I’ve noticed a few bugs in the (increasingly buggy) Local by Flywheel.
I’ve been using the app for about a year now and I do love its simplicity but it used to be much, much more stable than the more recent releases. Just FYI.
Firstly, using a custom setup with Apache is just a no go. If you edit a database using Sequel Pro, any changes will not stay saved. I’ve reverted all my sites back to use the ‘Preferred’ server set-up however, this may not be the same as my live server set-up so could present issues in the future. For now, it seems to be holding up ok.
Secondly, any site with an apostrophe in the name in the Local by Flywheel sidebar will prevent the Sequel Pro button from functioning at all. E.g. If you create a site and call it “Greg’s Café” this will stop that button from working. Removing anything but upper and lower case letters will allow it to work as normal however. Minor, but annoying for anyone that cares about grammar.
Thirdly, and this may be related to the first issue but is reproducible when using the Preferred site setup, database changes in Sequel Pro don’t always save. The classic example for me is going to wp_options > site_url and then changing it, clicking Ok. Then exiting. I can then go back in again and see that my changes haven’t been saved. Doing it a second (possibly third) time eventually allows the changes to stay saved.
Fourthly, I haven’t been able to get a core WordPress update to be successful for the past version or two and sites with ~5 or more plugins that need updating in one hit just cause the site to hang and hang and hang. Refreshing the page just shows the maintenance mode screen. Eventually, a refresh shows the WP Dashboard again. No idea why this is so slow when it used to be fine.
I think that’s it for now.
Apologies if any of this has been reported before.
When you say increasingly buggy, does that include everything you mentioned here or are there other issues that you’ve ran into?
Are there issues with Apache outside of the editing issues with Sequel Pro?
This one is very interesting. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to reproduce it myself. Are there any errors in the MySQL logs for the site you’re trying to edit the database on?
Also, does it work if you use Adminer?
We’re looking into this! How long ago did you create the site(s) in Local that’s having this issue?
Do you still run into this issue when updating sites created in the past month or so?
When I say increasingly buggy, I mean that every release used to be pretty stable. Now, with each release, I find more and more bugs creeping in. The scope and features in which I use Local hasn’t really changed so when I update to find bugs in things that didn’t have bugs before, it’s frustrating, you know?
I’m not sure if it’s any better now, I haven’t checked for fear of breaking something, but enabling Faster Docker Volumes has never worked for me. I can’t get sites started properly and I’ve found it safer to have this switched off.
Can’t remember any other issues with Apache outside of Sequel Pro however, it know it used to work fine.
No errors that I can find in the SQL logs for this not saving. It just seems… ‘flaky’. I don’t use Adminer as I’m not a fan of all the stuff it puts in the root directory when in use.
All sites are having update issues - some are years old, some only a few days old.
I didn’t use to run into this issue but i’d say the past 2 versions it has become a problem.
I mentioned in my initial post that i’ve been using Local for about a year. I’m fairly sure that’s incorrect. After thinking about it, it must be around 2-years now.
Just a quick update on the issue I have with updating a site.
If I use Dashboard > Updates it hangs for ages and eventually succeeds or (most of the time) fails. If it fails, I always see a notice that says “An automated WordPress update has failed to complete - please attempt the update again now.” and it persists for some time. Not sure how I eventually get rid of it actually.
If I use Plugins > Update next to any plugin that needs updating, it works almost immediately.
I don’t have a solution at this time, but there will be updates to both the Preferred and Custom environments soon that should help with these problems.
Additionally, towards the end of last week, I had an issue where Flywheel decided to not start MySQL for some sites and would for others. Then other sites wouldn’t load PHP.
I ended up nuking all of Local by Flywheel and Virtual Box using App Cleaner just to see if I could get it to work. After this, I was able to get it all to work and can report back on a clear set-up.
Faster Docker Volumes just does not work for me. Even on a clean install such as this.
The issue with the database not saving changes when using Sequel Pro is still present. I didn’t nuke Sequel Pro when I nuked the rest though.