I'm currently running 1.3.1.2[6341] and have been noticing an odd warning message popping up in my error log.

Quote:[Mon Dec 20 03:16:27 2010] [warn] mod_fcgid: stderr: PHP Notice: \xe5\x9c\xa8 /cache/DSCN2282_w150_h150_cw150_ch150_thumb.jpg Zenphoto \xe5\xa4\x84\xe7\x90\x86\xe4\xba\x86\xe4\xb8\x80\xe4\xb8\xaa 404 \xe9\x94\x99\xe8\xaf\xaf. \xe8\xaf\xa6\xe6\x83\x85\xe8\xaf\xb7\xe7\x9c\x8b\xe9\x99\xa4\xe9\x94\x99\xe6\x97\xa5\xe5\xbf\x97. in /home/inthemdl/public_html/zp-core/functions.php on line 2097
From the looks of it it's been happening for a while, and it appears to be sporadically dispersed through the error log. OF course qoing to that line in functions.php shows me
if ($connected){

Where it appears to be making a call home to check if there's an internet connection.

Any clue?

As a note, I've cleared my cache and pre-cached images and it still happens as at first I thought this was some weird 404 error output from not finding cached image files.

Also as a thought, with the degraded performance that zenphoto.org has been seeing due to all the spam connections etc, would it be wise to setup this internet check to connect to somewhere other than www.zenphoto.org? Or perhaps another way to check if there's an internet connection?

This function is used in two places (The admin overview "check for update" button to get the "latest" Zenphoto version and the Zenphoto News plugin to get the latest site news.) Its purpose is to see if we can get an internet connection to the Zenphoto server.

No notices should be output (the '@' in front of the fsockopen is supposed to supress any error/warnings.) If there is no connection these items should inform you. At any rate, the function should not be being called anywhere but when you are on the admin overview page.

While it is possible to use this function to check a connection to a different site, we do not do that.

Ok, I can understand the point of not directing it elsewhere. I guess I'm curious why I'm receiving this warning/error then.. or how to rectify it?

I can't be sure, as I said it's quite erratic in it's appearance, but I believe it's happening on default themes as well.

I really do not know what that error is. I would not guess from the message text that it was related to the WEB access. (Actually, the message to me is gibberish.) At any way, there is no way that function should be being invoked on the front end, so there could be no theme association with the error if the function really is causing it.

You could make an experiment. Disable the Zenphoto News plugin remove the check_for_update.php function from the utilities folder. That will eliminate any source of calls on the function.