Problems with defining UPLOADS constant

Question

I have a custom Wordpress file-structure like

web-root:

• content (folder)

  • uploads (folder)
  • plugins (folder)
  • themes (folder) ... and so on

• wordpress (folder)

  • wp-admin (folder)
  • wp-includes (folder) ... more folders
  • wp-blog-header.php
  • wp-load.php
  • wp-login.php ... and all other wp core files

.htaccess

index.php

wp-config.php

In my wp-config.php I have to define the path to my custom uploads folder like this:

if (!defined('UPLOADS')) {
    define('UPLOADS', '../content/uploads');
}

More or less out of nothing (maybe I updated the wp core) when trying to upload an image I get the error message saying: can't create folder check if parent folder is writeable.

BUT: if I put the same code into the wp-blog-header.php file uploading and building new folders within the upload folder works.

I thought using DEFINE(in my case) means that I just save a string value to a constant and where ever I use the constant the value is the same. But how can it be that there is a difference when defining a constant in wp-config.php or wp-blog-header.php? (which is inside the subfolder wordpress .

For my changes in wp-blog-header.php would disappear after the next Wordpress update I obviously can't solve it that way.

Any ideas what the problem could be?

Answer 1

_{(Converting my comment to an answer.)}

Since you store themes and plugins in that folder as well, try setting the WP_CONTENT_DIR constant instead. (Always prefer absolute paths when possible.)

As to your specific case, why it worked in one file but not in another - this will probably involve more debugging, checking where exactly WP uses which constant, etc. If setting WP_CONTENT_DIR solves your problem, remove UPLOADS and work with it.