Laravel 5 - session doesn't work

Question

Here's config/session.php:

return [
    'driver' => 'file',
    'files' => storage_path().'/framework/sessions',
];

My storage/framework/sessions have 755 permissions.

When I put these 2 line in my controller

Session::set('aa', 'bb');
dd(Session::get('aa'));

I receive expected "bb" output. But if I comment first line:

// Session::set('aa', 'bb');
dd(Session::get('aa'));

and refresh page, I still expecting "bb" but getting null.

Also, storage/framework/sessions is empty.

What should I do to make Session working?

Who's the owner of storage/framework/sessions? 755 means only the owner can write to the directory. So for those permissions to work the owner most commonly should be the webserver user, which in general is something like www-data, apache, etc, depending on what Linux distribution and HTTP server you're using. — Bogdan
– Bogdan, Commented Mar 30, 2015 at 13:21
@Bogdan I think it's not about permissions, set to 777 and session still does not work. — Limon Monte
– Limon Monte, Commented Mar 30, 2015 at 13:55
just tired cookie and database drivers, the same :/ this is weird. — Limon Monte
– Limon Monte, Commented Mar 30, 2015 at 14:06
I think it's because Laravel has a custom session handler, and doing dd() interrupts the request lifecycle before the code responsible for actually storing the session data in the file can be executed. Try using var_dump() instead of dd(). — Bogdan
– Bogdan, Commented Mar 30, 2015 at 14:12

Bogdan · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-05 18:30:34Z

19

Laravel 5 handles sessions via a middleware class called StartSession. More importantly, this middleware is a TerminableMiddleware and the code that actually saves the data (in your case to the session file) is located in the terminate method, which is run at the end of the request lifecycle:

public function terminate($request, $response)
{
    if ($this->sessionHandled && $this->sessionConfigured() && ! $this->usingCookieSessions())
    {
        $this->manager->driver()->save();
    }
}

When calling dd(Session::get('aa')); the request is being interrupted before the terminate method of the middleware can be called.

Funnily enough, the Laravel Middleware Documentation actually explains Terminable Middleware logic by giving the Laravel StartSession middleware as an example:

For example, the "session" middleware included with Laravel writes the session data to storage after the response has been sent to the browser.

That being said, try using var_dump() instead of using dd().

edited Dec 5, 2015 at 18:30

answered Mar 30, 2015 at 14:22

Bogdan

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5 Comments

Bogdan Over a year ago

@limonte Your issue was interesting enough that I decided to do a little digging to understand the exact cause. I've updated the answer with a more detailed explanation of what is actually happening.

thiout_p Over a year ago

Thank you for your explanation. Is there a way of saving a session content before request ends ? I know we can manually call Session::save() but this does not seems to do the trick. I would really need to be able to do so!

Bogdan Over a year ago

@thiout_p What session driver are you using? If you're using any driver besides cookie, using Session::save() will work, as the session is written immediately. However, if you're using the cookie driver, then the session cannot persist since the cookie is stored on the client and sent with the application response, and that response is not sent anymore because of dd.

thiout_p Over a year ago

Thank you for your answer. I had a typo in the .env file for the SESSION_DRIVER record's key that was missing an R I'm working on something else so I couldn't check if this was related. (but I guess it would!) anyway thank you for the explanations! :)

Bartosz Over a year ago

The same happens if you use dump(). It messes up the session!

Matthieu Brucher · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-14 20:03:50Z

3

With laravel 5.*, you must change the kernel file like bellow:

  'api' => [
            \App\Http\Middleware\EncryptCookies::class,
            \Illuminate\Session\Middleware\StartSession::class,
            'throttle:60,1',
            'bindings',
        ],

then go to storage/framework/session folder and change the permission to 755 if it has another amount, then delete all files in your storage/framework/session path, use your code again to put something in a session, watch the storage/framework/session folder.

If your session work you can see the weird long file that belong to session right now, and you are done!

If your problem is not yet solved, go to config/session and change:

'driver' => env('SESSION_DRIVER', 'file')

to another predefined amount like:

'driver' => env('SESSION_DRIVER', 'array'),

or even

'driver' => env('SESSION_DRIVER', 'database'),

and finally if you have an empty folder of storage/framework/session, you still have a problem for sure !!!

edited Nov 14, 2018 at 20:03

Matthieu Brucher

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answered Nov 14, 2018 at 19:35

arash peymanfar

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1 Comment

Ivan Pirus Over a year ago

Yes. In laravel 6.* need add in kernel file, 'api' only \Illuminate\Session\Middleware\StartSession::class

arash peymanfar · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-27 17:45:12Z

1

if you're use api route , you might have this problem with your session and most of the time sessions return null , try to use web route for this

answered Jul 27, 2021 at 17:45

arash peymanfar

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