Hi, MT!
In November, and then again today, my MT users complained of seeing the "Upgrade Check" screen when they tried to log in to MT. I was able to reproduce this by heading to my dashboard page. On approximately every third page load, INSTEAD of the admin page I asked for, I would see /mt-upgrade.cgi, with the message "Your installation is already up to date."
Checking the activity log, I saw these scary messages appearing each time the upgrade check was run:
Caught attempt to clear SchemaVersion setting. New config settings were: SQLSetNames 0 at lib/MT/App.pm line 2922 MT::App::takedown('MT::App::CMS=HASH(0xa32dc5 8)') called at lib/MT/App.pm line 2838 MT::App::run('MT::App::CMS=HASH(0xa32dc58)') called at lib/MT/Bootstrap.pm line 82 eval
Unknown macro: {...}
called at lib/MT/Bootstrap.pm line 59 MT::Bootstrap::import('MT::Bootstrap', 'App', 'MT::App::CMS') called at /var/www/html/mt4/mt.fcgi line 11 main::BEGIN() called at lib/MT.pm line 11 eval
called at lib/MT.pm line 11
I thought to myself:
* Is a script kiddie "tickling" an endpoint that causes MT to put itself into "time to check for upgrades" mode?
* Is a database flag getting set somehow that causes MT to put itself into "time to check for upgrades" mode?
I convinced myself that it wasn't a database issue, because a _separate_ instance of MT that shares the same database as the affected one (my publishing-queue box) did not have this behavior at all.
An apache stop and start appears to make the problem go away.
I'm running Movable Type Pro version 4.25 with: Community Pack 1.62, Professional Pack 1.3.
Does anyone have any ideas about what might be causing MT to think it's time to check for updates - and put that scary item into the activity log?
Thanks for any help or advice you can provide!
Reported on Movable Type 4.25
Hmm, looks like the form encoder ate my code, let's see if this is formatted any better:
John:
This is a long-standing problem in versions of MT 4.x prior to Movable Type 4.3. It can also be related to bugs in plugins that you have installed in your Movable Type instance.
If we were providing support to you, I would recommend upgrading to Movable Type Version 4.37 or 5.12 and reviewing your plugins to make certain that whatever you have installed is 1) needed and 2) up-to-date.
--Dave Aiello
Dave, thanks for the response! I'm relieved to hear the answer is not "OMG you are being attacked", or "OMG, your database is probably about to explode catastrophically" :)
I can't think of a reason not to do as you suggest, and upgrade MT. Just so we can complete our clue-ing up before upgrading, do you have any links that describe this bug in more detail? I've tried to google up this isssue, using terms like "mt-upgrade.cgi appears unexpectedly", but haven't found anything congruent -- I've only found descriptions of incomplete upgrade processes.
Is there anything in a bug tracker, a forum, or an email list describing this long-standing problem, and talking a little bit about what the trigger is? For instance, Perl gets confused about file permissions, or what year it is, or something?
Thanks very much -- this is already very useful to us!
Cordial regards,
John
John:
If you want to see an extensive discussion of this problem from 2008, with comments and analysis from people who worked at Six Apart at the time and Mark Carey, the eventual author of the patch solution that was included in Movable Type 4.3, read Occasional "Time to Upgrade" schema version problems: New data!.
A solution to this problem was subsequently included in Movable Type 4.3 and is referenced in the Movable Type 4.3 Release Notes under Apply Mark Carey's Patch to Avoid False Upgrade Notices.
I recommend that you upgrade to at least Movable Type 4.37 or 5.12 depending on your needs and license status. Previous versions (between 4.3 and 4.37) have known vulnerabilities and are not recommended by Six Apart.
Let us know if you have any other questions,
--Dave Aiello
WONDERFUL. Thanks so much, Dave! This is _exactly_ what I was looking for. We shall commence to do our homework, check our plugins, and start upgrading!
Cordial regards,
John