PHP Require causes error 500...only sometimes. What is this an error from?

Question

I have a website and it connects to a mysql database and it uses some other passwords that are defined in a file located in /home/user/public_html/inc/instance-config.php.

I want to keep my passwords above the /public_html directory for security. Basically I made a file called /home/user/secrets.php and the main config file should require this file and get the passwords from it. But it doesn't.

This code in my file /home/user/public_html/inc/instance-config.php gives no errors:

$secrets = str_replace ( 'public_html', '', getcwd() )  . 'secrets.php';

if ( file_exists( $secrets ) ){
    include $secrets ;
}

**// confirm that the values where imported**
moo( 'The secret value is ' . $secret_value );

$config['db']['type'] = 'mysql';
$config['db']['server'] = 'localhost';
$config['db']['database'] = 'xxxxxxx';
$config['db']['user'] = 'xxxxxxx';

$config['db']['password'] = 'xxxxxxx';
$config['cookies']['mod'] = 'xxxxxxxx';
$config['cookies']['salt'] = 'xxxxxx';

My file secrets.php has the same last seven lines with the configuration and passwords, and a variable called "secret_value" which I use basically to check that the file has been included correctly. So, I do this, and since my "moo" function outputs to a log file, I get something like:

03/28/2013 07:36:52 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 07:36:55 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 07:36:55 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:56 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 07:36:57 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:57 am -- Rebuilt page 1 from ALL
03/28/2013 07:36:57 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:58 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:58 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:58 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:58 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:58 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:58 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:58 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:58 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:58 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:59 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:59 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:59 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:59 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:59 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:59 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:59 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:59 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 06:36:59 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!
03/28/2013 07:36:59 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!

So, it seems that the file is being required correctly. I tried to delete those lines from my instance-config file, so that they only appear in the secret.php file. But first, I tried to branch the code, checking for the existence of the file. If the file exists, then it should get the configuration variables from it. This is my code:

    moo(':: GET READY');
if ( file_exists( $secrets ) ){
    require $secrets ;
    if ( isset ($secret_value) )
        moo( 'The secret value is ' . $secret_value);
    else
        moo('Required but could not find the secret value');
}else{
    $config['db']['type'] = 'mysql';
    $config['db']['server'] = 'localhost';
    $config['db']['database'] = 'xxxxxx';
    $config['db']['user'] = 'xxxxxxxx';
    $config['db']['password'] = 'xxxxxxxxxx';
    $config['cookies']['mod'] = 'xxxxxxxxxxxxx';
    $config['cookies']['salt'] = 'xxxxxxxxx';
    moo( 'The secret value was not obtained');
}

And oh yes, I get a list of output lines like:

03/28/2013 07:41:07 am -- :: GET READY ::
03/28/2013 07:41:07 am -- The secret value is Everything OK!

And every "GET READY" is followed by the correspondent "Everything is OK!". Nowhere in the log file i see a "The secret value was not obtained" or "Required but could not find..." line.

However:

In the browser, I get an Error 500 message and the page stops loading. Why, oh why? I've checked the Internet, and most people say it could be a problem with PHP not finding your file. I've tried to help the code locate the file as much as I can:

    // this adds /home/user to the include path, because secret.php
    // is located at /home/user/secret.php

if ( false == strpos( ini_get('include_path'), exec('echo ~') ) ) {
    ini_set('include_path', ini_get('include_path') . ':' . exec('echo ~') );
}

    // log errors to see if we can find the cause of the problem
ini_set('log_errors', 1);
ini_set('error_log', '/home/user/errors.log');
ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL);

    // get absolute path of the file
$secrets = str_replace ( 'public_html', '', getcwd() )  . 'secreto.php';

And nothing works, always the same 500 error. What can I do? I've tried almost everything. The file seems to be located properly, as indicated by the output that I got during all the executions. Yet the server gives me an Error 500 page.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Did you see what is the php error? Error 500 is webserver/apache says php has a problem. The problem itself most likely is in webserver/apache error_log file.

Alternatively, run your php file from command line(php -l somefile.php can do syntax check) and php would tell you the problem (syntax or runtime), run the file from the same dir you are hosting it like php somefile.php.