Compiler is always disabled

Question

I have successfully run the compilation process, but when trying to enable the compilation mode, either through admin panel or through command line, I get no errors, but the state remains always disabled.

The folder includes has permissions 0775, and the file includes/config.php has 0777, so I don't think it's a permission issue.

Here is a typical sequence in putty:

myuser@serv01 [~]# php -cli public_html/shell/compiler.php disable
Content-type: text/html

Compiler include path disabled
myuser@serv01 [~]# php -cli public_html/shell/compiler.php enable
Content-type: text/html

Compiler include path enabled
myuser@serv01 [~]# php -cli public_html/shell/compiler.php state
Content-type: text/html

Compiler Status:          Disabled
Compilation State:        Compiled
Collected Files Count:    7605
Compiled Scopes Count:    4

UPDATE

Even changing the working directory didn't help:

myuser@serv01 [~]# cd public_html/shell
myuser@serv01 [~/public_html/shell]# php -cli compiler.php enable

etc...

UPDATE 2

The file includes/config.php is always empty, but the folder includes/src is updated / recreated during compilation.

Answer 1

You've lost your valid config.php file. The admin essentially comments out a line in that file to disable the use of the compiler (unless things have changed). Try pulling a clean includes/config.php from a clean Magento code base and then try enabling it again.

Answer 2

Default contents of config.php file:

<?php
#define('COMPILER_INCLUDE_PATH', dirname   (__FILE__).DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'src');
#define('COMPILER_COLLECT_PATH', dirname(__FILE__).DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'stat');