Hello, there seems to be no attachments, and we cannot reproduce the issue.
Can you please attach the files? Thank you.

Screenshot of the error would be nice.

The error that I ran into on a similar comfort update yesterday twice from 3.27.10+210803 to 5.1.0+210811 (restored, then tried again, then restored) was as follows:

500: Internal Server Error
Wrong parameters for CException([string $message [, long $code [, Throwable $previous = NULL]]])

However, I also had previously run the comfort update cleanly on the same server from 3.27.10+210809 to 5.1.0+210811. (Dev->Stage->Live, or in this case it's Stage->Live). Anyway, the differences I had identified were:

1. My successful updated stared from Version 3.27.11+210809 and the other one started from 3.27.10+210803. (There wasn't an option available at the time of the path to 5.1.0+210811 to first walk 3.27.10+210803 up to 210809.)
2. The database size of my successful update wasn't a replica of production data and is smaller.
3. There are some cached files in the tmp directory of the update that didn't go well (from recent zip archive exports), but that seems quite unlikely.
4. There could have been others, but the 3 above were the first things that I was headed to rule out this morning. However, comfort update changed overnight, perhaps coinciding with the 5.1.1 release.

See:

• https://forums.limesurvey.org/forum/installation-a-update-issues/125092-server-error-when-upgrading-from-5-0-8-to-5-0-12
• https://bugs.limesurvey.org/view.php?id=17505

version.php attached above.
Two error reports attached here: one when admin login, the other when attempting to take the survey

Take survey error.jpg (43,594 bytes)   

Take survey error.jpg (43,594 bytes)   

Login error.jpg (39,509 bytes)   

Login error.jpg (39,509 bytes)   

I see that a new version was released for LS5. This problem was with LS3.

I think I see the problem. This is a LS version 3.27
but Comfortupdate is trying to update it to LS 5.1.1
See the circled items in the attached screenshot.

LimeSurvey 3 has still long-term support, but it's safe to update to 5.1.1 too, if you want access to new encryption functionality and question themes.

We are already running LS 5 for our newer stuff. This is an older survey that still needs to be operational for a few more months.

OK, I see. I'll keep this issue open for now if @duvemyster has anything else to report.

I just ran an update from 3.27.10+210809 to 5.1.1+210812 on a test installation with a duplicate of the db from where I had run into the 500 error. This time I receive the following different error report upon running the db update:

"An non-recoverable error happened during the update.
Error details: Configuration file already exist
File LSSodiumOld.php, line 25.
Please fix this error in your database and try again"

I also noted that the changelog included "Fixed issue: Error while upgrading the database"

Sidenote: The changelog report begins with "Because you are updating from a stable to an unstable version or vice versa ...". but the update was from a stable version to a stable version. Perhaps it is meant to reference the upgrade from stable 3.27.10 to stable 5.1.1.

@duvemyster OK, you're the second user with this exact problem. We're debugging it now.

I also noted that the changelog included "Fixed issue: Error while upgrading the database"

We've applied several fixes. So far, we did not see the problem with the configuration file error locally.

Can you inspect the file application/config/security.php and look for "encryptionkeypair" anywhere? Don't paste any values here, they are secret.

@ollehar, I do not find the text "encryptionkeypair" anywhere in security.php , just "encryptionnonce" and "encryptionsecretboxkey"

@duvemyster Thank you very much. We've discovered the issue and will push a fix soon. Our internal testing routines failed here, I'm afraid (tested by 4 people internally, but still).

I totally understand! I ran that update in a test environment on purpose.

The team does a masterful job. Not only is comfort update convenient, but it makes backing first super easy. And restoring every now and then is good thing to stay sharp on!

@duvemyster OK, we've released 5.1.2 with a fix for this. Please test and report any other issues. Thank you!

Actually, might still be a bug in that version related to encryption of emailsmtppassword. We'll release a fix tomorrow.

After restoring the same test environment last referred to above, comfort update ran beautifully there from 3.27.10+210809 to 5.1.2+210813, including the db update from version 365 to version 470, without any errors reported onscreen. A subsequent test survey invitation send via smtp also went smoothly. SMTP settings were configured prior prior to the update and were not touched after the update.

Glad to hear it. :)

Any update from you, @GuernseyResearch ? Or can we close the ticket?

The Comfortupdate still tells me it will update my LimeSurvey three to five as seen in the graphic above. I currently do not have a LS3 test environment and will not run this on my production system.

That's correct, we support updating from 3 to 5 now.

Sounds good! Will close this for now.

I am glad you SUPPORT updating to 5. We are using 5 for all our new stuff and suffered through all the betas of 4. However, this survey in 3 still has about three months until we can turn it off. I do not want to test an upgrade in my production (especially after this week). Does this mean you have abandoned all support for LS3? Should I just plan to hold at this point until I kill this survey?

We plan to support general bug fixes for LS3 all of 2021. Next year we will probably focus only on security fixes for LS3 while moving forward with LS5.

Sorry for LS4, it was a premature release. We try to implement much better internal testing routines now (despite that 5.1.0 had some issues - hard to catch them all!).

For those people holding at LS three how do they get those bug fixes (easily) without using Comfortupdate? We hope to be off three within 2-3 months.

Without ComfortUpdate? Any way they want. :) They're not our customers. The product is open-source, but not the support. ;)

@GuernseyResearch: Your next try to update from 3 to 5 should be working. The ComfortUpdate in LS3 updates itself before updating LimeSurvey.

Maybe I misunderstood. LS3 will be supported by ComfortUpdate at least until 2022.

Thank you -
Those of us who pay for support, submit bug reports, and suffered through LS4, appreciate the ease of a (working) Comfortupdate.

Does comfort update plan to continue offering the option of updating LS3 to the latest stable LS3 releases? Currently the only comfort update option for LS3 installations that are not at the latest LS3 release is to jump to LS5, stay where they are on LS3, or update LS3 manually.

I'm sorry. I see that is now updated. I just refreshed and the LS3 update path is also present. My previous post just now is incorrect.

3.27.11 (210809) is now listed as unstable. Is that now the case?

Please ignore the 'unstable' word. That will be corrected with the next 3.x release. It is still stable, ofc.

Thank you @c_schmitz !