nextcloud / nextcloud/server

Setup check to identify unrecognized `config.php` entries

Open
#49,718 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

0. Needs triage enhancement feature: settings
Dominant language
PHP
Stars
36.9k
Forks
5.2k
Avg merge
2d 3h
Merged PRs (30d)
713

Description

While unrecognized config/config.php entries are ignored, they still create problems and detecting their presence can be a helpful troubleshooting technique.

Their presence can indicate:

  • administrative mistakes (i.e. misunderstandings or even just simple typos)
  • looming future problems not otherwise identifiable (i.e. recognized config parameters can get incorrect values assigned to them as a result of mistakes in unrecognized entries)

They can mislead:

  • seemingly reasonable looking albeit not-at-all-actually-doing-anything configuration entries

They can break things:

  • the right typo or cut-n-paste mistake can disable or split an existing parameter's values
  • they can overlap with potentially future added parameters

There are some blockers and "gotchas" for doing this, so just noting this as an idea for the future.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing how config/config.php is loaded and locating any existing setup checks or configuration validation tests. Review the blockers and gotchas before defining the approach. Done would mean an agreed, tested way for setup to identify unrecognized entries without breaking valid configuration.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
php
Domain
backend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.