Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=38104&edit=1
ID: 38104 Comment by: chris at ctgameinfo dot com Reported by: m dot v dot veluw dot smscity at gmail dot com Summary: session_start()/session_write_close() creates multiple session cookies headers Status: Not a bug Type: Bug Package: Session related Operating System: any PHP Version: 5.1.4 Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: According to rfc6265 it definitely is a bug "Servers SHOULD NOT include more than one Set-Cookie header field in the same response with the same cookie-name." Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-05-08 17:02:13] andries dot malan at gmail dot com I believe the problem is a missing PHP capability for session handling,without which no efficient solution is possible for this problem. In addition to session_start() and session_write_close(), PHP should have a session_write_reopen() function. This would solve several problems cleanly. It will allow for those that want fine-grained control over the transaction handling/demarcation when accessing session variables, without imposing any additional complications on those that just want the default session handling behavior. for example: at the top of all pages you start your session with: session_start(); session_write_close(); //no further blocking //.. rest of long running script execution //now we only block for tiny fraction of time while manipulating session vars startSessionTransaction(); $x = $_SESSION['x']; $x++; $_SESSION['x] = $x; endSessionTransaction(); //now we stop block //... script can continue running tedious operations without blocking others on session access //... and the user would then implement these function startSessionTransaction() { session_write_reopen(); } function endSessionTransaction() { session_write_close(); } Now you can only let your session handling part of your script block for the tiny parts when a session variable is manipulated, without having to completely restart sessions, because restarting sessions later in your script creates several additional problems as noted - such as creating duplicate session cookies, and just as annoying, force you to turn on output buffering for your entire script, since you cannot start (or restart) session's once any output has been sent to the browser. This is the solution required. This is what is missing in PHP session functionality. IMNSHO ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2011-11-20 05:22:52] danielc at analysisandsolutions dot com See also https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=31455 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2011-11-09 18:34:52] rfunk at funknet dot net I just ran into this bug in PHP 5.3.5 when working with a script that does lots of session_start()/session_write_close() in a long-running task, so that separate requests can still access the session during that long task. (Specifically those separate requests are checking the progress of the long task.) The resulting absurdly redundant Set-Cookie header caused Firefox 7 to lock up for a few seconds, and caused IE8 to give its infamously useless "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" page. So this bug is not "Bogus" s it claims. I do have a workaround, however. I'm already doing an ob_start() at the top of the script, and now before the ending ob_end_flush() I replace the Set-Cookie header with a new one: if (SID) header('Set-Cookie: '.SID.'; path=/', true); After adding this, I no longer have the above problems in Firefox and IE. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2011-02-04 17:00:58] vdklah at hotmail dot com I can not tell how much I disagree on this. Calling session_start() followed by session_write_close() is a very valid way to avoid blocking multiple processes. (See also here http://konrness.com/php5/how-to-prevent-blocking-php-requests/.) This problem is huge since we are facing fatal crashing clients due to zillions of duplicate PHPSESSID entries in one cookie. Our server is big and complicated and so we are not willing to change anything in this area while all is already taken in production. Totally stuck on this and I'm not happy. This is a very obvious PHP bug that can be proven in 4 lines of code without any client intervention. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2006-07-14 20:46:11] il...@php.net Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php Session is created every time you call session_start(). If you want to avoid multiple cookie, write better code. Multiple session_start() especially for the same names in the same script seems like a really bad idea. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=38104 -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=38104&edit=1