Downgrade from latest nightly build to latest stable version

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The steps are mostly from this Codex article, Updating_WordPress#Manual_Update, but in this case a prior database backup is essential.

This is what I do:

  1. Upload the latest WordPress version to a temporary folder, /public_html/new-wp

  2. This upload should not contain the folder /wp-content nor the file wp-config.php.

  3. If you can, create another database and import the old backup. And in such case, prepare another wp-config.php with the new DB_NAME information.

  4. If another database is not possible, backup its contents just in case, drop all the tables and import the backup.

  5. Move all WordPress files (the nightly build) to a temporary folder, e.g., /public_html/old-wp. Don’t move the folder /wp-content nor the file wp-config.php.

  6. Move the new version (/public_html/new-wp) to the root.

  7. Confirm everything is working and delete the /old-wp folder.

Important notes:

  • Decide for step 3 or 4 beforehand.

  • Backup everything before starting, plugin suggestion: BackWPup. Or if your cPanel supports it, zip the whole /public_html folder or the files you deem necessary.

  • I prefer to move files instead of deleting, this is faster when using a FTP client. And when everything is done, I proceed to deletion. Note that WebFTP is much more faster for deleting files than a regular application.