Error when activating child theme: `failed to open stream: No such file or directory`

Question

I get the following error message on wamp after I activated my child theme. what am I doing wrong?

Warning: include(C:\wamp\apps\test/wp-content/themes/test/functions/options-panel/customizer.php) [<a href='function.include'>function.include</a>]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in C:\wamp\apps\test\wp-content\themes\newcastle\dwframework\theme-options\config.php on line 86
    Call Stack
    #   Time    Memory  Function    Location
    1   0.0016  754008  {main}( )   ..\index.php:0
    2   0.0029  871416  require_once( 'C:\wamp\apps\test\wp-admin\admin.php' )  ..\index.php:12
    3   0.0036  897368  require_once( 'C:\wamp\apps\test\wp-load.php' ) ..\admin.php:30
    4   0.0043  923064  require_once( 'C:\wamp\apps\test\wp-config.php' )   ..\wp-load.php:29
    5   0.0063  1054736 require_once( 'C:\wamp\apps\test\wp-settings.php' ) ..\wp-config.php:120
    6   1.4685  54915528    include( 'C:\wamp\apps\test\wp-content\themes\newcastle\functions.php' )    ..\wp-settings.php:291
    7   1.4693  54951624    include( 'C:\wamp\apps\test\wp-content\themes\newcastle\dwframework\config.php' )   ..\functions.php:5
    8   1.4715  54984536    include( 'C:\wamp\apps\test\wp-content\themes\newcastle\dwframework\theme-options\config.php' ) ..\config.php:91

Answer 1

This depends a lot on the child theme. However, here is the general gist of things.

Not all themes are meant to be used as parent themes. Many aren't tested properly and are using the wrong constants and API functions.

For example, get_stylesheet_directory() will return the current theme's stylesheet directory in a standalone theme. In a parent/child relationship, it get's the child theme's stylesheet directory. So if the parent is processing a PHP include using this API function, it will break since the function returns a directory that doesn't contain the original file.