A definite case of “oops” as a signficant bug crept into the new version 2.0.6 of WordPress, released yesterday, that can result in problems with your RSS feed if you use the FeedBurner service.
Two workarounds are available, a relatively easy one involving replacing a block of code in the functions.php file, with the other workaround being a bit more technical where you create a PHP script that “relays” the content of your feed to FeedBurner.
For most people, the block code replacement is likely to be the preferred route even though it involves diving into the PHP code. Luckily, you don’t have to do that as contributing WordPress developer Mark Jaquith has made available a patched functions.php file you can download and just replace the bugged one with.
Mark adds:
[…] Note that this [bug] doesn’t prevent FeedBurner (or anyone else) from fetching your feed 100% of the time. The issue only arises with certain RSS consumers and only on certain servers, and only when the feed attempts to return a 304 Not Modified header. So with FeedBurner, for instance, one fetch attempt may trigger it, but the next will be fine.
Although I’ve not seen any FeedBurner errors since I upgraded this blog to 2.0.6 earlier today, I’ve applied Mark’s patch.
An embarrassing “oops” but speedy and positive steps taken by the developers. Expect WordPress version 2.0.7 at some point, hopefully soon.
4 responses to “WordPress 2.0.6 bugfix for FeedBurner RSS feeds”
[…] [Update] After release of this version, a bug was discovered that affects RSS feed via FeedBurner. More info in this post. […]
Your server is running in FastCGI mode, so you’re one of the unaffected folks. From what I can tell, it is mainly people running Apache with mod_php who are affected. The bad news is that’s the more common configuration. I’ve checked in the fix to trunk (2.1) and the 2.0.x branch, so 2.1 or 2.0.7 (whichever upgrade path people choose) should fix the problem.
Thanks, Mark, that tech detail is helpful to know.
[…] Version 2.0.6 was released two weeks ago, and then some bugs were found and a workaround provided. Version 2.0.7 was released a few days ago with those bugs fixed. And version 2.1 – a major new version milestone with lots of changes – is due to be released next week. […]