WordPress 6.7+ Compatibility: _load_textdomain_just_in_time notice for restrict-user-access domain

[ernstmichaelstocker]

WordPress 6.7+ Compatibility: _load_textdomain_just_in_time notice for restrict-user-access domain

Description

Since WordPress 6.7, sites running Restrict User Access 2.8 with WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY enabled see the following notice on every page load:

Notice: Function _load_textdomain_just_in_time was called incorrectly. 
Translation loading for the restrict-user-access domain was triggered too early. 
This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. 
Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. 
(This message was added in version 6.7.0.)

Root Cause

There are two contributing factors:

1. Freemius SDK hooks textdomain loading to plugins_loaded

In lib/freemius/includes/class-freemius.php around line 3464:

if ( 0 == did_action( 'plugins_loaded' ) ) {
    add_action( 'plugins_loaded', array( 'Freemius', '_load_textdomain' ), 1 );
}

This calls load_plugin_textdomain('freemius', ...) during plugins_loaded, but WordPress 6.7+ expects textdomains to be loaded at init or later.

2. RUA_App constructor triggers __() calls before init

The RUA_App constructor is instantiated directly when the plugin file loads (via RUA_App::instance() in restrict-user-access.php). Several callbacks registered in the constructor use __('...', 'restrict-user-access') — for example in add_levels_to_visibility() (app.php, line 245). When these are triggered during plugins_loaded, WordPress's just-in-time textdomain loading kicks in too early, producing the notice.

Suggested Fix

For the Freemius SDK hook — change plugins_loaded to init:

// class-freemius.php, ~line 3464
if ( 0 == did_action( 'init' ) ) {
    add_action( 'init', array( 'Freemius', '_load_textdomain' ), 1 );
}

For the RUA_App constructor — defer any code that uses __() with the restrict-user-access domain until init or later. Alternatively, the add_levels_to_visibility callback could lazy-load its translated strings.

Workaround

Until an official fix is released, users can suppress the specific notice with an MU-plugin:

<?php
// wp-content/mu-plugins/fix-rua-textdomain.php
add_filter('doing_it_wrong_trigger_error', function ($trigger, $function_name, $message) {
    if ($function_name === '_load_textdomain_just_in_time' 
        && strpos($message, 'restrict-user-access') !== false) {
        return false;
    }
    return $trigger;
}, 10, 3);

Environment

• WordPress 6.7.0+
• Restrict User Access 2.8
• PHP 8.x
• WP_DEBUG + WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY enabled
• Any non-English locale (or any locale where just-in-time loading is triggered)

This is a widespread issue affecting many plugins since WP 6.7. Would be great to see it addressed in RUA as well. Thanks for the great plugin!