Wp-rocket: Compatibility with Age Verify no longer required and can be removed

[arunbasillal]

We have a custom compatibility with Age Verify plugin here: https://github.com/wp-media/wp-rocket/blob/master/inc/3rd-party/plugins/age-verify.php

During a test, David and I noticed that this is no longer needed because the plugin by itself adds DONOTCACHEPAGE until age is verified - https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/age-verify/trunk/includes/class-age-verify.php#L233

Video - https://youtu.be/PaOm9I3wXKM

Steps:

• Installing the plugin will add age-verified as a mandatory cooking in WP Rocket's config file
• Delete the mandatory cookie
• Visit any page and the age verify notice will be displayed.
• No cache will be generated until the notice is accepted.

[crystinutzaa]

@Tabrisrp I tried grooming this one, however I think we still need to keep the filter to deactivate mod_rewrite rules.
My concern in here is if there are already cache files and mod_rewrite is enabled and our rules are in htaccess, then the cached files will be served even if DONOTCACHEPAGE is set to true.
What do you think? I am missing something in here?

[Tabrisrp]

We can purge the whole cache on the plugin update including the change to prevent that possible issue. I believe that would be enough?

[arunbasillal]

@crystinutzaa Good point. Hmm.

I am not sure I follow what @Tabrisrp said. Even if we clear the cache once and the rewrite rules exist, a different visitor will be served the cache version, right?

Makes me wonder, should we keep supporting a plugin that has just 3000 users and hasn't been updated in 4 years? The plugin still works, so maybe we should? @GeekPress what are your thoughts on that?

[crystinutzaa]

@Tabrisrp as @arunbasillal said, even if we clean the cache , the rewrite rules exists in htaccess, so a different visitor will get the served cached version.
I think if we will keep the htaccess disabled + cleaning the cache of WP Rocket will do the trick. What do you think?

[Tabrisrp]

Indeed. And move it to the new architecture at the same time

[crystinutzaa]

Reproduce the issue ✅
Identified the issue on my localhost.

Identify the root cause ✅
During a test, David and Arun noticed that this is no longer needed because the plugin by itself adds DONOTCACHEPAGE until age is verified - https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/age-verify/trunk/includes/class-age-verify.php#L233

Scope a solution ✅
The solution is to move the file to the new structure into /inc/ThirdParty/Plugins/AgeVerify.php
The filter for disabling htaccess must be kept:
add_filter( 'rocket_htaccess_mod_rewrite', '__return_false', 18 );
Also on plugin activation, Rocket Cache must be cleaned using rocket_clean_domain(); and also flushing the htaccess rules flush_rocket_htaccess();
At plugin deactivation we need to flush_rocket_htaccess();

Effort ✅
Effort [S] , I think Unit & Integration tests will need almost all the effort

[GeekPress]

Makes me wonder, should we keep supporting a plugin that has just 3000 users and hasn't been updated in 4 years? The plugin still works, so maybe we should? @GeekPress what are your thoughts on that?

@arunbasillal Indeed, it's into our interest to maintain the compatibility with an outdated and abandoned plugin. It's also not safe for users to keep on their websites a plugin in this situation.

If an actual user is using it, we will suggest to use another one like: https://wordpress.org/plugins/age-gate/

@hellofromtonya @webtrainingwheels Can we totally remove the compatibility with this plugin and put it into our incompatibility plugins list?

[hellofromtonya]

I agree.

For each 3rd party we are compatible with, that's extra code inside of Rocket that we must maintain (test, upgrade, validate, etc.). When a 3rd party is badly out-of-date and potentially abandoned, it's a good strategy to consider removing this extra code.

For this specific case, I agree that we should remove the code and recommend a different approach/plugin for our customers who may be using the old one.

[GeekPress]

Thanks @hellofromtonya for your feedback.

As we are all agree, let's removed the compatibility with this outdated plugin.

[GeekPress]

@crystinutzaa I guess the effort / scope a solution needs to be redo per our final decision to totally remove the compatibility

[Tabrisrp]

Scope a solution ✅

• Deprecate the functions in inc/3rd-party/plugins/age-verify.php
• Delete the file
• Remove the require for this file in inc/3rd-party/3rd-party.php

Estimate the effort ✅

Effort [XS]

[vmanthos]

Per @arunbasillal's request, I'm adding here my experience with the Age Gate plugin.

It is compatible with WP Rocket, as long as the following setting is enabled: