Title: Intermittent error Last modified: June 26, 2017 --- # Intermittent error * [espressoguy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/espressoguy/) * (@espressoguy) * [8 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/intermittent-error-2/) * I am getting the following error intermittently when this plugin is installed: “ wordpress Fatal error: Cannot redeclare get_plugin_data()” * …last night I was getting it consistently so I moved the “participants-database/” directory to /tmp/ and the problem went away. Then this morning I moved the directory back to “plugins/participants-database/” and the error message does not appear. This plugin is the only one that uses that function at all …that’s why I focused on this plugin. * Any advice would be appreciated. I’m including the content from my /wp-content/ debug.log below also. * ``` PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare get_plugin_data() in ~H�٣^? on line 68 PHP Stack trace: PHP 1. {main}() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-cron.php:0 PHP 2. do_action_ref_array() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-cron.php:117 PHP 3. WP_Hook->do_action() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/plugin.php:515 PHP 4. WP_Hook->apply_filters() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:323 PHP 5. call_user_func_array:{/var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:298}() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php :298 PHP 6. wp_version_check() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:298 PHP 7. do_action() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/update.php:183 PHP 8. WP_Hook->do_action() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/plugin.php:453 PHP 9. WP_Hook->apply_filters() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:323 PHP 10. call_user_func_array:{/var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:298}() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php :298 PHP 11. wp_maybe_auto_update() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:298 PHP 12. include_once() /var/www/html/nbk/public_html/wp-includes/update.php:530 PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare get_plugin_data() in ~H�ݣ^? on line 68 ``` Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total) * Plugin Author [Roland Barker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/xnau/) * (@xnau) * [8 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/intermittent-error-2/#post-9263111) * I don’t know what to make of that, the really important piece of information is garbled, so it’s not clear where the error is originating. It looks like this is happening on a cron, (which would explain why it seems intermittent) but without knowing which action it is triggering, there no way to know from the log where the fault lies. Participants Database doesn’t use any cron actions, nor does it declare get_plugin_data() so I don’t have any ideas there. * Thread Starter [espressoguy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/espressoguy/) * (@espressoguy) * [8 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/intermittent-error-2/#post-9296986) * Okay …I found it …**MY BAD**!! * I was running wordpress 4.8 (this plugin shows that it’s updated only up to 4.7.5). When I backed out to 4.7.5 **the problem went away**. * I’m not sure but perhaps the problem with wordpress 4.8 happens when participants_database. php does this: * 3522 if ( !function_exists( ‘get_plugin_data’ ) ) 3523 include ABSPATH . ‘/wp- admin/includes/plugin.php’; * …but that’s just a first guess ! (hope this helps for future development) 🙂 * Plugin Author [Roland Barker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/xnau/) * (@xnau) * [8 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/intermittent-error-2/#post-9297136) * Thanks for letting me know, that will be something I need to check against WP 4.8. * Plugin Author [Roland Barker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/xnau/) * (@xnau) * [8 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/intermittent-error-2/#post-9297437) * I don’t think 4.8 is the problem, I already have it running on 4.8 with no problems. What PHP version do you have? - This reply was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by [Roland Barker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/xnau/). * Thread Starter [espressoguy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/espressoguy/) * (@espressoguy) * [8 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/intermittent-error-2/#post-9299382) * PHP Version => 5.6.30-0+deb8u1 * (didn’t realize I was running such an old version – thanks for mentioning! It’s on a VPS) - This reply was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by [espressoguy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/espressoguy/). * Plugin Author [Roland Barker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/xnau/) * (@xnau) * [8 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/intermittent-error-2/#post-9301372) * That’s not so bad, 5.3 is the min version for WordPress. Anyway, I’ve taken steps to prevent this in the next release, but I haven’t been able to reproduce the problem, so I’m not certain it will fix it for you. Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total) The topic ‘Intermittent error’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/participants-database/assets/icon-256x256.jpg?rev=1389807) * [Participants Database](https://wordpress.org/plugins/participants-database/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/participants-database/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/participants-database/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/participants-database/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/participants-database/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/participants-database/reviews/) * 6 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [Roland Barker](https://wordpress.org/support/users/xnau/) * Last activity: [8 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/intermittent-error-2/#post-9301372) * Status: not resolved