[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #14509: WordPress Import broken by maybe_serialze

[WordPress Trac]

#14509: WordPress Import broken by maybe_serialze
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 Reporter:  shawnparker   |       Owner:                         
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  new                    
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review        
Component:  General       |     Version:  3.0                    
 Severity:  blocker       |    Keywords:  import, maybe_serialize
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 The function `maybe_serialize` breaks the WordPress Import Plugin. Any
 serialized post_meta data that is sent over the importer is double
 serialized by the `maybe_serialize` function. The root of the problem is
 that within `maybe_serialize` there is an explicit check to see if the
 data is already serialized and if it is, the data is double serialized.
 This logic is confusing to me.

 Fixing `maybe_serialize` or changing the way the importer imports data is
 what is needed. Some might think that unserializing the data in the
 importer is the way to go but it is not. If a plugin is not installed at
 the time of import and the serialized data is a custom object that
 requires a class provided by a plugin then the data will be destroyed.

 So I guess it boils down to a question of why does `maybe_serialize`
 explicitly double serialize data. Is there a valid use case for this? I've
 seen the tickets for when `maybe_unserialize` did an `is_scalar()` check
 but that broke plugins that were "doing it wrong". Now I'm "doing it
 right" and breaking. I've noticed that some imported WordPress data is
 double serialized as well (when that data is not explicitly excluded from
 import by the importer) which I'm curious about the implications
 elsewhere.

 I think a patch for this would be pretty simple.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/14509>
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