cannot redeclare conf_init()

those 2 lines do different things. there is no 'redeclare' happenning. this is a local issue, until someone chimes in and verifies.

Every 5-15 page loads or so I get the error described by the parent. I made some changes to the modules I'm using, so I disabled *all* of them, and it still happens.

I get a bunch of notices about the various constants being redefined (CACHE_PERMANENT through WATCHDOG_ERROR). After that, parsing stops at conf_init:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare conf_init() (previously declared in /usr/local/www/*snip*/drupal/includes/bootstrap.inc:45) in /usr/local/www/*snip*/drupal/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 44

Where *snip* is definitely the same string for both lines.

Note that, just like the parent, PHP is complaining about conf_init being declared twice in two consecutive lines. If you look at the file, however, the function starts normally:

44: function conf_init() {
45: static $conf = '';

I have checked my installation by grepping for bootstrap.inc, and it is always 'include_once'ed (i.e. there should not be any problems with it being included twice). If you think about it, it is quite bizarre.

I also did some unscientific experiments by putting in prints in some modules (like taxonomy), and the error happens before any of those statements are reached. When I refresh, the error will be gone and everything functions normally for a few page loads.

I'm running PHP 4.4.1 on FreeBSD.

I have the exact same error. I just upgraded to PHP 4.4.1 on FreeBSD (5-STABLE) from PHP 4.4.0, and this error suddenly started appearing. It seems to be related to the clean urls setting, as the problem has not occurred in the five minutes since I turned that setting off, but occurred constantly before then. The PHP 4.4.1 change notes don't seem to have any mention of something that could cause this.

Yep, suddenly getting this error on freebsd w/ php 4.4.1. Manually changing the clean_urls setting via the database seemed to "fix" a 4.5 site but did not help a 4.6 site. The other symptom is some pages loading up completely blank. Either local or a php 4.4.1 problem; I will try rebuilding all ports on the system.

I had the same problem after upgrading php to version 4.4.1.
- pages that use clean urls no longer work, you get a blank page and some errors about not being able to include some files in the error log.
- without clean urls, things seem to work most of the time.

The cause is most likely this: http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=35059
So if you feel like upgrading to php 4.4.1, take a break and wait for the feeling to go away.

If you are stuck with php 4.4.1 because you don't own the server, here's what I did:
* Disabled clean urls
* Changed .htaccess so that people who still try to use the clean urls are being redirected instead of using an internal rewrite:

# Rewrite current-style URLs of the form 'index.php?q=x'.
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !^index.php
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [R,QSA]

I was able to fix my 4.6 site by turning off clean urls and also emptying the cache table.