how do you do the manual downgrade? do you have the instructions or the manual for that?

It should be basically the same way as it is with upgrading. You basically substitute the files you have with the files of the version you want to have, with a couple of exceptions that you need to save (config.php, custom templates, etc). This should not have changed much, but I would do some research in the forum if there have been discussions about that lately.
www.limesurvey.org/manual/upgrading_from_a_previous_version

However, I must confess, I haven't done a manual update/upgrade for a while.

If you don't want to risk anything, make a fresh install of 4.0.0 beta somewhere else (you can even copy your current database to use it for this test install to make it as similar as possible). Ideally even install it in parallel on the same server (different subdomain for example). It is just for testing and checking what happens. Once that is done (should be done in a couple of minutes - create a database dump -> create a new database with this dump -> install LS 4 beta using this copied database -> "update" to LS 3.17.4 -> See how your survey works on this test installation. If it works fine, you should be fine with your downgrade.

Don't forget, there is always a risk involved. But you seem to be the risky type, otherwise you wouldn't have upgraded your productive environment to a unstable branch of LS while running live surveys...

Always backup your files...

If you still have your backup from during the upgrade to LS 4, this should contain all your necessary files and you can probably delete/overwrite all files with that. You probably need to delete all files from 4.0.0 anyway, because there might be additional ones.

thanks.. i am not risky, but i am relatively new to LimeSurvey, and i wasn't ever expecting that they would put a broken version for customer to upgrade to.
i am so frustrated from LimeSurvey actully, and i would diffently not recommend it to others especially i am a paid customer and the support washed their hands and said they can do nothing to help... so disappointing.. what i know is they put a version in the market for users to upgreade, and so if i report a problem to them then i am expecting them to fix it and send an update ASAP, but not wash their hands..

Well, please don't get me wrong, but if you install a software on your server, it is your responsibility and you need to have at least the basic knowledge to do so, otherwise SaaS is the better choice for sure. You don't need to be a wizard, but some knowledge will be necessary, or you'll commit mistakes like this one.

Beta Versions are never for usage in productive environments, that should be clear to anyone administrating a business critical server software. For everything productive, always run a stable version. This is a very basic principle when it comes to business critical applications.

You are paying for the comfort update, and it did what it should do. Update/upgrade to the version you told it to upgrade to.

We can discuss if it is a good idea to include the 4.0.0 beta into the comfort update or not. If I would have had to make the decision, I probably would not have included the Beta as an option the way it is right now. I might have hidden it a little bit more, just to make it more clear even to people who do not know what a beta version is, even if I think this is the responsibility of the server admin to know.

But the inclusion of the Beta versions into comfort update helps with making it easier for beta testers to have a test environment and update it easily when a new beta version comes out. This will increase the number of voluntary beta testers (you are an involuntary beta tester now) and thus will make LS 4 stable quicker, as more people will report bugs.

So while I don't think the implementation of the Beta into comfort update is ideal, the main fault is clearly on your side. You need to be honest with yourself here: you did not inform yourself about what "beta" or "unstable" means and just went for it (or you know it and didn't read it carefully enough). I think it is quite risky to run your own server on this premise.

It is quite simple to install and update and keep it running, but you need to be willing to be informed about the tools you are using, on a server software a lot more than when you are running your desktop computer. Because the server software is used by more people and more people have access to it. And you are running quite a critical software that can collect personal data of people, so this is also an additional factor to be very cautious.

This all might sound quite harsh now and I get that you are frustrated - I would be too (about the situation). But I think you need to take this one on you. Take it as a learning. We all make mistakes and we need to learn from it.

Now regarding the support: I can understand that they might not be able to help, because the direction of an update is generally the other one and probably no one ever tested a downgrade. Also, downgrades are not part of the "Comfort Update" packages, so we can't really expect that, as it was never promised. I had hoped that they might know something more than we normal users. But obviously not. But at the end of the day, installing and upgrading LS without comfort update seems to be still quite easy, but of course not as comfortable.

I know that the Denis runs his own scripts to update/upgrade without using the comfort update. At least he did a while a go. In general, updating/upgrading is like a new installation over an old database, as far as I see it. So downgrading should be very similar. Only changes to the database could impact, but they can't be too big, I think.

Fingers crossed that everything works out for you.

I think if you do what I described and do some testing, you should be fine.

holch wrote: In theory, you should be able to manually downgrade. BUT, I don't know if there have been any updates to the database from LS 3 to LS 4 beta, and if so, if they have any impact on downgrading.

No, you can't use same DB … db have a lot of update and is totally incompatible …

LSSSurvey1 wrote: how do you do the manual downgrade? do you have the instructions or the manual for that?

Hoping you do (or get) the DB backup before upgrading

1. Make a backup of your current DB and current files (always do backup)
2. Keep upload folder and application/config/config.php file
3. Delete DB and all files
4. Get limesurvey3.17.5+190604.zip at www.limesurvey.org/stable-release
5. Move all this files to your previous directory
6. Go to the web
7. Follow the step
8. When need to set the DB settings : check you old config.php file to put DB information
9. Next, upgrade eventually the DB
10. Log in and see if it's OK
11. Move you all upload directory content to the new upload directory content

holch wrote: We can discuss if it is a good idea to include the 4.0.0 beta into the comfort update or not. If I would have had to make the decision, I probably would not have included the Beta as an option the way it is right now. I might have hidden it a little bit more, just to make it more clear even to people who do not know what a beta version is, even if I think this is the responsibility of the server admin to know.

+1
More hidden or with a big floash warning and a screen confirmation

i was able to restore from a backup and everything is back normal.. thanks for all your helps guys.

Great to hear that! Good luck with the rest of the study and keep your fingers away from BETA version on the productive system.

LSSSurvey1 wrote: i was able to restore from a backup and everything is back normal.. thanks for all your helps guys.

Happy to know \o/

Great news! Glad to hear everything is fine!