Occasional session problem (maybe?)

Support & Bugs
1

Sometimes it gives me a full-screen or inside a widget the following error:

session_start() [function.session-start]: ps_files_cleanup_dir: opendir(/shared/sessions) failed: Permission denied (13) 
in '/mounted-storage/home106c/sub008/sc63800-BVTO/www/piwik/index.php' at the line 43

#0  Piwik_ErrorHandler(8, session_start() [function.session-start]: ps_files_cleanup_dir: opendir(/shared/sessions) failed: Permission denied (13), /mounted-storage/home106c/sub008/sc63800-BVTO/www/piwik/index.php, 43, ................................................................................
.....................lots of codes...........................................................................
.....................
#1  session_start() called at [/mounted-storage/home106c/sub008/sc63800-BVTO/www/piwik/index.php:43]

It goes away with a click of the reload page button but… should I worry?

BTW, This software ROCKS!

I’ve already translated in GREEK (99%)

George

2

Hi,

I’d suggest contacting your host about this issue. It sounds like a php/apache configuration issue rather than anything specific with piwik. PHP needs to write to a certain ocation when using file based session handling.

3

Since I’m no expert in the field, I’d say it looks like that the software is using some global session handler rather than creating and using it’s own. Maybe it’s a clutter for database or for php memory or it requires extensive programming instead of what demands a real-time lightweight plug-able interface but… I don’t know, just saying. I wish I could dig more for any answer.

Also, I noticed statistics demand for traffic is a lot higher than Google’s analytics. I’ll keep an eye for this and get back hopefully with numbers.

Later…
George

4

Hi,

Your PHP is configured to use file based sessions and is trying to save session data in /shared/sessions which is not writable by the webserver.
This is a common configuration issue for PHP, by default it should just work and most hosts have it configured fine however there is a permissions issue on your setup.
http://support.ultimatelocator.com/index.p…;kbarticleid=60
http://www.google.com/search?q=php+session…ssion+denied%22

No matter what is being used, anytime ‘session_start’ is called on your server the function will fail due to this configuration/permissions issue

5

I’m testing with .htaccess directive

php_value session.save_path '/---full path to a writable yet non public folder---'

and it looks better now. I asked my host but have no answer yet.

I think it’s a good time for the team to create a generic .htaccess with useful comments and commands, mainly for the purpose of security.
Maybe a performance enhancement will arise with good use of that…

Many thanks to acoupland for pointing me to the right direction!
George

[my Greekglish!]