[Assigned] New Entry in Options Table

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[julieP]

After updating to Types 3.6.3, a new entry has appeared in the Options table in my site's database called __mnx_versions which stores a record of the plugins and themes on the site. Can you confirm please whether this was created as part of the Types plugin update? I find it a bit odd since a similar list is already stored under Option otgs_active_components.

A new directory called wpml has also appeared in the uploads directory which wasn't there prior to the Types update. Can you shed any light on this please?

[Minesh]

Hello. Thank you for contacting the Toolset support.

- The wpml folder in uploads: yes, that one is from us.
It is created by the OTGS Installer, the shared component that handles licensing and updates and ships inside every OnTheGoSystems plugin (Types,Views, Forms, and WPML alike).

In a recent installer version, which Types 3.6.3 bundles, we moved the per-plugin update changelogs out of the database and into a single compressed file at:

wp-content/uploads/wpml/changelog.txt.

That is the new directory you are seeing. The reason it is called wpml rather than toolset is purely historical: the installer originated with WPML and uses that one shared namespace across all our products, so you get the same folder name even on a Toolset-only site. It is harmless, and it is actually a small improvement: that changelog data used to sit in an autoloaded option in wp_options, and moving it to a file keeps your options table leaner. You can safely leave it in place.

The mnx_versions option: that one is not ours. I checked our entire codebase, Types, Toolset Common, the OTGS Installer and WPML, and there is no option by that name, and the mnx prefix is not one we use (ours are otgs_, wpml_, icl_, wpv_, types_ and similar). An option that records a snapshot of your installed plugins and themes is the signature of a site-management, monitoring, backup, or security tool, or a hosting control-panel agent. Those tools watch for plugin and theme changes, so updating any plugin, Types included, is exactly the kind of event that makes one of them re-scan and write its inventory. That timing is almost certainly why it showed up right after the Types update, but the writer is a different plugin or service, not Types.

If you would like to pin down which one, the quickest way is to search your site files for the string. Over SSH or in a file manager, from wp-content, run grep -rl "__mnx_versions" plugins/mu-plugins, and whichever plugin contains it is the one creating the option.

If nothing turns up there, it is likely a host-level or external management agent rather than a WordPress plugin.

[julieP]

Hi Minesh

Thank you for your comprehensive and helpful reply. I couldn't find the string in any files but after contacting my hosting provider, it turns out it is, as you suggested, related to a host-level agent so thank you for that.

Can you confirm the Option name that has now been replaced by changelog.txt please?

Also, is there a reason why the contents of changelog.txt are so "cryptic"? I assume it's so the contents can't be read if its URL is requested but it makes me uncomfortable when I can't tell what is stored in a file. I would have preferred the approach of making it a hidden file so the contents could be readable by the website owner.