[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #38899: Deletion of auto-drafts and trashed posts never gets scheduled unless user accesses admin pages (was: Customize: Ensure auto-draft deletion gets scheduled)

[WordPress Trac]

#38899: Deletion of auto-drafts and trashed posts never gets scheduled unless user
accesses admin pages
--------------------------+--------------------------
 Reporter:  westonruter   |       Owner:  westonruter
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  accepted
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:  4.7
Component:  REST API      |     Version:
 Severity:  normal        |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                |     Focuses:
--------------------------+--------------------------
Changes (by westonruter):

 * component:  Customize => REST API


Old description:

> As [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/38615#comment:37 noted] in
> #38615:
>
> It turns out that the cron event that does `wp_delete_auto_drafts()` is
> only scheduled when a user lands on `post-new.php`:
>
> {{{#!php
> <?php
> // Schedule auto-draft cleanup
> if ( ! wp_next_scheduled( 'wp_scheduled_auto_draft_delete' ) )
>         wp_schedule_event( time(), 'daily',
> 'wp_scheduled_auto_draft_delete' );
> }}}
>
> This logic should be added to `WP_Customize_Manager` as well so that
> these starter content auto-draft posts will get garbage collected (as
> well as the unpublished `customize_changeset` posts themselves) will get
> garbage-collected in the rare case where a user never goes to `post-
> new.php` on a given install. A user never visiting `post-new.php` is
> entirely possible if the user does all of their site management in the
> customizer or via the REST API.

New description:

 As [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/38615#comment:37 noted] in
 #38615:

 It turns out that the cron event that does `wp_delete_auto_drafts()` is
 only scheduled when a user lands on `post-new.php`:

 {{{#!php
 <?php
 // Schedule auto-draft cleanup
 if ( ! wp_next_scheduled( 'wp_scheduled_auto_draft_delete' ) )
         wp_schedule_event( time(), 'daily',
 'wp_scheduled_auto_draft_delete' );
 }}}

 This logic should be added to `WP_Customize_Manager` as well so that these
 starter content auto-draft posts will get garbage collected (as well as
 the unpublished `customize_changeset` posts themselves) will get garbage-
 collected in the rare case where a user never goes to `post-new.php` on a
 given install. A user never visiting `post-new.php` is entirely possible
 if the user does all of their site management in the customizer or via the
 REST API.

 What's more is that the scheduling of trash deletion is also dependent on
 the user first accessing the admin, as `wp-admin/admin.php` contains:

 {{{#!php
 <?php
 // Schedule trash collection
 if ( ! wp_next_scheduled( 'wp_scheduled_delete' ) && ! wp_installing() )
         wp_schedule_event(time(), 'daily', 'wp_scheduled_delete');
 }}}

 So as such, this is also a concern for purely headless WP installs that
 make use of the REST API exclusively. If a site gets installed headlessly
 (e.g. via WP-CLI) and the admin is never accessed, then neither trashed
 posts nor auto-draft posts will never get deleted because they are never
 scheduled.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/38899#comment:2>
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