I am using the latest version of WP as on date

Well, looking forward to a 3.1-compatible version of this plugin!

As you are the first person out of over 1200 downloads who has reported this problem, I imagine it is because you have installed WordPress Hook Sniffer on an incompatible version of WordPress. Per the readme.txt file, the plugin is “Compatible up to: WP 3.0.4″.

On top of this it just doesn’t seem to work.

The plugin has a 5-star rating and a number of WP and BP core developers have used it with great success. This is another indication that you more than likely have either installed it on WP 3.0.5 or higher, or that you have a plugin installed and activated that is conflicting with WP Hooker Sniffer’s operation.

Also either change your readme file to an html document or remove the html.

This is the way many readme.txt files are created—using the Markdown syntax to provide links. See the end of this WP Codex resource for more information. The HTML Markdown syntax provides hyperlinks on the plugin’s listing page within the WordPress Plugin Repository. You can see that by visiting this plugin’s page on the WP Plugin Repo. So, the HTML Markdown is perfectly fine and standard the way it is within the readme.txt file.

As I am no longer supporting this plugin as the time required conflicts with my needs to earn a living, you are free to fork the plugin or hire a developer to make this plugin compatible with the newer versions of WordPress. I wish the WordPress Plugin Repository had a way to indicate that a plugin is no longer being supported (as there are numerous plugins in that state). But, until that happens, most plugin developers simply rely on the compatibility statement to play that role.

Warning! You have not installed the Modified WordPress Plugin API file. WordPress Hook Sniffer will not work without this. Please see the readme file for more information.

I then have a look inside the readme file which then goes on to say:

Installation Instructions:
IMPORTANT NOTE: As of version 0.14, the installation instructions have changed. It is no longer necessary to manually install the modified plugin.php file. WordPress Hook Sniffer automatically handles the installation of that file upon activation and then uninstalls it,
replacing it with the original, stock plugin.php file upon deactivation.

So which is it?

On top of this it just doesn’t seem to work.

Also either change your readme file to an html document or remove the html.

I’m not too sure of the advantage of distributing it as a patch file. I thought about it but decided that it made sense to require a manual install as it would force the developer to think about comparing any new WP versions before installing. I am not always on top of the newest changes as I have too much to do. But, a patch file could be possible.

As far as working with WP 3.0, I personally have not experienced any issues. I need to check the WP changesets and see if there have been any changes to plugin.php since I created WP Hook Sniffer.

Thanks for the heads up. For some reason, that file failed to upload to the repository. But, I have now corrected that issue. Please redownload the plugin package.

Since I kept the version number the same (0.12), you have two choices:

1. Simply download the plugin package again and copy over the Modified WordPress Plugin API into the /accessory_files directory. From there, you can then move a copy into the proper location (/wp-includes).

2. Or you can deactivate WP Hook Sniffer first, delete it from the /plugins/ directory, and then upload the new copy and activate. After that, move the Modified WordPress Plugin API into its proper place.

I would suggest the first option, but either one will work. By the way, I would copy the Modified WordPress Plugin API into its working directory (/wp-includes) and keep a copy in the /accessory_files directory. That way, you always have a copy of that file. Also, it is not a bad idea to rename the original, default plugin.php file located in /wp-include just to keep in case you want to revert to your original setup.

Thanks for the suggestion.

As this is a developer’s tool only, I don’t think that the WP core team would approve my modifications to the Plugin API. My version of the API does not provide any fixes to the current file. It only offers augmentations that provide developers additional benefits.

Can you distribute the plugins.php file as a patch file against 2.9.2?

I’m definitely going to use it against register_activation_hook. I wrote a series of articles on that one. Seems to cause so much grief, but it’s not that difficult.