[wp-hackers] "Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error." But what is the error?

[Austin Matzko]

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 12:49 PM, James Nachlin <jnachlin at sixapart.com> wrote:
> When I attempt to activate the plugin on the Manage Plugins screen of the
> admin, I get "Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal
> error."
>
> How can I view this fatal error?

The simplest way is to delete everything after the plugin data
comment, activate the (empty) plugin, and then paste in the code.  You
should then see a more descriptive error message.

My guess is that you have a space after the closing PHP tag.

Another possibility is that the function "widget" is defined
elsewhere, perhaps by another plugin or theme.  You should consider
using a function name less likely to collide with others'.