I am getting the following error randomly in my Drupal 6.2 installation

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare timer_start() (previously declared in /home/smsn/public_html/wp-settings.php:115) in /home/xssww/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 142

My installation is Drupal 6.2 with PHP 4.4.4 in shared hosting

I gather form the following posts

http://drupal.org/node/152612

http://drupal.org/node/170425

that this is due to a unrelated wordpress install in shared hosting. A lot of other websites also seem to be getting this error as indicataed from google search.

Please let me know if there is any solution for this ?

Advance thanks

Karthik

ps: I have also posted this as a comment in the above link. I thought I will post this in a new post as there seems to be no activity about this issue for a long time. Sorry for double posting .

Comments

cog.rusty’s picture

I guess you wp-settings.php is a wordpress file which tries to bootstrap Drupal, and it fails because Drupal and Wordpress try to declare a function with the same name, timer_start()

Someone found it impossible here, and found a different method to do what he wanted:

http://drupal.org/node/74350

Of course you could try to change the name of this function to a different one in *all* files and *all* instances, either in Drupal or in Wordpress, and undo and repeat that if ever you want to upgrade.

ponkarthik’s picture

I think you have got me wrong there. I am running my server in Drupal and I have nothing to do with that Wordpress installation. Its seems to be from somebody else installation (in a different domain/virtual server as you can see from a different document root) and I dont even know the domain name of the installation which is what makes this even more intriguing.

Since I have no control over this other persons installation of WP in shared hosting I dont know what to do ?

Any help is appreciated.

karthik

cog.rusty’s picture

Oops. You are right.

It is weird how that function got into your namespace, and I don't understand remote procedure calls and XML-RPC well enough...

Mojah’s picture

Hi Karthik,

Can you find out if your shared host is using a php opcode cache like xcache or eAccellerator ? I suspect that this error has something to do with xcache.

ponkarthik’s picture

I had asked the host if they use xcache or eAccellarator. But the only reply I got was that they changed some environmental variables ( possible in the php.ini). And the errors have stopped now.

karthik

Mojah’s picture

A possible solution here:

http://drupal.org/node/311834