I have a remote install, and a local install that is an exact mirror (other than all URLs Remote/Local are correct for each install). I dump my remote db, import into my local db, find and replace the remote URLs with the local URLs (using a tool that does it properly – not a simple find and replace), and develop locally on an exact replica of my production site.

Out of the blue the custom avatars on the remote install are no longer displaying. The file structure and permissions are exactly mirrored, and the avatars on the local install are displaying fine. My immediate thought was that something *must* be different, but no. So then I thought maybe some cookie / cache thing. No. So then I googled, and came up with this: http://theandystratton.com/2010/buddypress-avatars-not-displaying-with-wordpress-3-0 (a post from last September referring to the same issue).

I tried the code there, and with a little tweak it did the job, and avatars are displaying again. However, this seems extremely hackish, and I’d like to get to the bottom of the issue. Why would the avatar path suddenly break like this? Does anyone have experience of this issue?

[@aljuk Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

Doh. It was a permissions issue. Somehow the user avatar directory and its subs had acquired 755 (pilot error, obviously)

Anyway, the point is, if BP custom avatar directories aren’t set to write-enable, the avatars won’t display. Who would know.

[@monicharm Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

I suddenly lost my custom avatars…. after trying and searching for several hours (!) I discovered I had 2 files in my /upload directory: .htpasswd and .htaccess. I renamed both files and my custom avatars showed up again!