Return 0; generates a "500 Internal Server Error"

[Kalastaja]

"return 0;" in the "if ($response === false)"-statement below gets me a "500 Internal Server Error". The error check is of course relevant as otherwise the $response (in this case not an object) is later treated as an object - and that error sure shows up in the logs. The code consists of many similar sections of code "if($the_commission...)" calling the transfer-function.

If the code in the if-statement is "return 1;" then no 500-error occurs, but there are of course no real transactions. But even with the 500 error, I still get all the "core meltdown" emails - all four of them!

There is no error log or error cache generated. The curl_exec just times out, resulting in the error, which then enters the if-statement (with return 0😉 resulting in the 500 error.

BTW: The time out (the "error" source) is a new thing, it has not happened before - so the if-statement is new. If I type the curl_exec $postData in a browser, then the site responds correctly, i.e. an error message in XML-format.

             .......
            if ($the_commission > 0.01) {
              .......
              if (transfer($the_commission, $account, "Product commission") > 0) {
                mysql_query("INSERT INTO transactions_account (account_transactions_customers_id,
                .......
                mysql_query("UPDATE transactions SET transactions_handle_time = '" . $distribution_time . "'
                .......
              } /* if (transfer(...*/
            } /* if ($the_commission...*/
            .......
            if ($the_leftover> 0.01) {
              .......

        function transfer($amount, $recipient, $subject) {
          $session = curl_init();

          // Preparation of transfer
          $header = array();
          $url = "https://www.moneybookers.com/app/pay.pl";
          $postData = "email=[e-mail]";
          $postData = $postData . "&password=f1cc72314737d2a445c70fc464422fb0";
          $postData = $postData . "&currency=EUR";
          $postData = $postData . "&action=prepare";
          $postData = $postData . "&amount=" . $amount;
          $postData = $postData . "&bnf_email=" . $recipient;
          $postData = $postData . "&subject=" . $subject;
          $postData = $postData . "&note=Monthly payment";
          $header[] = "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
          $header[] = "Content-Length: ".strlen($postData);
          curl_setopt($session, CURLOPT_FRESH_CONNECT, true);
          curl_setopt($session, CURLOPT_HEADER, true);
          curl_setopt($session, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
          curl_setopt($session, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
          curl_setopt($session, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $header);
          curl_setopt($session, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $postData);
          $response = curl_exec($session);

          if ($response === false) {
            $err = curl_error($session);
            $title = "Core meltdown: " . $recipient . ".";
            $msg = stripslashes($err);
            mail('[e-mail]', $title, $msg, 'From: Info' );
            curl_close($session);
            return 0;
          }

          $xml = simplexml_load_string(substr($response, strpos($response, "<?xml")));
          $sid = $xml->sid;
          ....

[Weedpacket]

Sure the problem is not in the code that deals with this return value?

[Kalastaja]

Executing the curl_exec()-statement seem to be the reason for the 500-error! If I put a return 0; before it, everything is ok. I know so much about the statement, that the return value is a time out error.
But how can the "Core meltdown" email be sent even though the result is the 500-error? That is when I have no premature return 0;

[Kalastaja]

Don't know who did what, but now the 500-error is no more. Maybe the service provider did something, as the code has not changed.