting it for use on a site, and I noticed that it appears to use a custom table `fixalttext_images`. The name of that table is hardcoded and doesn’t include the WordPress database prefix` $wpdb->prefix`. * This has the _potential_ to cause problems for sites on certain hosts, but I haven’t seen that problem yet. I just wanted to flag it as something you should be aware of, and might want to put in your development queue. * Here’s one host’s docs about custom tables and prefixes: [https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/#h-database-queries](https://docs.wpvip.com/databases/#h-database-queries) Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) * Thread Starter [Ben Keith](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benlk/) * (@benlk) * [9 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/database-prefix-5/#post-18620063) * I’m closing this because, upon deeper inspection, I found where `$wpdb->prefix` was being added to the table names, in `Run_Library.php`. * There’s a bunch of other small issues that a PHPCS pass is finding, so I recommend using a ruleset like [https://github.com/10up/phpcs-composer](https://github.com/10up/phpcs-composer) to audit the plugin and determine what errors are worth your time and attention. * Examples of errors include: - direct filesystem access instead of using `WP_Filesystem` methods, including the use of `unlink()` to try to delete a file. I’m not sure that that would actually work on VIP’s Filesystem. [https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-file-system/media-uploads/](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-file-system/media-uploads/) - storing log files within the plugin’s own directory, which may not work on hosts with read-only filesystems. These files should probably be stored in` get_temp_dir()` or a subfolder thereof. (Note that VIP’s Filesystem doesn’t actually have subfolders) - using `esc_html()` in place of `esc_html__()` in `Scan_Library.php` - using `esc_attr()` in place of `est_url()` for URLs in attributes - using `esc_html__()` in place of `esc_attr( __() )` in `Admin_Library.php` - using `in_array()` without strict comparison - `==` loose comparisons - missing `wp_unslash()` when handling `$_REQUEST` - random spare `;` in `library/_helpers-library/helpers-library.php` * Plugin Author [Steven Ayers](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stevenayers63/) * (@stevenayers63) * [9 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/database-prefix-5/#post-18622605) * [@benlk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benlk/), * Thank you for reviewing the code and providing the suggestions. I’ve never heard of PHPCS before and will certainly check that out and probably incorporate that into my workflow. Those list of changes appear to be easy fixes to remedy. * Also, I haven’t had the pleasure of working with WordPress VIP. I will start looking through their documentation and work towards making the plugin compatible if it is not already. * -Steven * Thread Starter [Ben Keith](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benlk/) * (@benlk) * [9 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/database-prefix-5/#post-18625120) * Thanks for the promise to look into this! * I have sad news to report: This plugin silently fails on VIP GO hosting. I’m scanning four custom post types, the Media Library, and the Pages post type, with >10,000 posts across a decade, with known missing alt text. * Clicking “Start Scan” causes it to start scanning, but nothing happens in the admin. In the network tab, I see a bunch of POST requests to `/admin-ajax.php` which receive the following response: * ```wp-block-code {"done":0,"total":0,"remaining":0,"percent":0,"startDate":"","endDate":"","currently":"","scan_type":"","scan_portion":"","scan_sub_portions":[],"scan_specific":"0"} ``` * The plugin’s notification icon lights up, and says “A full scan has failed (full- >->all->0).” * After activating the plugin’s debug mode and re-initializing the scan, the scan still fails. The plugin’s own “Logs” tab says: * > Debug log not found. * The WordPress error log says: * > PHP message: PHP Warning: file_put_contents(/var/www/wp-content/plugins/fix- > alt-text/logs/1-debug.log): Failed to open stream: Read-only file system in/ > var/www/wp-content/plugins/fix-alt-text/library/_helpers-library/inc/Debug_Library. > php on line 382 * So it looks like this plugin has at least two compatibility issues with WordPress VIP: 1. Nonstandard logging: you should write to the WordPress error log in addition to _trying_ to write to your own log 2. Whatever’s blocking the scan. * Plugin Author [Steven Ayers](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stevenayers63/) * (@stevenayers63) * [9 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/database-prefix-5/#post-18626183) * [@benlk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benlk/), * I know what is causing both of these issues. The process of queuing the scan is written to a file within the plugin. Obviously, this is not an option with VIP GO due to the readonly aspect of the plugins directory. The same goes for the debug log. I am not familiar with VIP GO, so where would you recommend that I write these files? * I am more than happy to modify the plugin to make it compatible with VIP GO. I appreciate your guidance on this and for reporting these issues that you have discovered. * -Steven * Thread Starter [Ben Keith](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benlk/) * (@benlk) * [9 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/database-prefix-5/#post-18626221) * For the debug log, I’d recommend doing two things in your function which handles debug logging: 1. Allow that function to fail gracefully if it can’t write to the directory. It shouldn’t cause any errors. 2. Also write a copy of the message to the default WordPress error log, using the function `error_log()` * For queueing the scan, I’d need to know more about what data you’re storing to give a firmer recommendation, but: Can you save that data as a transient? [https://developer.wordpress.org/apis/transients/](https://developer.wordpress.org/apis/transients/) * Plugin Author [Steven Ayers](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stevenayers63/) * (@stevenayers63) * [9 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/database-prefix-5/#post-18626385) * [@benlk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benlk/), * I am writing to a text file with a list of post IDs that need to be scanned ( queue). Storing these IDs in a transient (the database) is not feasible due to the queue rapidly changing as the scan progresses (removal of scanned IDs). I started down that path originally and then get into batching and inevitably migrated to using a text file. * Rapidly modifying a text file is not a heavy task. The CPU load is a problem for large databases. This was designed to accomodate 100K+ posts across a 5+ site multisite setup. * FYI: Any changes I make to the scanning process will also affect another plugin called [WhereUsed](https://wordpress.org/plugins/where-used/). * -Steven - This reply was modified 9 months, 1 week ago by [Steven Ayers](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stevenayers63/). * Thread Starter [Ben Keith](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benlk/) * (@benlk) * [9 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/database-prefix-5/#post-18626889) * I was going to recommend you use `[get_temp_dir()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_temp_dir/)` to find a directory which will be writeable, or `[wp_tempnam()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_tempnam/)` for a writeable temporary file if that file only needs to persist during the current script execution. However, [https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-file-system/local-file-operations/](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-file-system/local-file-operations/) says that this directory and its files cannot be assumed to exist after the current request, since subsequent requests may be served by different server containers. * You might try `[wp_upload_dir()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_upload_dir/)`, which does include the current site ID and `yyyy/mm` in the path. If you’re only allowing access to the multisite tool from the network admin, or if individual sites can only perform scans on themselves in a multisite context, then that might work. * Plugin Author [Steven Ayers](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stevenayers63/) * (@stevenayers63) * [9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/database-prefix-5/#post-18636439) * [@benlk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benlk/), * I will be working on this soon. Thank you for your suggestions and attention to detail. I will leave this support thread open until the plugin is compatible with WP VIP GO. * -Steven Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) The topic ‘Database prefix’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/fix-alt-text/assets/icon.svg?rev=2674473) * [Fix Alt Text](https://wordpress.org/plugins/fix-alt-text/) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fix-alt-text/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fix-alt-text/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fix-alt-text/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/fix-alt-text/reviews/) ## Tags * [database](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/database/) * [logging](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/logging/) * 8 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [Steven Ayers](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stevenayers63/) * Last activity: [9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/database-prefix-5/#post-18636439) * Status: not resolved