Issue with copy() function/ file permissions - php

Question

So here's the story, im not very experienced with php, and recently moved to a new host and my website worked prefectly on the old host but on the new host there are errors with the code.
The error message says :
Warning: copy() [function.copy]: Unable to access http://i.imgur.com/USlH6p2.jpg in (directory)
Heres the code where it says there is an error
function upload_image_remote($image, $name) {
$upload_dir = APP_PATH . '/image.uploads';
//check for directory rights
if(!is_writable($upload_dir)) {
echo do_error(_('Folder image.uploads is not writeable'));
exit;
}
//check if there's a directory for today uploads
$today = date("d-m-Y");
if(!is_dir($upload_dir .'/' . $today)) {
if(!mkdir($upload_dir .'/' . $today, 0777)) {
echo do_error(_(sprintf('Folder <strong>image.uploads/%s</strong> could not be created. Please check permissions to be 0777.', $today)));
exit;
}
}
$upload_path = $upload_dir .'/' . $today;
(--> this is where) return copy($image, $upload_path .'/'. $name);
}
I think it may be a permissions problem since it worked perfectly on (old host) 000webhost, anyone have any ideas on what can be wrong with the code ?
Thanks

Answer 1

My guess would be that the copy function is trying to access the remote file and cannot due to the PHP settings.
I think most hosting companies, for security reasons, will have allow_url_fopen = 0. This means that you will not be able to read from the remote location (http://www.site.com/foo.gif). However, you will be able to read from the local file system.
From the PHP documentation:
This option enables the URL-aware fopen wrappers that enable accessing URL object like files. Default wrappers are provided for the access of remote files using the ftp or http protocol, some extensions like zlib may register additional wrappers.
To check this, view the current PHP settings on the server by creating a file with the following contents in your web root. Your looking for the allow_url_fopen setting.
<?php
echo phpinfo();
?>

Answer 2

Give folder permission 0755 Set correct path of temp folder for file
system.