Minimum Requirements
In order to run, WPML requires the following:
- WordPress 3.0 or later
- PHP 5.2.4 and above with memory limit of at least 64Mb (see WP memory settings).
- MySQL 5.0.5 and above.
- That you can create tables in your database.
Our development platform is Ubuntu 10.10. WPML runs fine on any other Linux distribution, but this is where we’re getting the minimum requirements from.
It may run on earlier versions of PHP an MySQL, but we can’t test that. If you’re using earlier versions, we strongly recommend enabling WPML’s debug mode. This will surface any PHP errors and let you know if things don’t run as they should.
Feel free to comment here about using WPML with other versions.
How to check which version of PHP you’re actually using
Some shared hosting companies have installed both PHP4 and PHP5. The best way to check which version you’re actually using is to ask the PHP processor itself (not the technician in the hosting company).
Create a file called php_info.php and put it in your WordPress directory (just next to wp-config.php). This file should contain the following:
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
Not a big deal, right? If you need to, you’re welcome to download it as a ZIP file. Grab php_info.zip (of course, you’ll need to unzip it before uploading to your server).
Once there, open a browser and go to: http://yourdomain.com/php_info.php
You should see something like this:
php-info.php showing PHP5
On top, it says which version of PHP you’re running. If it says PHP Version 4, it’s not going to fly. The best thing to do is email your hosting company and ask them how to enable PHP5.
Permalink structure
WPML adds language information to URLs. It’s been tested with the following permalink structures:
- The default
- /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/
Explanation:
Other permalink structures may work too, but can cause problems on different configurations. In all our sites, we’re using /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/.
For pages, you’ll get the exact same URLs as with /%postname%/. However, with this permalink structure, there’s no way WordPress will confuse between pages and posts, triggering potential problems for language resolution.
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Our host provider gives us only the option to upgrade to MySQL 5.0 or 5.1. I’ve read there are some issues with 5.1.
Our blog is not that ‘high-traffic’. Will we be OK with 5.1 ?
Thorwald
We use PHP 5.2.4 and don’t know what will happen in 5.1. If you have to use that, make sure you’re enabling WPML’s debug mode and check for any PHP errors.
will this run on PHP 5.3.1 server?
Yes, runs fine on PHP 5.3.
Hi Amir – any chance there are archived versions of WPML that will work with PHP 4.3.9? Basically, I have a client that cannot upgrade to PHP5, but we want to use WPML… I suppose an acceptable tradeoff would be to use an older version of WPML if it would be compatible with PHP 4.3.9. Let me know? Thanks.
I don’t think so. We assumed PHP classes from day one, so that means PHP5.
Ok – it was worth asking
Thanks.
Hello,
I want to have a bilingual blog: French (main language) and English. WPML seems to be the solution i’m looking for!
In order to have French as the main language, do I need to:
1- install the French version of WP3 and add English into the chosen languages from the WPML interface? Will this work?
2- or install the standard WP3, in English, and then add the French as the default language into the WPML plugin? (will that make my wordpress installation French by default?)
Thank you very much for your answer!!
Nad
After upgrading to 2.0.1 I get a warning that the chosen permalink structure may cause problems with translations. My link structure is just: /%postname%/ and has thus far worked perfectly with WPML.
Nothing has changed in the URL decoding. If it worked for you before, it will continue working.
We saw cases where interaction between WPML, the theme and other plugins was problematic in this URL structure. It doesn’t happen in all cases.
So, we added that message. Otherwise, users have a hard time figuring out where problems might come from.
IS there a way to discard the message once i have seen it and decided i don’t care ?
Our site meets the minimum req’s but when trying to install the plugin I get the message “The plugin does not have a valid header.”
What is the problem and how can i solve it? I installed it on another website and there it works (just some small stuff with saving entries).
Hello,
The requirement says WPML run from WP 2.8. I got a 2.9 and when i try to save a page translation i got the following error:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function update_user_meta() in /homez.383/chemical/www/wp-content/plugins/sitepress-multilingual-cms/inc/translation-management/translation-management.class.php on line 329
The problem is the update_user_meta do not exist in WP 2.9 (user.php)
So it seems the extension is not compatible anymore.
Will it run on PHP Version 5.2.5 and MySQL 5.0.26?
It should, but I haven’t tested. Try it and tell us.
Dear Sir,
Our host provider gives us only the option to upgrade to PHP 2.5.13. Can it run your wpml ?
Thank you for your help.
For pages, you’ll get the exact same URLs as with /%postname%/. However, with this permalink structure, there’s no way WordPress will confuse between pages and posts, triggering potential problems for language resolution.
I find this explanation to be confusing. Is there a way to clarify your meaning? Thanks.
Hey guys,
Does anyone knows if my post structure /%category%/%postname%/ can create problem with WPML, since I have serious problem with usin both /lng/ and subdomains option (I think it’s not a server issue)
Or can it be a problem with new WP 3.1?
Thank you in advance!
I also use this permalink structure. Will it cause problems?
The Year/Month/Name is the easiest permalink structure for WordPress to decode. Others can work too, but are more sensitive to data (page and post names).
Just to confirm, page structure /%category%/%postname%/ works like a charm with the new paid version of WPML
I did had problem to set bloody subdomain to work, but now when I know what was the issue, that was also an ridiculously easy thing to solve.
Of course, from SEO point of view, subdomain setting is the best, so that’s my recommendation to all of you.
Example you can see here http://stateofseo.com and http://sr.stateofseo.com
Again, thx guys for this great plugin!
And it’s going to improve singnificatly with WordPress 3.3.
Hi,
My hosting company only has Mysql 5.0. databases.
Will it run o.k. on that?
Thanks!
We develop with MySQL 5.0.5, which is already pretty old by itself. It may run with previous versions, but we’re not testing them. If you purchase and get problems (of any sort), we can always refund your payment.
Does it really matter if your posts have for example…tag/category/post in terms of seo?. When a search results appears it sometimes displays the relevant text which sometimes is at the end of the url. I personally use just the postname. I find this the best…
The permalink structure that we suggest is the most efficient and robust and is recommended by WordPress core team. It produces the most efficient queries and holds best for URLs with non-English characters.
HostGator supports 64MB for PHP and cannot increase it unless going Dedicated ord VPS.
Will WPML work with 64MB?
Yes, it should.
Hi!
I’ve made a bad thing on my website… I’m using WPML and I’ve changed permalinks when I had all my pages ready… Problem: NOW, all page are “NOT FOUND” by the browser…This I can understand, but when I set back the permalinks configuration, pages are always “NOT FOUND”… HOW can I set up the preview configuration and get all my pages ok and my website ok? Please don’t tell me I have to set up the website from the beginning…? Thanks
This really depends on what’s still stuck from the back and forth. I can imagine a number of things going wrong. In your place, I’d delete the .htaccess file and resave the configuration. This should generate a fresh version.
Hi!
sorry, I respond only some days after…Everything is ok Amir, it was the good solution
I need soon a good multilingual plugin for my Projekt.
My webspace has memory limit 64MB, is this enough or im out of memory with WPML plugin?
64Mbyte should be fine for most sites. However, you should remember that the amount of memory depends on WordPress, your theme, all plugins and the amount of data loaded.
Dear Author;
I absolutely need to know, if I give for some of you ftp details, can you look at my server, wpml work fine with my estate package, also if I create pages in other languages ( site is english now ) is it going to give me result like
http://www.realestate2turkey.com/en/
http://www.realestate2turkey.com/de/
http://www.realestate2turkey.com/fr/
Best Regards
We can’t do debug work on your server. We give support via our technical forum, subject to the support policy here:
http://wpml.org/purchase/support-policy/
we are working on SEO for a site that has this plugin and we are running into major problems.
at first everything was doing great – then practically the whole site was dropped from the google index.
now we are starting to gain a small amount of ground – but the meta descriptions are not showing in search results (we are using the all in one seo plugin)
Do you know what could be causing the problem?
You should use our technical forum if you need technical help. Be sure to include a link to your site when you do that.
Hello, I’m rather puzzled with your “minimum requirements”.
From an SEO point of view, I always found the structure you recommend absolutly ugly. It means that basically anybody (including Google) can access to any time archive, which very often generates duplicate content.
Therefore, you have to do extra customization in your blog, through plugins, to be sure that all accesses to calendar archives will be blocked and no indexed. And you can’t just make a general rule in robots.txt
imho opinion, the safest structure for permalink, and one of the best from a seo point of view ^^ is %post_id%-%postname% (or whatever separator)
Because once you have the post id in the structure, wordpress is able to automatically redirect, even if you happen to change the postname.
And you have no risk at all of confusing slugs.
It might be good to explain very briefly on your admin pages that the “potential problem” is about duplicate slugs, and not anything else. Each webmaster can organize his websites for that (and also, now WordPress automatically checks and prevents recording duplicate slugs, even across different content types, so it’s not anymore really an issue)
What do you think ?
This URL structure isn’t due to our requirements, but is the safest URL structure in WordPress (without WPML) when you use non-English characters. The permalink structure that you have suggested is also fine.
WordPress protects against duplicate content by using the meta-canonical tag.
“memory limit of at least 96Mb” that’s a pretty tall order for most hosts. Is it absolutely necessary. My host has 32mb . . .thanks
The overall memory you need depends on WordPress, all active plugins, your theme and data. WPML takes about 5Mbytes. If you’re running a reasonable number of plugins and your theme isn’t loading half the DB for the index page, a lot less memory would be fine too.
Hello. Is this plugin working with wordpress 3.2.1?
Thanks
Yes, and it will work with WordPress 3.3 before it’s released.
Hello!
Althought our website meets all the requeriments, we still get the message “The current permalink format can cause problems with translations. See WPML’s minimum requirement page.”
For the moment, we have not experienced any problems, but we are worried about this message.
If it helps, we have the “%postname%” permalink and we would like to keep it this way.
Thank you.
That’s fine. The permalink structure that we recommended is due to performance and stability considerations. It’s going to change with WordPress 3.3, as they are improving the URL decoding.
Hi, the plugin works with custome post types, custome metaboxes?
Yes, if your theme or plugins use custom meta boxes, they will work just fine with WPML. WPML creates a new post for each language, so there’s no interaction with custom fields.
Hello!
PHP Version 5.2.17
It works?
Thanks
WPML should work fine with your PHP.