PHP Cache Related Issues

This page discusses issues related to (PHP) caching during deployment and what to do about it.

The php-fpm configuration for production servers is and should be optimized to use the various caching options. With PHP 7.x and above, there have been a number of improvements, most notably with the introduction of the new file cache. See here for a brief overview.

However, these new features have side effects: For example, after deploying, you may find that source changes have not taken effect on your server.

Ignoring Timestamps

In most cases, the cause of these issues is related to the

opcache.validate_timestamps

configuration value. For performance reasons, Shopware recommends to disable it on production servers. See here for details.

Reset Cache After Deployment

The easiest and safest way to completely reset opcache is to use the famous cachetool. Just request it with composer in your environment:

composer require gordalina/cachetool

Then, assuming your server is equipped with php-fpm, resetting opcache is as simple as running the following command:

vendor/bin/cachetool opcache:reset --fcgi=/var/run/php-fpm.sock

Note that the value of --fcgi depends on your actual web server setup.

ddev and other Local Environments

In local environments, just make sure that opcache file timestamps are always validated by adding the following directive to your php ini file:

opcache.validate_timestamps = 1