I'm running some template files outside of the actual theme and I am displaying some posts on this templates. Everything worked absolutely fine but some days ago (maybe the update to 4.5) the default settings of WordPress started to override my posts_per_page=-1 and I have no clue why this is starting. (No new plugins installed)

<?php
    // Include WordPress
    define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
    require('./../wp-blog-header.php');
    query_posts('tag=tagname&posts_per_page=-1');
    ?>
<?php while (have_posts()): the_post(); ?>
    <section class="in_tab">
        <figure class="tab_fig">
            <?php the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail'); ?>
        </figure>
        <h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
        <a class="insidelink" target="_blank" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" >Weiter...</a>
   </section>
<?php endwhile; ?>

I'm running some template files outside of the actual theme and I am displaying some posts on this templates. Everything worked absolutely fine but some days ago (maybe the update to 4.5) the default settings of WordPress started to override my posts_per_page=-1 and I have no clue why this is starting. (No new plugins installed)

<?php
    // Include WordPress
    define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
    require('./../wp-blog-header.php');
    query_posts('tag=tagname&posts_per_page=-1');
    ?>
<?php while (have_posts()): the_post(); ?>
    <section class="in_tab">
        <figure class="tab_fig">
            <?php the_post_thumbnail('thumbnail'); ?>
        </figure>
        <h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
        <a class="insidelink" target="_blank" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" >Weiter...</a>
   </section>
<?php endwhile; ?>

• query-posts

• I don't see any changes to inline documentation for it and it would be extremely unlikely for WP to change existing argument. – Rarst Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 9:50
• check the error_log and post its output :) – Nabeel Khan Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 10:00
• the only error i get is: [23-Apr-2016 10:16:25 UTC] PHP Notice: WP_Query wurde mit einem Parameter oder Argument aufgerufen, der seit Version 3.1 <strong>veraltet ist</strong>! „caller_get_posts“ ist veraltet. Bitte benutze stattdessen „ignore_sticky_posts“. in .../wp-includes/functions.php on line 3846 English version: WP_Query was uses an deprecated argument or parameter „caller_get_posts“ instead use „ignore_sticky_posts“ – Steve Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 10:17
• pls excuse my scrappy english in the comment above :) – Steve Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 10:34

2 Answers 2

Regarding my comment to Steve's answer, see also Override the default number of posts to show for a single loop? The "method" version of Steve's answer would be:

function limit_posts_per_archive_page( $query ) {
  if ( $query->is_post_type_archive( 'zitate-sprueche' ) || $query->is_tax('zitate-kats') || $query->is_post_type_archive('daten') || $query->is_tax('daten-kats')) {
    $limit = 27;
  } else 
    $limit = get_option('posts_per_page');
  }
  $query->set( 'posts_per_archive_page', $limit );
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'limit_posts_per_archive_page' );

Similar code works for me.

I found the problem. Here is the solution in case someone stumbles upon a similar problem.

I had a filter in my functions.php that limited the showed posts on several custom taxonomies and the default value was set in the else statement

// Customizing posts per page on zitate archive 

function limit_posts_per_archive_page() {
if ( is_post_type_archive( 'zitate-sprueche' ) || is_tax('zitate-kats') ||   is_post_type_archive('daten') || is_tax('daten-kats')) {
    $limit = 27;
}
else if (is_post_type_archive( 'videos' ) || is_tax('videos-kats') || is_post_type_archive( 'whitepaper' ) || is_tax('whitepaper-kats')) {
    $limit = 9;
}
else 
    $limit = get_option('posts_per_page');

set_query_var('posts_per_archive_page', $limit);
}
add_filter('pre_get_posts', 'limit_posts_per_archive_page');

I changed the else to

else {
// do nothing :)
}

Now it works as usual