Error: mbstring.http_input/output must be left empty.

majamaki · Post by **majamaki** » Mon Dec 06, 2021 5:13 pm

Support Request Template
What version of phpBB are you using? phpBB 3.3.5
What is your board's URL? https://forum.verticalpool.com/
Who do you host your board with? Liquid Web (CentOS/Plesk)
How did you install your board? I used the download package from phpBB.com
What is the most recent action performed on your board? Update from a previous version of phpBB3
Is registration required to reproduce this issue? No
Do you have any MODs installed? No
Do you have any extensions installed? No
What version of phpBB3 did you update from? phpBB 3.0.5
What styles do you currently have installed? Hexagon
What language(s) is your board currently using? English
Which database type/version are you using? MariaDB
What is your level of experience? Comfortable with PHP and phpBB
What actions did you take (updating your board; installing a MOD, style or extension; etc.) prior to this problem becoming noticeable? Followed instructions to update by downloading full package and following instructions upgrading from 3.0.x to 3.3.x. Replaced files via FTP. Ran database update and everything went fine. Board works no issues. Via Plesk changed PHP version from 7.2 to 8.0.13.
Please describe your problem. When logging into the ACP the following messages appear at the top of the General Tab.

HTTP input character conversion is improperly configured
mbstring.http_input must be left empty. You can check the current value on the PHP information page.

HTTP output character conversion is improperly configured
mbstring.http_output must be left empty. You can check the current value on the PHP information page.

From what I understand, php8 does not include these as they are depreciated. After searching through the forums I found several topics about this and many suggestions to fix it by updating the .htaccess file, php.ini file to set the settings to

mbstring.http_input = pass
mbstring.http_output = pass

mbstring.http_input = none
mbstring.http_output = none

mbstring.http_input =
mbstring.http_output =

Have tried all of these by adding them and variations to the Additional directives section in Plesk for this website. Confirmed that they show up in the php.ini after updating. But none of these fix the errors from showing up in ACP.

When checking the PHP Information in the ACP it shows the following values for LOCAL/MASTER:

mbstring.http_input pass no value
mbstring.http_output pass no value

Any idea how to fix this? It is perplexing and I'm concerned it maybe breaking some functionality for the forum.

Please advise, thank you for your response.
Generated by SRT Generator

majamaki · Post by **majamaki** » Mon Dec 06, 2021 5:20 pm

Forgot to mention. The strange thing is I have another forum on the same server (https://forum.chowchow.org/), same set up, but it does not get the error. When looking at the PHP Information page in that ACP it shows no value for both:

mbstring.http_input no value no value
mbstring.http_output no value no value

But on the forum.verticalpool.com it shows:

mbstring.http_input pass no value
mbstring.http_output pass no value

It seems like I need to figure out how to override the LOCAL VALUE to be no value.

david63 · Post by **david63** » Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:40 pm

majamaki wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 5:13 pm Have tried all of these by adding them and variations to the Additional directives section in Plesk for this website. Confirmed that they show up in the php.ini after updating. But none of these fix the errors from showing up in ACP.

Did you restart the server after making these changes?

majamaki · Post by **majamaki** » Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:45 pm

Yes, restarted php8 and apache services. Still remains.

Post by **Brf** » Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:52 pm

Have you read the topics for nginx?

majamaki · Post by **majamaki** » Mon Dec 06, 2021 7:00 pm

I haven't seen any specific to ngix. Are there different settings or directives that can be applied?

Post by **Brf** » Mon Dec 06, 2021 7:31 pm

I do not know much about nginx, I just know there is a config file that needs to adjusted. There is a sample in the docs folder for your phpBB download.

majamaki · Post by **majamaki** » Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:03 pm

Thanks. I looked in there but didn't see anything specific for configuring the mbstring settings. I'll dig more and see if I can find anything. Very strange since the two forums are set up the same from the server side, but this one continues to have this error coming up.

Post by **Brf** » Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:13 pm

That setting local column is usually from the php.ini in the board's root folder.

majamaki · Post by **majamaki** » Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:46 pm

I tried adding both php.ini and user.ini (a few other sites I have use user.ini) into the forum root folder, with the following values, restarted services, but no luck.

mbstring.http_input =
mbstring.http_output =

Post by **Mick** » Tue Dec 07, 2021 9:51 am

Probably nothing to do with this but you need to enable cookie secure as your’re using ssl. See Knowledge Base - Fixing incorrect cookie settings.

majamaki · Post by **majamaki** » Tue Dec 07, 2021 2:43 pm

Thanks for pointing that out.

majamaki · Post by **majamaki** » Fri Dec 10, 2021 7:45 pm

Since there hasn't been a solution I take it this is a bug that will be fixed in a future release?

3Di · Post by **3Di** » Fri Dec 10, 2021 7:58 pm

majamaki wrote: ↑Fri Dec 10, 2021 7:45 pm Since there hasn't been a solution I take it this is a bug that will be fixed in a future release?

That's not a bug.