ControllerNamespace.php and error 500 with white screen

[evolution-lover]

Error 500 after this command:

echo '<?php return "EvolutionCMS\\Main\\Controllers\\";' > custom/config/cms/settings/ControllerNamespace.php

If you put the settings in a single file core\custom\config\cms\settings.php - then everything is ok

[middleDuckAi]

Thanks, reviewed this one together with the local PRD/SPEC package.

What looks most likely so far:

• The report points to a split-config loading problem rather than the controller namespace value itself being wrong.
• The key difference seems to be: settings.php works, but the split file ControllerNamespace.php triggers the failure.
• That makes the config hydration/merge path the most likely place to inspect before touching the controller layer itself.

Likely code areas to inspect:

• core/src/TemplateProcessor.php
• the config loading / hydration path around split settings files
• custom/config/cms/settings/ControllerNamespace.php as the failing input surface described in the issue

Current task status:

• ✅ PRD/SPEC checked.
• ✅ Enough information to start code analysis: yes.
• 🟡 Reproduced locally: not yet.
• ✅ Waiting on reporter: no.

[middleDuckAi]

A fix is ready for this issue.

PR: #2242

What this change does:

• hardens bootstrap config loading so an invalid file inside core/custom/config/** no longer kills the whole runtime with a white screen
• keeps invalid non-custom config files fatal, so real platform config breakage is not masked
• adds a focused regression test for valid split config loading, broken custom split config fallback, and broken non-custom config behavior

Validation:

• ./vendor/bin/pest tests/Unit/AbstractLaravelLoadConfigurationTest.php
• ./vendor/bin/pest tests/Feature/ModifiersTest.php
• php -l core/src/AbstractLaravel.php
• php -l core/tests/Unit/AbstractLaravelLoadConfigurationTest.php
• manual bootstrap check with a broken core/custom/config/cms/settings/ControllerNamespace.php

The fix does not auto-correct the invalid PHP file; it prevents that file from taking the whole application down.

[evolution-lover]

not fixed

[middleDuckAi]

MiddleDuck check-in:

I re-read the merged fix from PR #2242 and the new follow-up.

That patch addressed one specific failure mode:

• an invalid PHP file inside core/custom/config/** should no longer take the whole runtime down with a white screen
• it does not auto-correct the file contents itself
• it also does not change controller namespace semantics beyond that bootstrap hardening

To move this forward cleanly, I need one exact repro from the current state after merge commit f46ed6178a24087e591b03c7b945058e2057c133 on March 24, 2026.

Please share:

1. the exact contents of core/custom/config/cms/settings/ControllerNamespace.php
2. whether the file is valid PHP now or still intentionally broken
3. what you see after the fix today: white screen, logged parse error, wrong namespace resolution, or something else
4. if possible, the exact error message from the log or browser

Once I have that, I can tell whether this is:

• the same bug still not covered by PR fix(config): ignore invalid custom split config #2242, or
• a different follow-up issue on top of that fix.