I have the same problem. After 4 sec this error message comes up. So what is the final solution?

Further to this I put some debugging into less.inc.php's compile function and it appears it isn't even crashing in the same spot each time:

From 3 runs:
templates/t3_blank/css/template-responsive.css
start
1

templates/t3_blank/css/off-canvas.css
start
1

templates/t3_blank/css/megamenu.css
start
1
2
3

Adding some testing I have done:

Settings for host which compilation works on:
max_execution_time 30
memory_limit 32M

Settings for host which compilation fails on:
max_execution_time 90
memory_limit 256M

Compilation fails after about 10 seconds so I dont think execution time is the problem.

I put in some debugging code and found out that it is crashing in the CompileCss function in core/less.php . The interesting thing is that it is not always failing on the same file.

e.g. from 3 runs this was the last file before crashing:

templates/t3_blank/less/template-responsive.less
templates/t3_blank/less/megamenu.less
templates/t3_blank/less/off-canvas.less

Why it would fail on different files each time makes me believe it is some kind of resource limit but I have no idea how to test for it or how to correct the problem?

I have a quick look in phpinfo and allow_url_fopen is On also

I am still having problems with this error. Thanks to 'Super User' he has discovered the problem as the following:


I have check on your server. It is related to file permission.

I am not sure about any specific file.
If you turn on the Development Error Reporting, you will see the error.
Even the log file can not be saved (It is the default Joomla function).
Every call to file_put_contents or fopen does not success.
You can try to enable FTP user in Global Configuration to see if they can solve the issue.

I have checked the joomla system information and it shows the log and tmp folders as writable so I am not sure what else I can try, has anyone else had a this problem and managed to solve it?

I have deleted all other themes, I am not sure if the hosting uses fast-cgi (if they are I cannot see any way to disable it).
Is there some way around this problem if it is timing out? (I am not using any super complex template changes, I dont think 40 seconds passes before the error comes up).

Hi,

Yes, the LESS compile is a heavy process.
Please try to delete all other theme if you are not using, that will increase the performance.

Regards

Hi,

there is no problem with fastCGI as long a the server is
fast enough to compile the less files within 40 seconds
or if the execution time is long enough.

I encountered this problem too on a few 'cheap' webspaces
of my customers. Poor hardware + 40 secs limit = not able
to compile less.

Best regards

Olli

Hi randomdev,

Please pm me your site information.

When I add ?themer=1 to the site url it looks like it is missing all the less files from the theme.

It seems you have a problem with LESS syntax or wrong less path.

You can try to check if you are using FastCGI, please disable it if you can.

Regards